*rant on* Does an appointment mean nothing anymore? People are so freaking g inconsiderate! And I think the more No.eyes you make, or the more important you perceive your position to be it gets worse. I am so sick and tired of making an appointment only to sit in the lobby 10 20 30 minutes....I had a doctor last week who was 55 minutes late! And if I would have left I am sure they would have charged me a no show fee.

Does my time mean nothing to these people. I am SOOO frustrated. Don't over book your practice at the expense of my time waiting in th lobby you in lnconsiderate bastards.

*rant off*
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I've sat in a doctor's waiting room for 2 hours. When they asked me how I was I kept repeating, "Well rested." And, I found a new doctor soon thereafter. But, it seems that this is the norm, noone seems to keep their appointments anymore- even if they give you a four or five hour window. I feel your frustration!
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It is arrogance plain and simple. And no I don't think they think your time is as important as their time.
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I had a 1:00 appointment with the Dr. who did my last surgery. While I waited (close to reception) I heard three other people say they had a 1:00 appointment with my Dr. Unbelievable....but he did get me to bend my knee again so I waited.

My Dad had no patience and had a tirade waiting 45 minutes for an appointment. Every time after that, they had a security guard follow him each time he returned.
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My cable guy once said, He would be here sometime between 10:00am Monday and


.
.


. Thursday..Are you going to be home? :-)
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At least the cable guys are honest about it though.

Had an 11:30am surgery for my wife yesterday. Got there at 11 for pre-op. Didn't get her into surgery until after 1. Didn't get out till 2:30 and we were kept there till after 5 before they released her.

90 minutes late for the surgery.... and she was his first of the day....
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They know that you are just money to them, and that you will wait.
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I think more people have to make it known that it is unacceptable. I was waiting for a doctor for 30 minutes and asked the receptionist when I could expect to be seen. She couldn't even tell me. I told her I was leaving. She asked if I wanted to reschedule. I told her no, I was going to find a new doctor that doesn't treat his patients like cattle. If I'm the only one, I'm just a jack ass they can afford to lose. If others do it too, they will have to do something about it.
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Several years ago when I was still doing IT consulting, a doctor kept me waiting for an hour and a half. I left. When I got a bill for a no-show, I sent them a bill at my onsite rate ($150/hr) since I had to take time off from work. Nevr went back, and never got another bill. :-)
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Wait until the new healthcare kicks in. We ain't seen nothing yet
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If only people realized how true this is.
Might I add about people for appointments. They all complain when the MD is late to see them. I'm a PT, more and more people are either calling to cancel 5 minutes after they were supposed to be there, or showing up 15-20+ min after their scheduled time and act like they did nothing wrong.
So one reason MDs over book is because in some clinics they actually have a certain percentage that they can count on to not show or cancel (my friend is the biggest contributor to this!!!) Plus the insurance companies and hospitals are contributing to the MD being over booked as well. I am by no way saying that this is right but being in the medical field, it goes both ways and it's the people that are always on time and are doing the right thing that have to pay (no pun intended)

Just my :-)
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I hate waiting rooms. I doubt I would be complaining about a 30 min wait if there was a nice place to wait like a outdoor deck maybe when you check in they give you a buzzer like at resturants do. You wait around untilyou get buzzed.
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I call before any doctor appointment and ask how far behind the doctor is. He doesn't have control over patients, so I figure that it makes sense for me not to show until he's ready to see me.

At first, I could not get info about how far he was behind and was told that if I was late for the scheduled time that it was considered a missed appointment.

I explained to my doc how beneficial it was for his nurse to keep the front desk informed so that people weren't pissed off and he went for it. Now, when I call, they tell me something like, "I see you have a 2:00 appointment, but we won't be ready for you until 2:45".
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I'm a board certified medical practice executive. I run medical practices for a living, also consulting with medical practice clients to help them run more efficiently. I feel your pain.

In all of these instances, the problem is probably not the physician--it's the person running the office. There are a number of reasons that wait times extend well past the appointment time. Almost 90% of those can be fixed if the office just works out its inefficiencies and changes how it runs. Medicine operates in the 21st century, unfortunately, most offices still run like it's 1955.

On the other hand, many physicians also think that they know enough about business to run their own office. Those are the ones I'd like to take out back and beat with a stick, because their offices are typically in the worst shape. And it's their patients who suffer the most.

The bad news (as Tim #3 points out): the new insurance "reform" legislation is only going to make this worse in a few years, compounded by the lack of primary care doctors in many markets.

The good news is: I should be gainfully employed for some time to come. :-)
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