The man's side of it!

I had my rotator cuff repaired a few weeks ago by an excellent surgeon, Dr John Grey. The only problem I have had while recovering from the surgery is the wait times every time I go for a follow-up visit. The last time was just too much. I sent my doctor a letter complaining about his office' practice of overbooking appointments. What would you do? Here is what I did, my letter to Dr Grey:

Dear Dr. Grey
My follow-up appointment with you was today July 16, 2009 at 9:30AM. I arrived at 9:25 AM and noticed that the sign in sheet was already more than half filled. I signed in and sat in the waiting room for 25 minutes before the staff called me over to copy my insurance cards. I asked the girl behind the counter how long the wait to see you was she said she had no idea. I sat down again and waited until 10:45 AM. That is a total of 75 minutes waiting for what would probably be a 5 minute visit. That is so shameful! I have many disabilities that cause me a tremendous amount of pain if I sit for long periods of time. Not only that but because both my wife and I are disabled, we are on a fixed income and have to schedule as many appointments as close together as we can to save on the cost of gas for our car. I had dropped off my wife, who also is in a great deal of pain, at her doctor’s office on Burr Rd in Westampton. Her appointment was at 9:45 AM but because she is unable to drive I had to drop her off early. Her visit to her doctor finished up at 10:15 AM and she called me then, needing to be picked up. I was unable to get to her until after 11:00 AM. During that time she was in terrible pain.
It is obvious that your Lumberton office practices overbooking, which is wrong and extremely frustrating to your patients, many of whom are in excruciating pain or have other just as important things to do throughout their busy lives. Just sit in your waiting room for a few minutes and you will hear many complaints. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. It has happened almost every time I have been to the Lumberton office, since I first came to see Dr. Farrell years ago. I could have had the Mercer Bucks Orthopedic surgeons fix my shoulder, but I know and trust you, Dr. Farrell and the rest of the surgeons at Reconstructive Orthopedics. You are all excellent doctors. This is going to be the last time I am going to wait more than 15 minutes for any doctor, unless of course there is an emergency, and then I would understand. I will call and schedule another appointment with you in your Marlton office which is further away but didn’t seem as overbooked.
As a result of my pain, expense and waste of my time, I am tendering this attached invoice for my time and gas based on my Union’s present rate of pay.
Sincerely,

Theodore W. Hussey

07/16/2009

This is how I figured my expenses.
You are located 16 miles from my house, that’s 32 miles of travel round trip @20 MPG (2 gallons of gas @ $2.28 p/g plus 40 minutes of driving time one way for a total of 80 minutes, plus the 75 minutes of wasted time waiting in your office. I make $42.76 an hour as a Union Sheet Metal Worker. I get paid for travel and paid a full hour for partial hours when out on the road.
Billed to: Dr. John Grey
Reconstructive Orthopedics
737 Main St #6
Lumberton, NJ 08048-3089
Phone: 609-287-9400

2.58 hours total time wasted.
 3 hours at my rate of $42.75 P/H = $122.28
2 gallons of gas for car @ 2.28 P/G= $  4.56
You or your practice owe me: $126.84
You can make your check payable to:
Theodore W. Hussey
 

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Thanks for posting about this, I would love to read more about this topic.