This is an update to the health care provider night mares that are taking place where I live. http://didimentionmyms.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-about-patients.html?token=yU9Ig0EBAAA.wtDewYq9M8t2B_pB_OeoQQ.5j8onZoycEXIPgsAtu7mJw&postId=3512503304457050802&type=POST
Most of the neurologists in my city are inaccessible to me and a lot of other "MS" patients. How is this legal? I don't understand. Especially since we haven't done anything wrong even though we are being treated that way. Let me back up a little.
Recently, my current neurologist switched to a group that does not accept my insurance. She is also a professor and she accepted a new and most likely better position for herself. I don't blame her and I am happy for her but I will really miss her. She and I speak at the same dinners sometimes so I will still see her every now and then.
Anyways, I called the same neurology group that I dealt with previously and asked if they were accepting new patients. The answer was yes right. That's when I gave my name and asked if they received my referral from my primary care physician. I was told that the doctor has reviewed my file and he saw that I am a former patient of another doctor so he is refusing to take me on as a patient. Then she tried to clean it up a little by saying that they are very busy so the doctors are taking patients on a case by case basis whether you have MS or anything else. Yeah ok, whatever. That's when I requested to speak with a manager. She was going to talk to the manager and get back to me. That never happened so 2 days later I called and this time I listened to all my options. What do you know, there was an option for the "office manager". She actually answered the phone since she didn't really know who was calling. She did receive my information so at least the receptionist did her job. The manager reiterated what I was told before so this time I requested her to send me a letter stating the reasons for denying to see me even though they claim they are taking new patients. I told her that I need it for my insurance company because I'm hoping to convince them to establish a contract with a new group.
So that's where I'm at right now. The biggest part for me is maintaining my monthly MS treatment. I found out that any doctor who is willing to register with the TOUCH program to help manage the risk associated with the treatment can prescribe Tysabri. That's good news as long as I can convince my primary care doctor to get on board. Stay tuned for the next episode.............
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