I have whined before about the horrid referrals process that plagues US healthcare. I’ve encountered it again.
I need an interventional radiology procedure (prostatic artery embolization). It’s apparently not available within 2,500 miles of here. There are IR practices on Oahu that advertise it, but when I call them they don’t seem to know what I’m talking about. I could explain it, but I have daymares that they’d then rush off and watch a YouTube video of the procedure and then say “sure, we can do that!” Instead, I went with a practice that I already know. They’re in in Arizona, but I have friends and family in the state, so I can visit them and then travel to see one or both of my children. I need to get an MRI before I schedule with them, however.
Refreshingly, I can actually get an MRI without flying off-island. The IR doctor office sent an order to the nearest radiology facility with an appropriate magnet, but they never contacted me. I called them, and they said they never got the order. “Maybe they used the wrong fax number,” they said and gave me the correct one. A week or so later, they still hadn’t received it. I called the IR office again and they sent a third copy. When the local radiologist facility still claimed they hadn’t received it, I pressed them. They eventually admitted that someone probably sees that the orders are from out-of-state and throws them away. “We’re not scheduling any studies until June, anyway.” They clearly don’t want any business and don’t care about the well-being of their patients. I was appalled. I mean, at least the gastroenterologist I used to have to work with hung on to the referrals they got, even if they otherwise totally ignored them.
I did find another radiology group with an MRI that’s only an hour or so away from here. It took them 25 minutes to answer there phone, but it seems they’ll probably be able to do the study this month. Once they got around to answering the phone, they seemed interested in helping. Now I just have to convince the IR office that they should send out a fourth order for the study.
—2p