How Long Did You Wait In Santa Maria Today?

By guest bloggette, Reenee of Santa Maria.
Check her blog: hastalosgatosquierenzapatos

Back in the day when doctors were considered Gods, people were required to endure interminable hours in waiting rooms, sitting next to someone who was coughing, hacking and sharing their virus-ridden breath with everyone within a 20 foot range. But enough about yesterday.

(Photo: Virginia Commonwealth University)

There are some little known alternatives to this ugly scenario. There are success stories everywhere about some doctors' offices telling a patient to come in the same day that they call.

No, this is not a cruel joke, it’s really happening out there. Apparently this is happening in different parts of the country, much to the delight of both the doctors and the patients.

What Does A Long Line Of Patients Signify?

For these patients, gone are the days when being booked for months in advance meant "the doctors must be good." There are several ways doctors' offices can achieve what is being referred to as "Advanced Access". Simply put, this means that if somebody wants an appointment, you offer them an appointment today, and not just because they're on death's door.

According to those that have done this, it's not that difficult to implement. It's time consuming and frustrating at its inception, therefore doctors resist it. Among others, the main reason for this resistance is that a completely booked schedule, at times months in advance, translates into guaranteed income. This works as long as the patient remembers he even had an appointment that day.

Then of course, since most doctor's offices are abuzz with more people behind the window than in the waiting room, they're happy with this method as well. However, when the patients that have already waited for what can seem like months when they're sick, have to wait hours cooling their heels in the waiting rooms, not to mention sucking in microbes of every variety, it's not a good thing.

Looking For Advanced Access In Santa Maria

Advanced Access was originally put into practice in managed care environments, but these innovators worked with organizations throughout the United States, Canada and Europe testing and refining their principles. They discovered that same day appointments work equally as well, if not better, in "fee-for-service environments."

In an effort to discover if Advanced Access was being practiced here in Santa Maria, I called several doctor's offices at random. The answer I got most often, after the laughter stopped was, "Our practice is so full that new patients can often wait as much as six to eight weeks to be seen." Followed by, "We keep a few slots open for emergencies in between our follow-up patients" and "if the person only has a wart to remove, then they can wait."

I know that in some if not all doctor's offices, you are a new patient if you have not seen him/her in at least a year. You'd better hope that during that six to eight week wait, whatever it was that made you call to see that particular doctor, doesn't fall off. If you're the patient that has the wart, you'd better hope it doesn't get bigger, develop a life of its own and talk to you.

Anyway, as I continued my research trying to find a doctor in Santa Maria that practiced "same day care," I was told, among other things that I was "nuts," "dreaming," "not thinking clearly," "out of my mind," "had clearly never worked for a doctor," and "didn't understand the need to generate surgeries."

My personal all-time favorite was that I "was so far out there that I needed ropes and a compass to get back to reality."

OK, I'll admit, I'm pretty much "off center." I would put more thought into the other accusations, but right now I'm on my way to find a compass and some ropes as I've not been near reality for quite some time now. --Reenee