Hey Everyone. It has been awhile (long while) since I have posted or even been able to visit these boards. The great toilet of life has been flushing over me lately
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I finally got away from my old ortho and found a PM doc that has been very nice. The only problem has been his staff. He is in a group practice so he shares the staff wiith the rest of the docs except his med assistant who is new.
I have no pproblem with the contract we signed. It was pretty straightforward and what I expected. All my meds have no refills. For most of them I call the pharmacy, they fax the doc and I get the refill. I have only one now that is a hand carry script and gets refilled on the day of my monthly visit. No problems there. But...I have a script for Darvocet (no big deal.its a breakk thru med). EVERY month this particular script gets refilled on the 6th. This is not something new, it happens all the time. Except this month. The pharmacy faxed the docs office and was told I would have to come in to the docs office before it could be refilled. Now my monthly visit is ALWAYS..and I do mean always on either the 23rd or 24th. Its timed for my last patch of Fentanyl to be running out.
I called the docs office and asked about the Darvocet and if I would have to make an early visit and was floored by the response. The 6th was near the weekedn and the office was not open for three ddays so I called as soon as they were open. I was asked why I did not call in sooner and if I had managed to be out of my meds that long then there was a problem that they were going to report to the doctor. They refused to give me an earlier appoingment. The person I talked to actually said that If I could go three days without my meds then I didn't need them.
Remember this is my bt med not my base med. I tried telling them that the only reason I had gone without was because the office was closed but that made no difference. So now I am in violation of my contract all because the office was closed and so was the mind of the person I spoke with. I tried leaving a message on the voice mail of my docs assistant but she will not return my call.
I really needed the meds this month as I have been moving into a new apartment and the cleaning alone has been killer.
The other problem I encountered this month is a demand for a "no show-late cancel" payment for canceling an appointment with another doctor in the group because of a fender bender that I got into that morning. This was not with my PM doc, it was for a test another doc was doing. I know these charges are customary but there is a catch with my insurance. I am on Medicaid. Actually its an MCP that Medicaid in OHIO uses. But its still Medicaid. Its against Federal Law to charge a Medicaid patient cash for ANYTHING. Thats the Law.
Since the office manager is wantiing me to pay this they say I cannot come in for anything, NOT EVEN MY SCHEDULED PM APPOINTMENT, until I pay. I can't get ahold of my doc so I don't know if he knows what is happening but basically the office manager is trying to deny me treatment and brealing a Federal law in the process. Topping this is the fact that I have been on Fentany 100mcg patches for a while now and If I cannot see my doc on the scheduled day I will start withdraw the next day.
Sorry I have ranted so long but like I said, the great toilet of life just keeps on flushing....LOL
Any Advice out there for this kind of situation? I don't want to drop my doc because he has been a big help with the management of some really wicked pain and is really going to bat for me with my SSD/SSI red tape nightmare.
Oh, and for anyone who remembers me from last year...my daughter is now over one year clean and sober..Thanks to everyone who helped me through that...A million thanks!!!!
The Bard of Ohio
