Good Morning

Edited October 20, 201510 yr by Snowbutterfly

You are paying them. Find someone else.

Holy overreaction, Batman.

You've obviously missed a couple of appointments. It puts everyone else out when appointments are missed. It's common practice for doctors offices to charge a fee for missed appointments, and their prerogative to stop service if they feel the person is no showing too much for appointments. It's not because you're obese. They deal with obese people every day! It's just common courtesy to show up for your appointments when you're scheduled, or give them plenty of notice when you can't. Just don't miss any other appointments, don't take it so personally, and everything will be fine.

I agree with @Babbs. I am not aware of any medical office that doesn't have a cancellation policy. They aren't picking on you, they just have to see a lot of people.

I'd also like to add that from now to the end of the calendar year, they are particularly slammed. They are trying to get a lot of folks through the process and scheduled.

Great rant! So, just exhale and keep moving forward. And no, it's not because you are obese. How could that be? It's what they do....work with obese people. This journey is a long tough one. There were / are times I wish with all my heart I didn't have to do this to be healthy. But I'm so great full that the opportunity exist. I wish you continued strength on your journey. Good news......it gets so much better!

I have an outstanding bariatric center of excellence. They take their work very seriously and they are very very clear when getting into this program.

I know I have said many times on this site that I even had to sign a contract that I would not drink before my one year anniversary, that I would show up for my appointments or provide 24 hour notice, and most important I agreed to follow up care to ensure that I am properly monitored post surgery for complications or signs of malnourishment.

They only have so many doctors and nurses and want to ensure that those in the program are both ready to move forward and serious about getting healthy.

I can totally see my clinic notifying me of the 2 strikes situation had I ever missed appointments especially knowing that the insurance companies require a 6 month supervised diet. Now, that being said they would have not been rude about it.

I suspect this has nothing to do with your being obese as all of their patients are. They are also not withholding health care from you but they are wanting to make sure you are truly ready to move forward.

If you are, then it will be very important that you do not miss another appointment.

Please don't give up unless you discover you are not ready yet. Just dust yourself off and move forward. Our emotions get the best of us while going through this process, you just need to look at it from their point of view, they want their patients to be successful and that cannot happen if you are not ready.

When i went to my initial consultation i was told if i miss more than one appointment they could drop me. I would understand why, i had to wait 6 weeks for initial consultation and almost 2 months for another appointment i cant remember. Try not to forget because a lot of people would have wanted to go to that appointment and the surgeons office see it as a lost of revenue.

I don't understand

Edited October 20, 201510 yr by Snowbutterfly

I think a reschedule with lots of notice should NOT be a strike.

I love it when they text or call appointment reminders! As I have made similar goofs in the past - the missed appointment - I can really see how that could happen!

However I can also see why they lose their enthusiasm toward a patient who isnt knocking down the doors to get this done. Those long initial appointments are so important and and you really can't short change them. They are also a big time block involving multiple people that is now not billable to insurance - they are running a business after all.

My conclusion is that they are overly harsh but also have a point - are you "all in"?

Find a new COE - fresh start, no baggage.

I have a lot of health conditions I manage so I see a LOT of doctors. What you have described is pretty much standard cancellation policy. Most also have a policy in place that if you are 15 minutes late or more you will not be seen. So even tack on a no show fee. This has nothing to do with thinking you are a "bad person" or that they lack compassion for your being obese. It's simply hospital wide policy. My other feeling is that the rescheduled appt wouldn't be such a big deal if this second occurrence hadn't happened. Again this is pretty standard policy in most reputable medical facilities. If they have to report to insurance a certain amount of supervised appointments and you do not show up for those appointments, chances are insurance would deny the pre-authorization anyway.

My suggestion is have your cry. Then look at your schedule and clear time for these appointments. If you aren't a morning person, don't schedule early appointments. Set those appointments in your phone and send yourself reminders a week out. There will be more challenges than this post - op so pull on your big girl panties and get to work.

I'm sort of surprised you didn't get a reminder text or call. My dentist, several doctors, and even the vet office all do this, although I am sure they aren't required to do so. It does help counter situations like this. Try to not take it personal, you are a responsible person who is making life changing decisions. You can set this aside and move forward.

Thank you @@finediva and @@Halfagain for your encouraging words. I appreciate your response.

If it were me, I would ask them if they offer the "reminder text". I agree with those above, that text was a life saver for me, when once I had entered the time into my phone as PM instead of AM. Without the reminder text I would've been late. I also write my appts on my desk calendar at work, my email calendar at work, & my wall calendar at home. That's how OCD I am about not missing any appointments. I don't want to be charged for not being there. I've had my surgery, so no worries about being dropped, but there is the worry that I will be charged for a missed appt, and insurance doesn't pay for those. Keep on keeping on, and don't miss any more appts.

My surgeon's office has a big sign over reception that if you are fifteen minutes late, you'll have to reschedule your appointment.

And when I was taking my six month classes (24 classes, once a week), we were told at the orientation that if we missed the first class we would be out of the program. If we were 15 minutes late to any of the other classes, we would be sent home and would have to make it up elsewhere (which meant in a different city). Only four make-up's were allowed. If you missed a fifth, you were out. They would not send reminders either.

I don't understand why you are being so hard on me.

Is it ok to count rescheduling an appointment as a strike? I gave them a week and a half notice that I had to reschedule. It's hard to believe that reasonable people like you think that's fair.

My mistake was to put November instead of October as my appointment date when I put it into my phone 4 months ago. And again, you believe that it's fair to drop me for an innocent mistake?

I simply can not get my head around it. It just does not seem reasonable

The difficulty and delays that many of us faced while trying to get into the programs was excruciating.

Finally getting those appointments was a major breakthrough.

Making those appointments was THE priority.

We rescheduled our lives to meet the appointments.

For the surgeon's workshop I'd worked a 14 hour night shift, slept 2 hours, attended the 3-4 hour workshop and went to work for another 14 hour night shift. The girl sitting in front of me did the same type thing during our nutrition class.

Sorry if you don't receive a lot of sympathy from folks about this. There are likely many folks waiting behind you that are ready and waiting.

To the OP -- they're not picking on you because you're obese. They're picking on you because you've lost their medical practice income by missing two appointments.

They don't want you to miss any more appointments.

That is all.