Time to vent!!!!!!!!!

[cbramsey]

Went for a scheduled follow up with my sleep doc today. Ended up seeing a Nurse Practitioner instead.

That part didn't bother me at the time.

[rant on]

What the practice didn't tell me was that my sleep doc was no longer part of the practice!!!!

Anywho, the Nurse Practitioner and I did not connect AT ALL!!!! I told her that even though I was sleeping 7.5 to 8 hours a night, I was still sleepy in the afternoon and most days take a 20 - 30 minute nap in addition to the normal sleep at night. The first words out of her mouth was a suggestion that I be "put on a "wakefulness enhancer".

The good news is the APAP does seem to be working. My original AHI was in the neighborhood of 70. My average AHI for the last 30 days was 4.3.

They did order an oxygen concentration test which should prove interesting. If I still am developing hypoxia, I might consider the LeFort SSRO surgery my wife had to move everything forward to see if that improves my oxygen content.

The other thing that really irritates me is I had to pay a Specialist co-payment and didn't get to see the Specialist. [rant off]

I now return you to your regularly scheduled forum.

[PaulaO2]

Then demand your money back. And mention that you will be watching the statements from the insurance company and will report them if the ins. pays for a specialist and you did not see one.

When you called to make the appt, did you make one for your doc? And then you get there and not only is that doc not there anymore, but you weren't seeing a doc at all?

Yeah, demand your money back and be loud of your complaints.

[SuperSleeper]

[sarcasm on]

Huh... a medical organization that charges for something that didn't actually occur...

Surely they wouldn't do that, would they?

[sarcasm off]


Yep, CB... your rant is fully justified.

Hold those folks completely accountable, man.

[Dawei]

CB-- I have an explanation (not a justification) regarding why you had to pay the specialist co-pay when you were surprised to be seen by that lovely NP instead of a sleep doc. Apparently sleep docs are considered specialists vs. primary care docs. In my case, which is Medicare, there are two different co-pay amounts my insurance charges for each of these categories of docs when they see you in their office. So, even though the lovely NP is not a doc, she saw you in the sleep doc (specialist's) office and was acting on behalf of some unknown-to-you sleep doc, thus the specialist office visit co-pay instead of the primary care office co-pay. The higher co-pay that you had to pay was due to the category of the practice rather than reflecting the lovely NP's status. I know, it doesn't help how you feel, but I believe that's how you earned the honor of that co-pay.