Ascension Via Christi Fails Us Again!
When my wife called her doctor’s office, Via Christi Clinic, E 21st St to request a refill of her medication, she was informed that her doctor, Dr. Denise Huskey will no longer be her doctor because they claim that my wife had missed 3 appointments in the past 12 months, which is news to us, we are aware of one.
Today, we got the letter from Ascension Via Christi (see image at top of article).
The first thing to say is that Erin is at the doctor’s office at least twice a month, sometimes weekly. Erin has Fibromyalgia and Lupus, and needs extensive PCP care. This has come as a major blow as Erin was unable to find another primary care physician, it seems that no doctors are taking on new patients, so she will be stuck with a nurse practitioner, who will have limited ability to provide the level of care that Erin needs, and Erin’s health is not going to get any better, it will get progressively worse over time.
We are thoroughly confused by the alleged missed appointments, we are aware of only one. The only thing we can think of is that after an emergency room visit for a Lupus flare, Erin made an emergency appointment to see Dr. Huskey. And because of the frequent visits, often the emergency appointment is within a day or two of the next scheduled appointment, which might explain possible late cancellations.
After I tweeted my displeasure with Via Christi, they responded asking Erin to call. And when she did, they said she missed two appointments on the same day, just 2 hours between them. This sounds like a clerical error to me, why would Erin make two appointments to see the same doctor on the same day?
Dr. Huskey and her staff have not been perfect themselves, on multiple occasions, they have forced my wife to wait for her medication, including her pain meds and insulin. Despite having been in the doctor’s office just days before, when the pharmacy calls the doctors office, they get told that Erin needs to make an appointment to get her prescriptions refilled. My wife is in the doctor’s office every 1 to 2 weeks, but nothing is ever mentioned about issues with prescription refills until the pharmacy calls the doctors office.
My personal experience with the same doctor’s office has not been positive, my doctor, Dr. Timler, never saw me at my appointment time, despite being there 15 minutes early. Usually, 5 – 10 minutes after my appointment time, I would be taken to a room and the nurse would take my blood pressure, temperature and ask the reason for my visit. Then, I sit there for anywhere between another 15 minutes and an hour, to be seen by the doctor for 3 – 5 minutes. So, I decided to drop them sometime ago, seriously, they complain when you miss an appointment, but no apology when they inconvenience you, repeatedly.
While I am bitching about Via Christi, about 4 years ago, when getting a CPAP machine for my wife, we were told that it would cost no more than $200 after insurance, so we made the assumption they had checked with our insurance. But, no, they had not and our insurance would not cover it, and we received a $1,000 bill. In the end, we never paid anything, because I kicked up such a public stink about it.
But, wait, there’s more, after we were involved in a car wreck back in 2010, which jacked up my wife’s back, after the at fault drivers insurance liability ran out, we were stuck with a huge bill into the 3,000 dollar range, and Via Christi’s collections department, tried to force us into a high-interest loan, so we could pay them what we owed them. This was at a time when we were on a significantly lower income, and of course, my reaction was one of anger, telling them to stick their offer where the sun doesn’t shine.
And remember that Via Christi is supposed to be a Christian organization, where care is supposed to come before profits, but this is bullshit, of course, any company that takes actions like those described above is not Christian in any way, shape or form. I refuse to give another red cent to Ascension Via Christi.
I don’t know what we are going to do, a nurse practitioner is not going to cut it for the care Erin needs, if only there was a website where you could find doctors that are taking on new patients. Erin called several doctors offices and none are taking on new patients, which leaves us in a sinking boat up shit creek.