How to Effectively Navigate the Healthcare System, According to Reddit
Even the simplest doctor visit has a lot of moving parts: you have to make an appointment, wait for an appointment, and answer the same questions three times in a row because no one seems to actually read your card. Luckily, the r/medicine subreddit has some tips on how to navigate this whole situation.
Call at 8 am to make an appointment
The exact time will vary from place to place, but it can be 1 am when the front desk people are dealing with the day’s cancellations and scheduling new appointments. Here’s how one scheduler at the front desk explains it:
Our [schedulers] in our clinic are quite efficient, and by 8:30-9:00 they have this schedule filled. If you call at 8am when we open they will take the opportunity to drop you on the schedule as you are talking to them right now instead of going through the list trying to reach people.
If you visit the same office frequently, ask the front desk staff if they can recommend the best time to call.
Take the first meeting of the day or the first meeting in the afternoon
To minimize the wait when you finally get there, try making an appointment early in the day or just after lunch. (So, choose 8am or 1pm if you have the opportunity.) Meetings tend to be rescheduled if there is an emergency or if previous meetings have been long, so it helps to arrive before these unforeseen things can happen. .
Bring paper copies of important documents
Of course, in theory, hospitals and doctor’s offices can send records electronically. But if all your documents are not part of the same hospital system, printing out will be faster and easier. The same goes for any information you may write down. One psychiatrist explains:
Your doctor has probably read the chart, but the design is almost unreadable. It’s full of things that aren’t true. It’s the missing things that are important. Because of this, relying on the timeline of any past history is a bad idea. Unfortunately, there is a reason why you get asked the same questions over and over again.
Because of this, it is very, very helpful for you to know your own medical history, your own medications, and even when you have appointments. Putting the details in writing is never a bad idea, especially if it’s a copy that you can refuse. Trying to list the pills that you throw out of your head leads to confusion.
For the same reasons, it may be convenient to get a paper copy of your order for an MRI or blood draw. It doesn’t have to be done in the same hospital or office where your doctor works, and sometimes you can find a better price or a more convenient location if you shop around. A printed copy of the order will make your life easier.
Get a printout of your medications
One of the questions you will be asked each time is what medications you take. If there are several, don’t rely on memory. Ask your pharmacist to print out a list of everything you take with dosage and instructions.
Over-the-counter medications and supplements will not be included in this list, so be sure to make your own list, or at least take photos of the labels so you can share the details.
Bring a photo to your phone too
Just as it’s helpful to take photos and screenshots of important documents while traveling, you can do the same during doctor visits. Take pictures of paper copies that you think you might lose. Take pictures of drug labels. Take a photo of your insurance cards. And if you have access to images from elsewhere, save them to your phone too. One MD writes:
Bring your phone and be able to get lab images/images from outside facilities, it’s really handy to be able to see images from some random house you went to in the middle of the night and it would take me weeks to get a CT scan. .
Carry your insurance card with you
All those little numbers on your insurance card are important, so carry it with you or at least take a picture on your phone. The front desk clerk adds:
If you have a Medicare Replacement Plan, please keep your red, white, and blue Medicare card with you. I know the insurance company told you not to take it with you. I want them to stop. I still need to download the Medicare MBI to the system even for replacement plans.
It’s not like the old days when your Medicare number was your SSN with a letter at the end. Now it is safe to store in your wallet. This is a random collection of letters and numbers that have nothing to do with your SSN. Please, for the sake of my sanity, carry it. The website we use (Connex) is absolute garbage and it takes too long to extract your Medicare number from it.
Check for coupons for prescription drugs
If you have insurance, you are likely to receive co-payments or co-insurance for expensive drugs. But in this freaky world we live in, drug makers need your insurance money so much that they’ll pay you to cover your copay so you get your insurance to pay them the rest. It’s a racket and you’re stuck in the middle so you can make the most of it.
GoodRX is one of the places where you can check for coupons. Also check the manufacturer’s website for coupons and other help. Some companies pay part of your expenses even if you don’t have insurance.
Write down the questions
You know you’ll be thinking about questions to ask right after you leave the office. Think ahead and start making a list of questions before you go to the doctor. It could even be a note on your phone where you write down information throughout the year to ask for at your annual checkup. And if you’re in the hospital or see a doctor often, you can keep a notepad handy for your nightly worries. Here is a recommendation from a nurse:
As a night shift nurse, I strongly encourage patients to write down questions or concerns they have during the night so they can answer them when their doctor comes in the morning. There are many things I refuse to talk about in the middle of the night and the patient is worried that they will forget about it. Sometimes I write for them on the whiteboard and I guarantee that I will also raise the issue with the day nurse.
Always keep an eye on
If you are due to receive test results in a few days, set a reminder to check those results. We are often told that no news is good news, but from time to time the service provider forgets to call or the email notification ends up in the spam folder. If it’s important, go ahead.
But that doesn’t mean you have to keep updating MyChart until the results are in. As one doctor notes:
We deal with most medical emergencies on an urgent basis. Most minor lab or imaging anomalies can wait a bit before we talk about them. If you tend to worry about minor anomalies, it’s best to stay away from the online portal and not look at your results until you’ve talked to your doctor.