OHSU is irritating me!

Hey there everyone!  I sent in my "green form" and sent off all the requests for medical records and I am HOPING they actually got sent in.  My rant is about Heather at the digestive health center.  I received a call from Susan about 3 weeks ago now saying that they had received my information from my new Dr. and when they received my other forms she would get me an appt.  OK right? I have called back 3 times now and always get Heather.  The first call she told me ""if people would STOP calling me I might get work done!"" I was like umm okay? Wow...She said they were backlogged about a week or so and to call back in a week so I did....SAME FREAKING response!! I don't know who peed in her cheerios, but damn what a snot!  She proceeded to tell me that she has a stack of papers 12 inches thick because a huge amount of patient**** them at the first of the year.  I wonder why this is my problem? It's not my fault they have only 2 people working in that section.  Sorry! Now she says she needs my pap results and I was like I haven't had one yet, I am not due until the end of February.  (I have records coming from 3 different places) for the last 2+ years.  Needless to say I have an appt on the 7th for my annual (yay me) to appease this woman.  I am beginning to think this will never get going! It's all very frustrating.   I hope she gets her act together, god knows I don't want to have to contact supervisors etc and be labeled bad news or something.  I suppose this is my first round of hoops to go through???? Any ideas?? I need support. Thanks so much everyone!  Angela

OMG! Girl that is who is charge of my case! And since I was switched to HER from Tarra (sp) in mid swing of getting my thyroid in order it has been NOTHING but a nightmare.  After 16 months in the hoops I finally got approval Tues & my surgery date yesterday. I did my 6 month weight loss through a nutritionist. First my primary didn't get stuff sent over at least that is what we were told. Then Tarra (sp) LOST my green sheet and told me that if she didn't call me back by the next day that meant that she found it. Never got the call, ASSUMED she had found it. NOT !!! 3 weeks later.... I called to tell them I haven't heard from them for an appt to continue with my next steps, and she was oh, I forgot to tell you I still can't find them. Hello, you couldn't have lmk sooner than 3 more weeks going by???? So I asked her (NICELY) to please EMAIL me the sheets ASAP, that I would fill them ALL out again, and drive back down again and hand them personally to her the very next morning. The front desk asked me to just give them to them, NOPE waited for her personally, and this time I kept a copy. Did my labs and found out that my thyroid was out of wake BAD! That to get other stuff done while we were waiting for the thyroid to get in normal range. Did my heart stress test etc. It took months, but Susan said to call her back when it was "fixed". SO on my birthday (Oct 15 07) I got the call! They were norm. Called and was given Heather. She said to have the doctors fax it over. DONE. Called a couple of days later and she preceeds to tell me I have to case file with them???? Couple of days later, oh, we have you but you need your six month diet. I told her it was done months ago. She argued it. Then she said well you need your heart stress thing. DONE????? At your hospital??? Weeks later oh... well we just need your diet? HELLO????  Then they find the stuff out of the blue again? And said my thearapist letter for eval will not work. Well why are you telling me this now, I could have done this with another psy, while I was fixing my thyroid??? So I get an appt with their psy. in the office, she said I passed and I would hear from Heather after she went over my results with the "Team"? A month later we have to call heather, because she NEVER calls me. She is like well you need to see a psy, heart test & 6 month diet. I am like I HAVE done these. She was like well I will find it and get it to Susan. Another month later, hubby has a appt for his yearly check up, and Dr. O Rourke recognizes us and asks didnt you have yours yet??? I showed him the schedule of working on it for 15+ months with THERE mistakes, and he said he would be right back. Very nice of course. Comes back and tells me that this course is patient driven and we will fix this. Heather comes in and says we just need your clearance from the heart doctor that you are cleared to do the surgery (cardio is upstairs), and they give us this weird letter, we take it back downstairs, and Heather with open arms said she has everything already and will submit it that day, and that she is sorry this was 12/31/07. Then two weeks later she asks me for a final weigh in when I called her to check in??? I was like, I was just there two weeks ago? So I go to my doctors and ask them to weigh me and put in on a letter for verification, and we personally drove it to Heather. They told me she was busy, but we waited PATIENTLY.  Then she said she would submit it.  Then this past Sat. I get a letter from Cigna stating I have asked for approval (not a denial or approval) for the surgery but didn't have medical papers, to please send them in??? Then the Holiday weekend came, Monday I had a spinal injecection. Tues evening I get another letter from CIGNA approving me for 2/1 - 2/2/08 for surgery???? Wedseday I call Heather and she said that that date wasn't right and that she would resubmit for the dates that ORourke personally scheduled me for and for authorization for 2 more procedures (which she has no clue what they are and I couldn't understand the medical term she read to me).  Then she did finally call me back and told me that it was authorized for March 25th and for all the authorizations that orourke asked for.  FINALLY!!! We set up my pre op appt & even post op appt.  My husband had this surgery with ORourke and the whole procedure for approval went SMOOTH.  I totally understand what you are going through. GO above her if needed. IF we didn't speak to ORourke at hubby's appt, I don't think this would have happened yet. I pray for you, because the struggle is REALLY hard with her.  Yell anytime, I am in Hillsboro! Hugs, Renee' www.myspace.com/bearablemom www.bearabledeals.com

Oh dear!  I remember having nearly the same experience with Tarra last year.  I know this won't help much, but consider this -- OHSU and other places get deluged at the start of the year, much the same as gyms do.  Also, when it came right down to it, it turned out that the doctors' offices here in Eugene were not sending in my stuff as they said they would.  What did I do about it?  I called them all and asked that they have my paperwork ready for me to pick up.  Then I took all of it and faxed it to Tarra myself.  I called her the next day to tell her I knew she had everything and I would appreciate it if she would call me back as soon as she could look at it all and make sure it was all there.  It took a couple of days, but she called to say she submitted it all to insurance.  About a week later, I was approved.  Sometimes you just have to do it all yourself -- you just can't rely on anyone. Linda

That type of comment to a patient/customer is really unacceptable.  Yes, they are very busy in that clinic but such poor customer service is inexcusable.  Plus, you've now broadcast your dissatisfaction with the clinic in a public forum that reaches a large number of people.  You would be doing the clinic and OHSU a service if you would call Rebecca, Heather's supervisor, and let her know about your experience.  I don't know Heather but I have met Rebecca and know she would want to hear from you personally about this.

Yes thank you for the input! As of today I STILL have NO answers to what is going on, nor will anyone return phone calls to me.  I am beyond irritated at this point.  I have not gotten an appointment or anything with them to get this started. I am going to call tomorrow again on my lunch hour and see if I can get to the bottom of this.  I also emailed my dr's office and explained the siutation to her  and since she is in the same building, MAYBE they can get to the bottom of this.

Angela, when you call I would really focus on how Heather has treated you.  Even if she doesn't have answers for you, she needs to treat you respectfully and courteously. 

Wow, my experience with OHSU has been very mu*****ontrast with yours.  However, I think that I would deal directly with OHSU, and be respectful, but straight forward with how you have been treated. The facility, in my opinion, is wonderful, and I have been ever so grateful for the people there.  It did take a long time for things to get approved, and I did have to wait almost a full year for everything to fall into place.  However, I was never treated rudly by Heather or Tarra or Susan - or even Dr. Deveney. I would almost BET that Dr. Deveney or Susan or who ever is head of Digestive Care would like to have this information or feedback from those of you who have had concerns with the way you were treated. I just think it is too bad that these kinds of concern have to be addressed on this board, but it's probably that I want to protect my doctor and his staff, because they were so wonderful to me.  I do hope that you will call OHSU and talk to the person in charge, Angela, because I think this is something that is extremely important.

Susan was wonderful the one time I actually got to speak with her.  I think they have a wonderful program also, I am just irritated with being given a run around.  I am sure anyone in my position would feel the same.  Thanks for the feedback!

I'm sorry you are having this issue but my experience leads me to believe this isn't an isolated incident....EVERYTHING about OHSU SUCKS!  They have some of the finest Dr.s, but their support staffs leave MUCH to be desired.  You need to go above this twits head! Trisha

I am in the same boat Angela and got a similar reply the last time I called Heather ("i will never get through this pile if I keep getting phone calls" and "This isn't working"). I didn't interpret it as so much rude but very frustrated. Regardless-They really need to get more support staff to go through the paperwork....According to the psych I went to she was told to wait until the first of the year to submit the paperwork. If they knew they were always swamped they should never have suggested to her that this was a good idea. I have now been waiting a month to find out if the psych evaluation has even arrived (apparently because it has been sitting in a pile for that long!). I have now paid the psychologist without even knowing if she completed her job. A month for that kind of information is just negligent. I was told that insurance approval would take a month which could have happened if there had just been someone to sort through the piles of paperwork. Ultimately they either need to get more support staff in to do the job they are being paid the big bucks for by our insurance companies and copays or stop requiring so much if they cant do the job.