tried to make appt at pain clinic near my house

They insist on having a referral from my PCP even though my insurance does not require one and I have not been seeing my PCP for my back pain.  So I guess that means I have to schedule an appt with her?  Which will take a couple weeks at least to get in.

How is someone supposed to deal with all this when they are in pain and can't get any pain relief?

try calling your PCP  & talking to the nurse, hopefully she can just fax a referal over for you,, YOur PCP Knows your issues,,,, just a thought ,,Denise

 Your PCP can refer you by phone/fax--or text message or carrier pigeon, for all I know. Mine has done it for me before. Your chart surely documents your intractable pain, so she ought to be willing to do it.

Then again, the way things have been going for you lately, who knows??

So many hoops...

Chin up! We're rooting for you.

That's the thing.  My PCP has not been treating me for back pain.  I've been seeing an orthopedic doctor for that.  So I don't think her records will document my pain.

 maybe if you just call and talk to the nurse and say you've been having really bad back pain and been seeing the orthopedic doctor with no results and now you want a second opinion but they want a referral they will write you one. *fingers crossed for you*

Would the orthopedists office make a referral for you?

I had the same issue.  I have extreme tailbone pain and I was referred to pain management for injections.  I called the office trying to get in before surgery, knowing that being on it consistantly was going to exacerbate the issue and I got the same crap.  Even though my insurance doesn't require it, they require it and they absolutely would not set up my appt until they got the referral from my PCP.  Man insurance and doctors can be so frustrating sometimes!

I have the same issue only mineis sever tail bone pain. M insurance does not require refferal but my pain clinic does,i just called my dr and explained the problem and she had a referel waiting at the front desk when i got there. Good Luck.

I just request referrals from my PCP to specialists when I need them. I provide them with the speciality and diagnosis codes and they generally hand them to me without issue.

You might advise them that they could see copies of your record from the orthopedist. Or you could speak to the pain management group and tell them that an orthopedist is treating you and has your records. The referral should come from them.

If you do not have an HMO and your plan doesn't require a referral I simply wonder if they are asking for an order that states the diagnosis of your illness.  I would politely question the reason for the referral to obtain more information.  I might also consider looking at an alternate provider to use. 

Referrals mean authorization from the insurance company to cover care.  Orders state the procedure requested (consult/injections/xray) along with the diagnosis.  If they are asking for the latter then they should accept something from your orthopedist.  If not they seem awfully difficult to deal with.


I had to see a pain management doctor when I had a spinal tap under flueroscopy.  The neurologist I was seeing just placed it on an order and it was accepted.

 

My wife has been to a "pain management" program through Kaiser for over 6 years.  She had to get a referral through her PCP.  Went to classes for 5 years to get Percocett, Fentanyl or other meds with scripst from the docs that held these programs.  Program ceased and she had to see PCP for pain meds, which was a pain.  Scripts she had for years were suddenly decreased in strength by 75% and it took several visits with complaints about pain before pain meds were increased again.  Even though no classes now, monthly refill from PCP are picked up at her office and then taken to the pharmacy for filling.  3 of her docs have retired, and now she'll see a new doc and hope he'll keep her on some pain med to make her severe back pain tolerable.  BTW, she does use Voltaren topcial cream--so Kelly this might be an alternative to you.  It's still an NSAID, but since it's topical, only 5% gets into your blood stream, compared to the 100% you get from oral NSAIDS.  DAVE