If you pop over to The Denver Post’s parenting blog, Mile High Mamas, you’ll notice that my little situation with our doctor has been highlighted as a Hot Topic!
I’m not sure how long it will be featured on the main page, so click on this photo to go directly to the link:
You don’t have to be from Colorado to give your two-cents, so go check it out!
In the meantime, I have an update to the saga!
I was able to find a doctor that is taking new customers patients! Yay!
But, now my medical records are being held for ransom! Boo!
Imagine how happy I was to hear that in order for the entire record to be transferred, there will be an “administrative fee” of $15 per file (so, that’s $30 for my husband’s file and mine), and that’s if I’m willing to come pick them up. To have them mailed (the new office is literally in the same building), it will be an extra $3.50 per file.
AND, it will take THREE WEEKS! Wow, that’s such speedy service!
Well, for $7, I can pick them up and hand deliver them to the new office and maybe even fill out paperwork at the new office while I’m there. But, $30 for copies!? They just got done putting all of their records into an electronic format, and you can’t tell me that it takes 3-weeks and $15 a file to click on “print” on a computer screen.
I hate paying the ransom, but what else can I do?
I want to turn them in for fraud, but technically, they’re within their legal rights to charge a “reasonable” fee and they have 30-days to turn over my records. They could file for an additional 30-day extension for “special circumstances.” It would be my luck that “complaining on your blog about us” would qualify as a “special circumstance” so I should just be glad to get this over as quickly as possible.
Granted, their definition of “reasonable” is a bit different than mine, but I guess $30 is a small price to pay for what’s left of my sanity…
And, just to add to the pleasantness of the entire situation, guess whose office number was busy for a majority of the morning?
Gee, maybe he’s trying to justify charging us $2,600 a year for his personal cell phone number.
Edited to add: Click here to read the next installment of this saga! 
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it is a travestly that you have to pay for your records at all but welcome to the new millenium….
I’ve linked this issue to a post by the Urban Panther who is discussing some horrendous care her mother has been receiving at the hands of our wonderful Canadian health care system. Though your situation is aggravating to be sure, at least you still have some sort of control over things. (providing you have $$$ and/or insurance) We, on the other hand are helpless. http://www.urbanpantherslair.com/2009/01/failures-in-the-medical-profession.html?cid=146316988#comments
Princess Extraordinaire: At this point, not much surprises me.
XUP: Thanks for providing the link! The state of affairs in Canada can make my little complaint look silly, but it’s hard to compare the two systems. I am extremely grateful that I have a choice of doctor, access to excellent healthcare, and the means to make decisions for my family.