It's been 5 months since I started the process of getting surgery to remove the PVNS that is currently growing in my right knee.
I found a new doctor right away when my family doctor retired in August. I explained to the new doctor that I need him to refer me to an out of network doctor but I won't even know who unless I can magically pull one out of the sky. He Googled one and found a guy who might be able to do the job. He popped up first under "PVNS surgeon". Only getting the referral through the authorization process of my insurance was like watching a cat play with a toy mouse. I found going to the doctors office and talking to people in person was a great start. I got results faster that way. I was given the specific name and number to call the insurance person to explain why it is important that I get my referral authorized sooner than later. But getting that woman to call me back has been futile. I found it to be more effective to keep going back to the doctors office and telling the referral coordinator that I was going nowhere. She got on top of it and sent the approved referral to the right doctor in December of 2015.
I didn't hear anything and tried calling the primary doctors office but their automated phone system makes me want to pull my hair out. So I went back down to the doctors office and explained to the referral coordinator that I still hadn't heard anything. She said to call the surgeons office direct and make an appointment because the referral had been sent.
I called 3 weeks into January. Guess what? Well, besides the phone number she gave me not working, the surgeons office said they never got the referral. I went back down to the primary doctors office and told the referral coordinator that I'm still stuck in referral limbo land. She said she would take care of it. I called the very next day to make my appointment, they still didn't have the referral! The surgeons office said that I should just keep calling back daily. I seem to think work can get done within 2 days.
I just got off the phone with the surgeons office and the 3rd person I have talked to there said that it can actually take up to 48 hours for the referral to be uploaded so I need to call back again tomorrow.
... Continued. I waited 2 more days and called again. The surgeons office said they see that the referral was sent to the wrong fax and it wasn't in their office. I called my primary doctors office and told the referral coordinator that the last 2 fax numbers she tried were incorrect and provided her with the correct one.
I seriously feel like I have to do other peoples jobs. I'm trying to maintain being polite about it.
