Dr. Hormel may be great - I hear and read great things about him, I have not been there yet. But his office staff - holy cow, what a bureaucratic trainwreck! I have been trying for almost a month to get an appointment scheduled. First I naively called in, asking if I could get an appointment. NO! First, was interrogated - who referred you? why do you want to see him? Really pointed, hostile questioning. I politely explained I had a skiing accident, went to another orthopedic surgeon initially, that doc immediately told me I had a torn ACL, they did an MRI, said I would need surgery if I ever was to do any sort of activity (ski, jump, run, play any sport, etc.). I wanted a 2nd opinion, and I wanted to see if the glowing reports of Dr Homel I see online are true. If I'm gonna have the surgery, Dr Hormel sounds like the best guy... Their office starts off by telling me that I can't just get an appointment, Dr. Hormel will be the one to decide if he wants to see me. Hmmm. OK, he's a busy guy, doctor-to-the-stars, whatever. They say I need to provide my medical records (MRI, clinical notes, etc.) from the first guy. They seem very irritated that I was referred by "a friend" (my "friend" is my spouse, who is an OR nurse in a local hospital; she asked THEIR orthopedic surgeons who's the best knee guy in town). I ask the scheduling person, can you even tell me if he is booked up for a month, six months? If I go through all your hoops, will I have to wait a year to get on his schedule? If so, I'm not going to bother. No, they won't tell me anything, and seem pretty annoyed that I would ask such a thing. OK, so I contact the first doctor's office. They have apparently contracted out all medical records, so I contact their service, several days later they eventually email me a form to fill out and send back. I do. 2 weeks go by, I get an email from them that they have received my form. Hmmm. After another week, I call back Dr. Hormel's office, again asking to make an appointment. They tell me they never received my records. I suggest maybe the records company sent them electronically (it's an MRI, 3-D exploded view, fancy technology...). No, they say they only accept records via fax. OKaaaaay. I chase down the medical records company again (they don't like to answer their phone). Finally found someone there who then tells me they did send my records, via fax, to the number I requested over 2 weeks ago. I ask them to please re-send, and confirm the fax number. They say they will right away. 15 minutes later I call back Dr Hormel's office. After 3 attempts to reach a human (only got voice mail or a "call center" that said all they could do was take a message), finally someone in the appointments department answers the phone. I explain the history, ask him to go check the fax machine. He comes back and says yes, we received the fax several days ago, but it hasn't been processed yet. He says to back again next week. I ask what I should expect next, he says he doesn't know, can't tell me anything, just call back next week. I ask who I should ask for (since he seems pretty clueless about the process). He doesn't know. Exasperated, I explain that I have been trying to just get an appointment - or just find out if I will ever be granted an appointment - and I've spent a month trying so far, and I am concerned that the delay is going to have an impact on the outcome of my surgery. He just says call back next week. Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, this is like dealing with the Russian Army. Dr. Hormel may in fact be a great surgeon, but it seems I'll never find out. The office he works in makes the Department of Motor Vehicles look like a customer-friendly paragon of efficiency. Sheeesh. read more