PRO TIP: DO NOT BE LESS THAN 15 MINUTES EARLY FOR YOUR FIRST APPOINTMENT.
Today, after hearing raving reviews from my two best friends, I saw Dr. Katz for a consult. On the phone, they told me to be sure to arrive 15 minutes early for my appointment to fill out paperwork. This is certainly not the first time I've seen a new doctor, I know the drill. i showed up at 9:20 for a 9:30 appointment (I walked from my apartment, left when GoogleMaps said, and got there 5 minutes later than the app said, IDK what to tell you). As soon as I approached the receptionist she said "You're late." I said "Am I? My appointment was at 9:30..." She responded "The doctor likes her new patients to arrive 15 minutes early for appointments." I apologized, gave them my insurance and ID card, and took the clipboard to fill out while I waited. I filled everything out quickly and turned it back in at 9:30.
Flash forward to 10am, I've seen 2 patients come to see Dr. Katz and walk right in. I approached the reception desk and inquired. They said the Dr. was 20 minutes behind and I was next. Odd, my math showed she was 30 minutes behind, but I digressed.
Flash forward to 10:30am, I've now seen 4 patients arrive AFTER me to see Dr. Katz, and be seen. I heard patients say "I'm here for my 10am appointment with Dr. Katz" and see them get taken right away. At this point I feel pretty disrespected, or at least owed a "OMG SORRY, your name got taken out of queue" ...I reapproached the counter and they said "No your name wasn't taken out of queue, you're up soon."
At this point I'm starting to get nervous for my noon presentation at the office. Typically a 9:30 consult shouldn't put pressure on being to the office by noon, but I started contemplating having to leave- except they charge like $100 for a missed appointment, so I was getting anxious- the last thing you want to be before someone invades your lady parts.
Finally at 10:50 my name was called. I go back, the nurse re-asks me everything I already answered on the paper work I filled out, and she asks me to- you guessed it- fill out MORE paperwork. She leaves me with a clipboard, I fill it out in 1 minute and wait 9. The nurse comes back at 11am to collect my clipboard of paperwork. I asked the nurse how long I can expect to wait for Dr. Katz. She tells me "well she just went in with a patient so she'll be in after that- I'd say about 15 minutes." I was blown away. ANOTHER PATIENT?! Sigh. So I asked her pretty pointedly, "What happened here? My appointment was at 9:30, I saw a ton of patients get seen before me that showed up AFTER me...did I do something wrong?" and the nurse says "Dr. Katz is very particular about her new patients being on time." I said "With all due respect, I was 10 minutes early..." and she said "I would recommend you talk to Dr. Katz about this."
So being the no BS gal that I am, when Dr. Katz arrived, I said pretty frankly "Hi! Nice to meet you. Did I do something to piss you off? I've got a noon presentation and it's 11:20...I've been here for 2 hours..." She said, also frankly, "Nobody's pissed off, I just make sure to be on time for the people who are also on time. I had patients show up that weren't late, and it wouldn't be fair to them to push them back because you were late."
At this point I was done defending myself for being 10 minutes early. The consult was fine, quick, expectedly painful, and thorough. But I just can't get past how awfully I was treated. If it's true that they need you there a firm 15 minutes before your appointment, SCHEDULE ME FOR 9:15. Or at least say if you're NOT 15 min early, you'll lose your appointment. Or at least tell me, when I've apparently LOST my appointment, that I can reschedule. I felt like nobody was direct at ALL and I had excuses on top of excuses to give my male superiors at my office about why I was so late today.
3 stars for the quality of care- when I finally received it. It was good, and I have no gripes with that.
But otherwise...DAMN....just be EARLY. WHATEVER YOU DO. Or you'll be made to feel like you robbed a bank. read more