Nothing but a struggle with these folks who rely way too much on computers.
I am out of my home area, but my doctor needed a simple blood test (Cholesterol and liver function), so I searched for a lab near me and found Quest near me in Oakhurst.
I first drove 20 miles to the clinic to ask if they were covered by my insurance plan, but they have ZERO office staff to ask. There was only a windowless room with a computer terminal and 3 waiting patients. So I went home and called the Quest phone number to talk to someone...I thought. I found no possibility to actually get a human response there either, as when the answering machine is done with you, it simply hangs up.
I then called both Medicare and Blue Shield who determined that they "probably" were in my plans. So I went online and created a Quest account and chose an online appointment and had my out-of-state doctor fax the lab order to the number I found there, several days in advance.
I arrived at my appointed time, about 10 minutes early, and tried to check in (with my phone). Nope, the computer response told me I had to wait 5 minutes to check in, then proceeded to count down on the phone for me until it was ready for me to check in. Silly.
After I checked in, a VERY NICE Phlebotomist quickly collected me and brought me into a chair. Then she was unable to find the lab request in their system. She gave me a card with a fax number on it and I contacted my Doctor who re-faxed the order. When it arrived, I was again taken back into the chair. Then the Phlebotomist asked for my insurance cards and processed them. Quest can't afford staff to greet customers and take care of copying insurance cards? But they can use a specially trained phlebotomist to do that work? Wow.
After completing the blood draw, I informed my doctor that it was completed. After over a week, my doctor called me and stated that the lab results had not yet been received and asked if I could help. The doctor's nurse had also gone through the terrible answering machine service and could not get any human response, nor could she leave a message. Even though she had selected that she was a provider, the answering machine just hung up on her.
At this point, I went back into my Quest account and requested my lab report, intending to forward it to my doctor. Two days later, at 6:30 AM, the Quest system generated a "no reply email" telling me that it could not find the lab tests I requested. In the interim, my doctor called and reported that the Quest lab results were just received BY US MAIL!!!! Quest relies on computers when they should have a human; they rely on the US Mail when they should be expediting lab results via computers/fax machines.
Update: At 9:58 AM on this same date that I received the "There are no lab results" email, I received an email that my lab results were now available! Wow. They are only available AFTER they mailed them to my doctor, AFTER my doctor received them yesterday by mail.
If I need to get any more tests, it will be elsewhere...despite the fact that the Phlebotomist was GREAT. None of my complaints are about her. read more
