Call to make audiologist appointment?!

DeafBadger

DeafBadger

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So two days ago, I went to a web page to make an appointment with my audiologist. She is part of a hospital so naturally, it is drowning in bureaucracy, rules, red tape, and official policies.

The webpage for the audiologist clearly states, "To make an appointment via email, use this form." So I, being the resourceful sort of guy I am, used the form.

It asks for your email address. It asks you to confirm whether you want an appointment confirmation by phone or email. I selected email confirmation, because, well, that's what I wanted. Makes sense, doesn't it?

So the next day, in class, my cell phone vibrates. I check it really quick and it turns out that the audiologist office had CALLED me! I checked my email. No email from them. They called me. Probably because when I selected email confirmation, they reached the natural and obvious conclusion that I really wanted to be called. Honest mistake, I know. ;)

So today, after class, I head down to my audiologist office and talked to the front desk secretary.

"I tried to make an appointment via email the other day," I said, "but instead, I got a phone call. I selected 'email confirmation.' Why did I get a call?"

"Oh," says the secretary, "we don't do that anymore."

"Uh, why not?" questioned I.

"Because," says she, "we were using our personal work email addresses to reply and we're not supposed to use those anymore."

"Well," I said, "that makes it really difficult for me because I really don't hear well on the phone. That's why I tried to make an appointment via email in the first place. Is there any other way to make an appointment?"

"No, just by phone now."

"So basically, you're telling me that that you're an audiologist office..."

She nods.

"... and you don't have a way for your HOH and deaf customers to make an appointment."

She looks at me. And keeps looking at me. And finally, her eyes widen in understanding. :shock:

(Internal voice: "What does she win on our TV game show, Bob?" "Why, Johnny, she gets the most precious of gifts... the gift of Enlightenment!" *cue audience applause*)

So she offered to make an appointment for me while I was there. (Thank you, receptionist, that's very kind of you.)

So when I go in to see my audiologist, I will relate all this to her and push to get an email appointment system back in place. :roll:
 
posts from hell said:
Why bother going to an audiologist that doesn't even recognize deafness?
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You're right. I'm starting to learn to be more assertive about my interests.

This is a new audiologist. The one I had since I was 2 or 3 (when I was first diagnosed) retired without letting me know and I had to scramble to find a new one.

This one is being paid by VR to produce new earmolds for me. They are not fitting properly, so I'm going back in. I can't switch audiologists at this point.

Maybe once the earmold situation is fixed I can look around.

I really think this was a hospital administrative oversight. Some managerial order-from-above that says that employees can't use their personal work email addresses to talk to customers (sorry, "patients") anymore.

So they should have set up a TEAM email address that every secretary can access and reply from. It's not hard to do from an IT perspective.

If they don't resolve this, I will be looking elsewhere.
 
Wirelessly posted (droid)

Do you have a fax program on your computer? No excuse for failure to take that. Routinely used in course of business. I also recommend it for anyone who gets put on perpetual hold.
 
sallylou said:
Wirelessly posted (droid)

Do you have a fax program on your computer? No excuse for failure to take that. Routinely used in course of business. I also recommend it for anyone who gets put on perpetual hold.
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That's a good idea. I don't have a land-line though.

But I think there are some free fax numbers I can get online.

In the age of e-mail, it seems a little strange to use a FAX. Still, whatever gets the job done...
 
Wirelessly posted (droid)

There are some programs that create a fax from an email. Sorry but I don't have specific info. Any one know?
 
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sallylou said:
Wirelessly posted (droid)

There are some programs that create a fax from an email. Sorry but I don't have specific info. Any one know?
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't think there's an excuse for business owners to not use an e-mail system.
 
DeafBadger said:
"Because," says she, "we were using our personal work email addresses to reply and we're not supposed to use those anymore."
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that sounds confusing.

do you mean to say that they were using personal email addresses to reply back to work-related emails?
 
Mine uses email but that's about it. 99% of their customers are the elderly....
 
Got back from audiologist appointment.

I told my audiologist about the whole email thing. She told me that the hospital is trying to adhere to Federal laws about access to patient records. The old system allowed receptionists to see patient records (they are not supposed to), so it's offline until they can figure out a better way.

Apparently, the audiologists in that office have been pressuring their superiors for a while now to get the email appointment system back online ASAP.

The response? "They're working on it."
 
DeafBadger said:
Got back from audiologist appointment.

I told my audiologist about the whole email thing. She told me that the hospital is trying to adhere to Federal laws about access to patient records. The old system allowed receptionists to see patient records (they are not supposed to), so it's offline until they can figure out a better way.

Apparently, the audiologists in that office have been pressuring their superiors for a while now to get the email appointment system back online ASAP.

The response? "They're working on it."
Click to expand...

HIPAA.

I still don't see what's the difference between email and phone when it comes to making appointment.
 
Jiro said:
HIPAA.

I still don't see what's the difference between email and phone when it comes to making appointment.
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I agree... if they are using something like Microsoft Outlook to view and reply to emails, how could it possibly display patient records?
 
You said this one was being paid for by VR. Can you ask your VR counselor to recommend you to another audiologist?
 
I have seen two ads on TV for hearing aids from two difference company and they both did NOT have any CC in their ads!! Some people just do not get it!!
 
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