I'm going to take a friend to Pittsburgh to have kidney surgery Friday.
Sometime.

At all of their facilities, for all procedures, UPMC refuses to give you an advance
appointment.

A little game they play.
Even for colonoscopies, they have you prepare like it's going to be done at 5am,
but you won't find out when until the evening before. I've seen folks do the prep and fast, then be told to show up at 3pm.

Sure would be nice to know, especially going to Pittsburgh the Friday before a Monday
Christmas.

Conemaugh schedules everything, even simple tests and scans.

Is this just monopolistic UPMC flexing their muscles, or is it common

At our facilities, especially the outpatient surgery center, the pt is usually told to arrive 2 hrs before the “expected” surgery start time. That gives enough time to change clothes, do paperwork, and repeat labs, if necessary.

Having people show up at 6am for a possible 3-4 pm start time sounds like a place that is either quite inefficient, or would rather make EVERYONE miserable rather than deal with a patient here or there that is irritated by a surgery delay.

They don't show up then.

For colonoscopies they make them prep for a 5 or 6 am procedure,
But won't give them an appointment time until the evening before.
So, the poor bas--rd has crapped his guts out, lived on broth, then started fasting,
only to find out his procedure will be 12 hours later. That much longer to starve, for
no good reason.

All tests are like that.
My then pregnant wife had to do glucose tolerance test, and a bunch of
other tests with our first child. We drove 35 miles, one way, to a hospital decent enough to schedule the tests. Instead of using the one 4 miles from home.



I'm told that this facility in Pittsburgh sometimes has distant patients show up
the evening before for early scheduled procedures. I'm kinda hoping for that.

Unfortunately I'm the driver for something my folks arranged, and
they aren't for crap on details or getting ducks lined up.

I just learned where we are actually going, because I insisted on finding out!
No idea what is being done to him, if its out patient, if he will stay, or how long.

Be kinda nice to know if I'm there all day, into the evening, going back?
When?


All I know is he is a grade school friend of mine who i havent seen much of for 40 years. He has been doing some carpenter work for Mom who found out he has been losing kidney function.
Lost 16% more in the last year.
He needs whatever this is done, and wasn't going to do it because he
didn't have a driver.

I'm glad to do this, but everyone wants to make it harder than it should be.
just a simple 120 mile crappy drive, two ways.
Twice?
Darn, just thought about follow up!🙃

I had carpal and ulnar surgery in July on my right arm and I didn’t know what time the next day until 5pm the day before. Same surgery is scheduled in less than a month for the left side and it’s the same deal, 5pm the day before and they’ll let me know.

And I should add, if they did that for an upper or lower GI I’d tell them to pound salt up their ass.

It's not just UPMC - seems to be normal for all inpatient facilities around here.

That's what happened to me last week. I had surgery scheduled on Tuesday and they couldn't give me a time until 2:00pm on Monday. But they were fitting me in before the end of the year while my deductibles were all paid! They were actually as good as it gets. Steadman Hawkins is bada$$!

Nice they did that.

UPMC owns the hospitals, has co-opted the docs into becoming employees (or lose privileges), and has used their power to monopolize the insurance business.

They wouldn't WANT to get you in like that.

Around here, i
t's either UPMC everything,
or herb and mud poultices.

Pretty common practice in big university med practices. I remember a followup trauma clinic that there were two appt times, 7:30 am and 1 pm. Forst come, first serve.

If they are like the medical community down here, they will deliver about a D- service, yet demand an A+ price. Pathetic!

Been there, done that. First stop after leaving the hospital is the nearest restaurant.

Any facility that's run by Ascension sucks like a Dyson vacuum cleaner. All of their "customer service" calls are routed to a call center staffed by east Indians, including scheduling. They make every effort to do everything through a "patient portal" website, which we refuse to use. The one and only time my wife tried to pay a bill online, a hacker almost succeeded in transferring $35K from our savings account to a bank in Singapore!

Surgery experience is somewhat strong, but very limited with providers - to Mayo Rochester and Carondelet in Tucson. Be there at 5:30 am for prep and procedure starts well before or by 7 am.

Some of those other practices described seem very odd - not patient-centered.

Never heard of such a thing. Be there at "x" time before procedure, and have procedure done at or around the scheduled time. Your example, and others in the thread, is a foreign concept to me.

I could understand if you get there and another patient before you took longer than expected.



Clyde

You time is not valuable; yet if you’re late for an appointment or fail to call at 24 hours in advance to cancel, you either lose your place or have to pay. I love no water after midnight then have surgery late in the afternoon the next day. It’s like they deliberately trying to dehydrate you.

Just got notified 10am Tomorrow.

hope it goes well

Basically, the entire medical profession sucks

Truth.

I just had a procedure yesterday and everything was exactly as you described.

Thank you.

Since late October we lost my Father-in-law, and my brother,
this evening we
go to my Father-in-law's brother's viewing.
We sure could use some great news.

This is a rock solid guy who has had a tough row from birth.
In spite of it all he is a kind, honest, God fearing man.
The world will be better with him in it for a few more decades.

You are all missing some of the real reasons for the scheduling.

The insurance company is delaying the approval or have not given approval for the doctors to do the procedure.

Patients who have not followed directions, like failing to do their lab work. having a designated driver to take them home.

Patients who did not have the referral from their primary care DR. that was needed for the insurance to cover the procedure.

Patients who need to have different Dr. sign off for the procedure failed to follow through.

Patients who need to have a hospital bed after their procedure and none are availabe.

The demand for services is outstripping the facilities's ability to provide.

Factors in problems.



This has been "scheduled" for months.

He has needed it for several yearls.


The asshats just wouldn't commit to the hour until this morning.
I understand emergencies, delays, previous procedures running long,
that's all life. And they obviously could still happen and push
Back his 1pm actual surgery time. So he could have to wait for more than the scheduled 3 hours. (Has to be there 3 hrs early)

But why in the heck could they give him the day months out, but not an (approximate, because on the supply side everything is approximate in medicine) hour.


They can't be anymore certain today than they were in September.



Passes me off, them screwing with folks.
But, that's UPMC.

And from what others have posted, common in about half of hospitals.
Half. Hmmmm, why can others do better?

IME, the availability operating rooms and surgical staff is somewhat limited. Urgent cases are, of course, done before elective ones. When I did hospital work, the OR schedule was typically done the day before. I suspect this is the typical situation. Endoscopy suites are probably subject to the same issues and limitations.

A person’s medical status can change pretty quickly. Lots of issues are just not predictable. The patient who will need an appendectomy tomorrow may be fine today. The inherent uncertainty will probably always exist. 🤔

The wetbacks and welfare parasites who are sucking up all the available medical care are totally screwing up things for anyone who has made any effort to be responsible and provide for their own health care in advance. Then the greedy bastards try to make up their losses on those of us who have even a little bit of ability to pay.

Hotrod Lincoln: You’re preaching to the choir. The Magic Negro/Black Messiah ruined the medical field. I live in one county and the adjacent county is 81% AA. The hospital board is 4-1 as is the county board of supervisors. Recently lost the hospital because of this. Too many relatives hired that are of the it takes 2 to help 1 do nothing caliber, helicopter life flights to gangbangers that need to bleed out. Resources squandered and ruined for everyone. The ones who are responsible and have insurance are milked for all we are worth to make up for the losses. The same thing goes for nursing home facilities. Some get a free ride and citizens and vets get shafted. Our government supports all this. An older gentleman explained the word politics this way it’s a compound word poly and ticks. I know if you got too many blood sucking ticks on a dog, it’s gonna die!My rant for the day.

Hotrod Lincoln: You’re preaching to the choir. The Magic Negro/Black Messiah ruined the medical field. I live in one county and the adjacent county is 81% AA. The hospital board is 4-1 as is the county board of supervisors. Recently lost the hospital because of this. Too many relatives hired that are of the it takes 2 to help 1 do nothing caliber, helicopter life flights to gangbangers that need to bleed out. Resources squandered and ruined for everyone. The ones who are responsible and have insurance are milked for all we are worth to make up for the losses. The same thing goes for nursing home facilities. Some get a free ride and citizens and vets get shafted. Our government supports all this. An older gentleman explained the word politics this way it’s a compound word poly and ticks. I know if you got too many blood sucking ticks on a dog, it’s gonna die!My rant for the day.

For what it's worrh,the trip and surgery went well.

Now, we gotta go back in 2 or 3 days.

Timing sucks, bad....
But work has screwed up Christmas for us before,
this guy is more important than the jobs i no longer hold.

Dillonbuck, how far from Pittsburgh are you? I have to drive there from central Ohio faiy regularly taking organs and blood samples for my part time job. 400 mile round trip. Not too bad at night when traffic is slow. In the daytime it’s a bear. Hope things work out well for you and your friend.
Merry Christmas!

Ron

Upmc is awesome, they saved my dad several times from dieing. I just had my dad there on Tues for some stents. They got the best doctors around and I can't reccomend them enough!!!!

It's common there to not know the surgery time till the day before. It usually is an all day affair but hey they got a good cafeteria and coffee there.

100 miles.


Not a big deal to a former long hauler, when it's happening.
But I can dread it sometimes. Patience is something I lack, dealing with the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and a looming appointment gets me wound tight.



On a happy note,
He called yesterday morning, they were kicking him.

Left here around 2, delivered him home, was eating supper at home around 630.

Everything was great.
Good trips, good surgery, he convinced them to kick him early.

Depending on which hospital, I get off the turnpike and drop down 28.
It's simpler and less hectic than the parkway. This trip was Mercy, it's right off the parkway, on the east side of the city proper.


Kinda laughing at myself.
At one time I might drive from Maine to Georgia in a day and a half.
Seaboard the whole way. Boston, New York, Philthy, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, and the mess that connects them. Different time, different (young) guy.

Good deal!