I have a rare form of cancer that has had limited progression because of too low a dose of a targeted therapy drug. My local Mayo health system clinic has referred me to the main Mayo Clinic in Rochester because the main Mayo Clinic does not allow the health system clinics to do certain testing such as PET scans. I am trying to schedule a follow-up PET scan and blood work and consultation which should not be hard, should it? You cannot believe how difficult this has been for Mayo's scheduling. Not only I, but also my family, has had this same problem with Mayo's admin work. It is abysmal. Not only that, but the scheduling people do not seem to understand how hard it is to fast for testing until noon in a day. Nor do they comprehend that it is winter in Minnesota and elderly people cannot drive in the dark, and that weather determines a lot of what scheduling is necessary. If I had any other choice other than seeing Mayo for my cancer, believe me, I would go there. The doctors are great, but the support personnel and admin systems are ridiculously bad, inadequate, and stupid beyond belief.
To continue with my story, I am trying to get a reasonable accommodation to quietly read during my PET scans. Other scan providers allow reading and TV watching. Mayo seems to think my request will ruin my scan. I guess it has been forgotten that I am paying for this scan and that a less than perfect scan is on me. We'll see if I will be accommodated. The main problem here, as I see it, is that Mayo fails to live up to its mission statement that the NEEDS OF THE PATIENT COME FIRST. In my dealings with radiology, the patient is just a lab animal with no patient rights to say no or ask for anything other than the rigid procedures.
I will continue this story. But, any Mayo patient who needs any kind of accommodation from this clinic will face difficulties.
So the story continues:
Since January 2019, my spouse has been trying to schedule his 6-month eye checkup in opthamology. First, in January he was told he would be scheduled in a couple of days. Nothing. After a month he then called and was told he could not get an appointment for another 3 months--now it would be 2 months past the time he was told to return. Finally after 3 tries and much angst, he got his appointment with profuse apologies on the part of the scheduling idiots. These scheduling people actually suggested (without knowing what his health condition was) that he should go to the local Mayo health system hospital. Of course, that hospital does not have the expertise nor equipment to do what my spouse needs done. My spouse has been going to Mayo for a decade because of his opthamology needs. Mayo's administration is broken and stupid beyond belief.