The hubby and I decided to change our regular OB and go to a smaller practice rather stay with someone who was chosen for us.
You see, the OB we saw for infertility just had us transferred to a regular OB within the practice. So I feel I didn't have much choice in the matter since he just made an appointment for us to see her without really consulting us who we want to be transferred to. And it annoyed me a little.
During my first pregnancy, this practice has been on my top list for prenatal care. But we were on HMO and my choice was limited to in-network. So we chose to see a midwife and go to a birthing center instead.
When came time to explore fertility treatments, I read on their website that they provide these services. So I decided to call them and set up an appointment. Besides, it didn't matter where I go for treatments since our current insurance doesn't cover anything regarding fertility anyway.
But now that I've experienced going through their system, I find some things I dislike. For one thing, the lab they used is not affiliated with my insurance. I had to pay the two blood draws out-of-pocket! I even had to pay for the past two ultrasounds out-of-pocket, too, since the code they used is for fertility-related stuffs! I mean how could that be considered for fertility when we got pregnant on our own. Shouldn't that be coded as regular prenatal care ultrasounds? Yeah, that made me extremely annoyed. Again.
Then having us transferred to a regular OB we didn't have time to get to know more about got my goat. I know I should be grateful for the proactive approach but could we, at least, read about this person's credentials before we commit to the whole process? I know, I'm probably just being paranoid. But I'm no longer a blissful mother-to-be. I'm this nervous wreck who couldn't help but be proactive about my care and be my own advocate.
I will try not to control anything but I'd like to have confidence in my healthcare provider. Not that I didn't during my pregnancy with Kai. But that felt like we were in a totally different dimension. That there was nothing to fear, that everything would be just fine. It was in a totally different state of mind. Way different.
Now, the goal is to hopefully have a living, breathing and healthy baby at the end of this pregnancy. Emphasis on the word "hopefully" because we know nothing is guaranteed even at the very last minute.
Also, something happened during our first visit with the regular OB in the big practice turned Dave off. He was in the waiting room while I was being examined and so got a first hand look at how the front office staff works and interact with clients.
He overheard one staff talking to a client on the phone who has a concern (he wasn't sure what the concern was about but he gathered she wanted to talk to the OB). The staff proceeded to give her medical instructions and then dismissed her rather abruptly. Then the said staff conferred what the concern was with the other staff and they got into this opinion exchange. After that, this said staff called the client again and told her a different thing, saying that what she said earlier wouldn't work. I mean, was that a qualified medical opinion she could give? It didn't even come from the doctor!
Dave shuddered at the thought that we had to deal with this kind of staff. He said he felt there was no sympathy nor reassurance that came from them, just dismissal and cold efficiency. I would really hate to be dealing with people like that throughout this pregnancy. I'm already on edge but I think they would just push me over it with their attitude. That wouldn't be a good experience at all.
So we chose a small practice with an OB and a certified nurse midwife with a small staff I could get to know very well and call by name. I've read about them in my online search and encountered quite a number of good testimonials from actual clients. Plus, I like to deal with as little red tape as possible.
We get to talk directly to the OB and/or CNM and not a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant in every visit. We also get to spend more time with them for questions and concerns as oppose to wham-bam-15-minutes-and-you're-gone.
So after I get my first trimester screening - blood work and urine test - results, we'll go to our new OB clinic in two weeks. For the meantime, I need to work on having my medical record and lab results forwarded to them.
Then having us transferred to a regular OB we didn't have time to get to know more about got my goat. I know I should be grateful for the proactive approach but could we, at least, read about this person's credentials before we commit to the whole process? I know, I'm probably just being paranoid. But I'm no longer a blissful mother-to-be. I'm this nervous wreck who couldn't help but be proactive about my care and be my own advocate.
I will try not to control anything but I'd like to have confidence in my healthcare provider. Not that I didn't during my pregnancy with Kai. But that felt like we were in a totally different dimension. That there was nothing to fear, that everything would be just fine. It was in a totally different state of mind. Way different.
Now, the goal is to hopefully have a living, breathing and healthy baby at the end of this pregnancy. Emphasis on the word "hopefully" because we know nothing is guaranteed even at the very last minute.
Also, something happened during our first visit with the regular OB in the big practice turned Dave off. He was in the waiting room while I was being examined and so got a first hand look at how the front office staff works and interact with clients.
He overheard one staff talking to a client on the phone who has a concern (he wasn't sure what the concern was about but he gathered she wanted to talk to the OB). The staff proceeded to give her medical instructions and then dismissed her rather abruptly. Then the said staff conferred what the concern was with the other staff and they got into this opinion exchange. After that, this said staff called the client again and told her a different thing, saying that what she said earlier wouldn't work. I mean, was that a qualified medical opinion she could give? It didn't even come from the doctor!
Dave shuddered at the thought that we had to deal with this kind of staff. He said he felt there was no sympathy nor reassurance that came from them, just dismissal and cold efficiency. I would really hate to be dealing with people like that throughout this pregnancy. I'm already on edge but I think they would just push me over it with their attitude. That wouldn't be a good experience at all.
So we chose a small practice with an OB and a certified nurse midwife with a small staff I could get to know very well and call by name. I've read about them in my online search and encountered quite a number of good testimonials from actual clients. Plus, I like to deal with as little red tape as possible.
We get to talk directly to the OB and/or CNM and not a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant in every visit. We also get to spend more time with them for questions and concerns as oppose to wham-bam-15-minutes-and-you're-gone.
So after I get my first trimester screening - blood work and urine test - results, we'll go to our new OB clinic in two weeks. For the meantime, I need to work on having my medical record and lab results forwarded to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment