First, my medical stuff is in a particular medical system which covers a large chunk of Minnesota around the metro. It has been for years. Even when we lived out-of-state they emailed me reminders for shots or mammograms when they hadn't seen me for years. Of course we moved to AZ and a "disadvantage " Medicare system, insurance only good in AZ except for emergencies, but quickly changed after a year of inconvenience. With the last and permanent move, we're back in the old system full time. My primary insurance is now standard Medicare, good everywhere in the country, and has been except that one year. I have a secondary insurance, also very long term. There has been a lot of use put on those cards since retirement. The home address has changed, parts of my health status have changed, which doc does what changes with each specific "what" we're talking about. But all the rest is the same as the last time they asked. My upcoming shoulder replacement is with the same doc as the last one, in the same hospital, with all the rest of my personal details the same, aside from some additional information from a battery of new kinds of diagnostic tests mostly because my primary has been paying attention to my advancing age and noticed some thing have never been done and somewhere in her training there is some kind of "but they should be, sooner than later" caveat affixed to each of them as time marches forward. Bone density is one example. Apparently they're fine. Also not relevant to the upcoming surgery if they did the last one in January successfully without that test result.
One result of that is I keep getting emails requesting all kinds of data from me that are already in my records. I don't mind humoring them to a point. My name is the same, my birthday hasn't changed, my address is in their records along with my phone number, SS number, insurance numbers, husband's name and phone number. No, none of this is in any way related to some work injury or covered by company insurance. I'm still retired, and even though the wear and tear on my body has accumulated over the years, and somewhat attributable to working as hard and long as I did, none of it counts as a work injury any more. There was one of those back in '84 but it no longer counts, and I worked many years after that anyway for a different company. (Yes, that company fired me after I filed workman's comp. Best thing they ever did for me.)
All my medical stuff is available to me and my docs via computer. I can type in a question addressed to any of the docs and get an answer in a few days, whether it's a specific kind of answer like "change medication X to this amount" or "make an appointment for that in time frame Y" or even both. I regularly get a request to go over the list of meds they have for me before any major appointment and make any changes since last time. I often ignore those when nothing has changed, particularly when it takes them a couple months to notice any changes, but do confirm my intention to make it to a particular appointment made earlier. For example I've been having weekly PT since last fall, some pre-surgery, some post surgery, and each week I get an email request to confirm or cancel whatever is upcoming so they know if there's an opening in the schedule or not. No biggie. Just three or four key strokes and it's done. There was one morning when I had to call in anyway to cancel, after watching neighbors work to scrape ice off their cars in order to open doors. I knew I wasn't going anywhere until it melted on its own. Apparently about half their patients cancelled that day. I presume most of them had better arm movement and strength than I did but cancelled anyway. I did feel less guilty for cancelling on them last minute after hearing that.
But every once in a while they send out a 10 page questionnaire they want me to fill out when nothing has changed since, say, my last appointment, including with them a short while earlier. My insurance cards are proffered for proof at the beginning of each year and entered into the system. No changes. I verify my address again each visit, along with all the attendant stuff. No changes. I've been running through a diagnostic whirlwind for a couple months, and no changes aside from them being now on record, the same record they all have access to when I'm their patient.
But they are asking for stuff that has long been on my record and remains so, and I just get tired of it. Can't they just type out a list of, say, a dozen categories and simply ask if there are any changes? I have no problems with a "yes", where applicable, followed by a space for clarification. But no, they need all the details going back a ridiculous distance. On the same form they ask the same question several times, which is even more annoying. Yeah, guys, I'm still at this address from my last visit here three days ago: how many back addresses do you need? I no longer recall the exact street numbers for Georgia, sorry. 223? 232? I can recall that doc's lobby with the wild baby coral snake in it that my middle child found while he was bored and I verified the identity of, reported it to the check-in desk and got dismissed as a nut. (I do hope no other overactive kids explored the space and risked a bite.) I can visualize the house we lived in there if that helps? It's not like I didn't have my much more recent AZ records all transferred up. I am getting fuzzy on that doc's address but know exactly where all the handicap parking spaces in their lot are. Is that helpful? It's not like my appendix isn't still gone and for more than 60 years now. Those don't tend to grow back.You want the date? Are you shitting me? I can give you my age when it happened. If you need a date, call an escort service. I hear they oblige for a significant price, though that's only hearsay from my perspective, and that's all I've got for you.
Today they asked for the date I retired. They will only accept it in the form of a two number month, two number day, and four number year. You know what? I can't tell you any more. It no longer is relevant in my life. I know it was to my boss at the time, but that company doesn't exist any more. I know it was shortly after I qualified for SS and Medicare and just before I knew I'd fail my next DOT physical. Good luck getting ahold of them for that information, especially since DOGE did all they could to destroy those systems from a we-will-communicate-with-you standpoint. But you need a date? Read the above paragraph again.
Meanwhile Steve just baked a cake and went to bed, asking me to frost it. Any more questions whose answers are already in your system, go look it up. That cake is chocolate, with chocolate frosting waiting to get out of the can, and some coconut in a bag just aching to get sprinkled over the top. Bye!
And Yummmmm!
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