In Praise of My HMO

[akirlu]

Yeah, it's not what you usually hear. But I have to say, I love my HMO. They're good folks. And they've got a truly kick-ass electronic records system.

This morning I went in to get a blood draw -- a routine thing to check levels for a prescription I'm on. I went in when the clinic first opened and sailed straight in to the lab, no line, no sign in. The phlebotomy tech took my member number directly, punched it into her computer, but couldn't find an order for the draw. Rather than sending me away she jotted me down the phone number for my principal doctor's office, and sat me down by a house phone to call and check directly with my doctor. (My primary care doc is still in Redmond 'cause I really like her, but for bitty stuff I go to the clinic by my house in Kent.) So I call and get routed to my primary care doc's office, where my doctor answers the phone herself. Doc pulls up my record on her computer in a matter of seconds (would have been faster if she could spell my name, but hey), and it turns out I had misremembered -- I should have gone in after six months from the last stick, not three, but she says "There are all sorts of ways to do things and since you're there you might as well get it now." So she enters the request on her computer, I ring off, and by the time I'm back in the phlebotomist's chair, the order is up on the tech's screen, so we do the quick jab and off I go to work.

This afternoon I got e-mailed that my lab results were in, so I got online and looked at them and found my levels to be in the nominal range, so while I was already logged I ordered my next batch of drugs for home delivery. And, while I was thinking about it, I pulled up a copy of last year's eyeglass prescription that I never did get filled and printed that out so I can maybe poke around for my next glasses.

There were several points in this process where things could have gotten bogged down in bureaucracy or records management delays, but instead I sailed through all of them, even though I was three months early for my lab work. I went from walking in on the wrong date to having my test results and drugs on the way in less than one working day. Easy peasy.

Especially when I compare this to my dentist, who had to courier my records to my oral surgeon when I had my last two wisdom teeth out, I simply marvel at the fuss-free, seamless efficiency of my HMO. Smart computer records, FTW, man.

Comments

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Yay for good HMOs and great electronics record management. Yeah, that's how my HMO works, too, though there are check-in people for the lab.

I totally adore online access to test results and the like. My HMO isn't 100% of the way there, but routine lab results are available, like yours. Being able to review mine before going in for my annual physical takes bunches of the apprehension out of the equation and gives me time to prepare questions rather than being flooded with lab result info during the appointment only to realize I don't understand one of the numbers an hour after I leave the doctor's office.

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

I have Kaiser, and they have all the info online as well. It is so much nicer than waiting and waiting for a letter. I always refill my drugs online and schedule appointments that way, too. And I can e-mail questions to my doctor. I love living in the future.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm just tickled when I walk into an examination room and whoever I'm seeing can pull up my records on the flat panel monitor right there in the room. It's very much living in the future.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

You have Group Health, don't you? That's associated with Kaiser. If I moved, I wouldn't have to be checked or anything. I had labs today, but it took the phlebotomist a bit to get all the tube printouts -- the software doesn't handle labs from multiple doctors very well and I have two doctors and 21 labs (only the one stick, of course) every four weeks. I think it's the same electronic system; I expect to see my labs on Monday, because the doctor has to release them to your record.

My doctors frequently pull up records and then show me reports for extra things -- like the DEXA scan when I saw that rheumatologist the last time (new rheumatologist in two weeks, I hope she's as good). I do my meds in mail, but probably not why you do. All the pharmacies here have lines longer than I can stand in. They say just step to the counter and hand my refill in and sit, but all the people in line get very angry at me. I do the inline/counter thing when I have to fill narcotics.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I gather I've been lucky to be where good options exist, but both my most recent HMOs have been really solid groups.

[k6rfm.livejournal.com]

You've said "HMO" but it must be Kaiser, right? I don't know of any other organization that has gotten beyond fee-for-service. (I've been on Kaiser since 1976.)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Nope, not Kaiser. Hal was with them as a kid, but I never have been. In fact, it isn't available to State employees in this neck of the woods. We use Group Health here in WA, and in CA, we were with Bristol Park Medical Group -- both were very good, in my experience.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Sorta. You know how there are Kaiser Permanate facilites all over the country and you can move between them without retesting and so forth? Group Health is part of that group for a bit longer. KP has a trial set-up where Group Health is -- Oregon and Washington.

I joined Georgetown Community Healthplan in 1977 and when it was bought by Kaiser, I moved, too.

[farmgirl1146.livejournal.com]

Thank you.