Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Annie's Desk, March 3, 2010

Annie often gets sales pitches. When that happens, she has carte blanche from me to do or say whatever she wants. And she does.


Annie: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Annie."

Donny Dingo: "Hi! This is Donny Dingo! From FubarMED medical software! Can I speak to your office manager?"

Annie: "You got her. How can I help you?"

Donny Dingo: "No, I'd like to help YOU! With our all-purpose electronic medical records system!"

Annie: "No thanks, but can you help me with your screwed up online prescription service? It's a piece of crap."

Donny Dingo: "Yes, I can direct you to someone who knows about that sort of thing. But first, let me send you a link to try our electronic medical record keeping system FOR FREE! ABSOLUTELY FREE!"

Annie: "We don't need one. Dr. Grumpy wrote his own. But we do use your online e-prescribing service, and I'd like to discuss problems with it because..."

Donny Dingo: "That's great! I'm looking forward to working with you guys! What is your office phone number and fax and email, and I'll send you the link!"

Annie: " You already have our phone number, because you called me. You have no clue about the e-prescribing issues, do you?"

Donny Dingo: "I'll get you this info right away! Thank you! Have a nice day!"

Annie: "Can you at least give me a number for the e-prescribing complaint department? Hello?"

(click)

16 comments:

Cthulhu Sashimi said...

Another one fails the Turing test.

Anonymous said...

like the fools who cold call me to contribute to the tea baggers against health care reform, when i support universal coverage.

bb said...

Was that a "real" person or a computer?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Annie says it was a real person, just so stupid and involved in their sales pitch they didn't pay attention to what she had to say. She said they had a cough.

Anonymous said...

I know you hit on this several weeks ago but I was wondering if you can explain again for those who suffer from cerebral flatulence (maybe it's my age--not asking for medical advice--just a general question). Will you still see patients from three years ago that are on Medicare (meaning are they "grand fathered in)? Or is the Medicare Change for everyone including past patients. Okay, I don't think this makes an OUNCE of sense but maybe someone can rescue me here...............cerebral flatulence; I am sticking too it! Thanks Grumpy! You have one heck of a blog and I love the stories. I just pray that MY NEUROLOGIST doesn't have a BLOG. For goodness sakes I hope that your not my NEURO (LOL). So, does anyone know what these patients are going to do other than CLOG up ER's? Just wondering, really! Take care!

Anonymous said...

I used to love saying "one moment please - I'll just put you on hold to transfer you straight through!!" and put them on hold. And continue to. Sometimes - they were so caught up in their own recited guff I would play with them a little and could say all sorts of stuff and they always reply in the same way- never really listening - (after I had said NO several times) I might say something like "OK, yes, our moon is made of spreadable cheese, and that system works fine for us" , or "the office trombone player you requested is in a lesbian tangled tryst right about now - being tuesday - I'm looking at her diary- and hmm, ok , when she pops her clothes back on we'll be all go" or whatever, sometimes we would read sentences as answers from the local newspaper. French accents were fun too; movie lines, Couldn't help it - tried so hard to get a different response...and they would always reply like your Donny Dingo... no clue to what I had just said ..ignoring the 4 times I had said "no thank you! " from the get go!

Carol said...

I used to give the phone to my younger daughter to talk to "sales" people. That was the last time they called. Wanna borrow a 7 year old?

pharmfriend said...

Sorry, but so far, my experience with E-prescribing has been a TOTAL disaster. An office sent over an rx for Zocor (simvastatin) 20 mg...take one tablet four times daily as needed. The nurse couldn't understand why I called to get it corrected. Duh....

terri c said...

An e-prescription program that's a piece of crap? How very stunning. NOT. REALLY makes you want to see more products from the same company. Go Annie!!!

Grumpy, M.D. said...

I am not taking new Medicare patients, but will continue to see the ones who are already established with me. I don't have the heart to make them change neurologists at this point in their lives.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for clarifying that from your office policy; but the whole thing is as clear as mud for me. Will you still get paid the few bucks for seeing them or is it a wash. What I am trying to understand is that it's optional whether a doctor continue taking Medicare patients because the reinbursement is less? I can understand because I see what my PCP, NEURO, RHEUMY or any other one of my many doctors and I also see what they get paid and I find it to be a joke. My neuro spends AT LEAST an hour with me once every 2-3 months. He charges somewhere between (I can't remember who charges what) $175-$225 and gets about $100-$125. It's still a lot of money but, still.

Anonymous said...

Coffee is for closers!

Kat's Kats said...

Some of the poor things are only paid if they follow the script exactly. ::there, there poor things:: And then there's the proven scientific fact that working at a call center sucks 5 points off of your IQ for every 8 hours you have to work there. Now if some people only didn't have to pay college loans, electricity, food, housing, clothing, etcetera etcetera etcetera ::shudder::

Anonymous said...

Would also like to hear about your e-prescribing problems. We got rid of ours after 18 months, and haven't regretted it for a moment.

Grumpy, M.D. said...

I go into more detail here:

http://drgrumpyinthehouse.blogspot.com/2009/05/e-prescribing-crap.html

Anonymous said...

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