I’ve mentioned before about how Monterey is laid back and the local government is not very high tech – everything being done by phone or snail mail. The healthcare system, though, is a different matter. Everyone’s connected, and prescriptions, lab orders, referrals, and the like whiz through cyberspace from your doctor’s office to the appropriate service providers.
Need a prescription…it’s not written on the little prescription pads of old. The doctor enters in into the computer and it winds up at your pharmacy. Same for any lab test, x-rays, or scans ordered. Referrals to other specialists are also entered in the system – and often the specialist’s office will call YOU to schedule an appointment when they get the order.
It’s actually a good system, I just wasn’t used to it when I went to my first doctor’s appointment. When the doctor said “I’d like you to get a cholesterol test, what lab do you use?” I didn’t have the slightest idea. I’m used to that kind of thing being done in the doctor’s office, or being told somewhere specific to go. No problem, they gave me a printed “open” order with no provider filled in, and a list of labs, and I picked one and it all worked out fine.
I recently had to call my doctor’s office on a Friday afternoon when a minor problem I’d been treated for previously seemed to be coming back. In case it got worse over the weekend, I thought, “I’d better call now.”
I described the symptoms to the nurse, and she said someone would call back. Within the hour, I got a return call. Doctor wants me to get some lab work and also ordered some meds. She asked what lab and pharmacy wanted to use (a question that would have thrown me for a loop if I wasn’t already used to the system). I liked the lab I went before, but momentarily drew a blank on the name. “Mmmmm, you know, it’s on Cass Street . . . in an office park with a lot of medical offices . . .” She knew I meant Hunter Labs (it’s a small town, after all) and said she’d send an order as well as enter a prescription.
So I jumped in the car for the 5-minute drive to Hunter Labs. No one in the waiting room – later Friday seems to be an excellent time to go. Anyway, I told the receptionist my doctor sent an order, she glanced at the fax machine, and sure enough, there it was sitting in the tray. In-and-out, 5 minutes. Then over to Rite Aid to pick up my prescription, and I was back home, medicated, and feeling better in well less than an hour. Awesome.
Check out the new page I’ve added a page to this site with more info about what I’ve learned so far about healthcare in this area.
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