I feel pretty fortunate. Our current primary care physician (we are in an HMO, can you tell?) is pretty considerate. He obviously places a high value on our time as well as his own. We are usually in and out.

But Lissa’s (recurring) reports beg a few questions: Does the unacceptable amount of waiting time result from doctors and medical offices billing our health plans by the hour? Or do they bill by visits/actions? I think the latter, but am not sure. Does anybody know? I thought it worthy of a phone call to ask our HMO how it works. I must admit I got the answer I expected…No, doctors bill for visits and services, not time.

Exception: the anesthesiologist, or was it the anesthetist. Can’t remember. Ironic that the person who controls who long you are out is the one who is apparently paid on a time basis!

Anyway, that first question leads to another thought: If there isn’t already a website for it, wouldn’t it be nice if there was one…organized by state, city, clinic name/doctor’s name…where you could document (by type of appointment/follow-up activity) the amount of time you spend WAITING to see someone or or do something?

If nothing else it would provide an assessment of a medical office’s time management and scheduling abilities. The intention would be focus a little attention on something that has been a problem for many. It might even provide an incentive for a doctor or other medical care provider to be a little more considerate…by exercising a little better time management.

This (hypothetical?) website might also provide a means of documenting other complaints about the level/quality of service. It’s possible there could be legal ramifications to this part, perhaps, so it might be better to leave it for another day.

A more cynical person might well add that such a website allows you to assess whether or not a particular doctor really CARES about the impact all that waiting time can have on your day…and your kids’ day. Heck, we all know that just preparing for an outing, any outing that includes the children, can chew up a chunk of your day!

Perhaps the site could also contain links to some of the more common HMO/health plans, making it easier for you to log in and file a complaint. Not, of course, that it would necessarily do much good. (Oops, there’s that cynicism again!)

Now that you are back in the Ambleside groove, do you have any advice about getting readers to slow down, I know you posted about this once, and I think that I can manage it with the read alouds, since I control the pace, we can get several books going at once, but what about in PT’s own reading? Do I tell him he can only read a chapter a day? He reads on his own during quiet time and before bed, and he is blowing through a few books a week.

I really want to come live at your house and I find it very hard to believe you get grumpy though obviously you must.

I hope next week is better for you!