Appointment dates for Albany Community Care

RedfernTO · Post by **RedfernTO** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:07 pm

Bruce
Defne just posted - on the list July 15th, appointment Dec 29th.
Perhaps Defne's appointment is for the hospital....

defneamber · Post by **defneamber** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:09 pm

yes my appointment is for the hospital bc of insurance.

thornyrose76 · Post by **thornyrose76** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 7:01 pm

I'm in Canada and I called at the end of July- I got a call back soon after and was put on the list andd I haven't heard anything since, though they did say late winter early spring 2011. Any other Canadians who called around that time, have you a date at least? Should I call?

Athena · Post by **Athena** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 7:27 pm

I am Canadian and I received my first phone call back from Dr. Sisken's Albany clinic on June 3, 2010. I am on the waiting list but I have not yet received another phone call with an appointment date.
Regards,
Athena

bruce123 · Post by **bruce123** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:57 am

thornyrose76 wrote:I'm in Canada and I called at the end of July- I got a call back soon after and was put on the list andd I haven't heard anything since, though they did say late winter early spring 2011. Any other Canadians who called around that time, have you a date at least? Should I call?

Thornyrose, you're going to have to be patient I'm afraid. It seems that the people being treated in the clinic now are those who called in very late May. I called May 26 and our appointment is Dec. 1. If you called in July you've got a few months to wait before getting a call to set up your appointment. Keep an eye on this thread.

Our call back to give us the appointment was only 6 weeks in advance.

The gap between hospital appointments (people with insurance) and clinic appointments (others such as Canadians) is getting larger. This is causing more confusion for people who don't know the differance. Please remember the differance between the clinic list and the hospital list. it depends if the person has American health insurance or if they don't.

On another thread someone mentioned that the cost to their insurance company (American) for treatment in Albany was over $21,000. The cost in the clinic is around $7,000. That's quite a differance.

Bruce

RedfernTO · Post by **RedfernTO** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:33 am

To clarify, my friend who called in July and got a date in December is both Canadian and going to the clinic. Was this an error (a happy one for her) or is there is something else affecting the queue?

Cece · Post by **Cece** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:39 am

RedfernTO wrote:To clarify, my friend who called in July and got a date in December is both Canadian and going to the clinic. Was this an error (a happy one for her) or is there is something else affecting the queue?

Whenever there is a cancelation, the next person in the queue gets slotted into the cancelation spot, which could be two months ahead of when they'd have gotten if not for the luck of the draw with the cancelation timing.

But it should always be going forward based on the queue list. If you were ahead of your friend on the queue and your friend got scheduled first, and it's for the clinic, the other possibility could be if you've been assigned to different doctors (Englander, Siskin, Mehdota) and your doctor's scheduling process is slightly slower. A late December appointment might be scheduled now and an early January appointment scheduled when the January scheduling opens and not too much difference there.

MS_HOPE · Post by **MS_HOPE** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:55 am

Does anyone know if Community Care or others with waiting lists might be bumping ahead patients who have more seriously progressing or disabling MS? Can't recall if they asked me this info or not!

Cece · Post by **Cece** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:02 am

MS_HOPE wrote:Does anyone know if Community Care or others with waiting lists might be bumping ahead patients who have more seriously progressing or disabling MS? Can't recall if they asked me this info or not!

When I talked to Dr. Siskin last June, no, they were going first come, first served.

Athena · Post by **Athena** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:07 am

I am on the list for the Sisken, Mandato, Englander clinic. Could part of the problem be that some people are signed up for the Mehta clinic?

Athena

RedfernTO · Post by **RedfernTO** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:29 pm

Thanks for the info Cece.

javabean · Post by **javabean** » Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:28 pm

dumb question...can someone tell me the test done the day before the venogram/procedure? I assume it's the MRV but I'm not even sure exactly what that is. Is it like an ultrasound? If I am correct, it may show nothing while the actual invasive part of the procdedeure may show something. Just looking for some clarification.
Thanks

bruce123 · Post by **bruce123** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:41 am

MS_HOPE wrote:Does anyone know if Community Care or others with waiting lists might be bumping ahead patients who have more seriously progressing or disabling MS? Can't recall if they asked me this info or not!

They go by the order that patients called. They don't ask for any medical information until after the appointment has been set.

Bruce.

bruce123 · Post by **bruce123** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:48 am

javabean wrote:dumb question...can someone tell me the test done the day before the venogram/procedure? I assume it's the MRV but I'm not even sure exactly what that is. Is it like an ultrasound? If I am correct, it may show nothing while the actual invasive part of the procdedeure may show something. Just looking for some clarification.
Thanks

There are no dumb questions.

The test the day before is a Doppler Ultrasound and not an MRV. It is not invasive. Some people say that they should skip this since the invasive venogram is more accurate but the ultrasound is important because followup will be done with an ultrasound and they need the basline (before) images to compare to.

Here is the FAQ from the clinic
http://www.communitycare.com/Practices/ ... VI_FAQ.asp
It may answer some of your questions.

Bruce

MS_HOPE · Post by **MS_HOPE** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:39 am

Thanks for the info, Cece and Bruce.