An open letter sent to a orthopedic/Medical device provider

Dan,

                Good morning.  My name is Jason Adams, Father of Patient Hawke Adams.  I have some troublesome concerns regarding the obstacle we are encountering in order to receive a wheelchair for my son and how xxxxxxx could improve patient quality of life.  I appreciate the time you have taken to read my e-mail.

                In the past three weeks I have made ten (10) phone calls to Xxxxxxxx and additional phone calls to my son's Physical Therapist.  I have spent at least three hours on the phone.  My wife has made countless calls beginning in late October  (when we initiated our wheelchair request with Xxxxxxxx) through February 2014.  In the past five months my son has grown and is more and more difficult to take him out of the home without a wheelchair.  As of yesterday (2/24/14) Xxxxxxx stated we were transitioning to the child special Insurance approval process that can take up to four weeks.

                While your company is waiting for a document for instance from the a Physical Therapist why doesn't  the employee assigned the patient (my son) contact the parent or the Physical Therapist and communicate that they are  waiting on document X or Physical Therapist?  Why is the task of making sure the case is being actively worked on the responsibility of the parent?  If this is the expected process can You inform the parent that they are responsible for managing the case?  If we knew for example once a document was faxed to our Physical Therapist that you stopped any actions until they received the fax from said PT.  Days pass, weeks pass and While your waiting; no calls to the PT or parent.  Meanwhile the parents think the case is being worked on nearly a daily basis.  You provide a service to consumers, I want to help future parents and patients whom order wheelchairs or any medical devices.  This current process is broken and leaving parents including myself exasperated.  What's even worse is the innocent victim in this, the patient!

               

                Can you reply with the current process given to employees to follow?  The staff has been more than friendly, but I would rather have a less than friendly staff with a robust process that is streamlined and efficient.

  

Respectfully,

Jason Adams

810-441-9170