My doc is a part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. On their website they say:
Quote:
Our Commitment for Providing Excellent Care
The University of Pennsylvania Health System is committed to providing you with excellent clinical care and service. If you have concerns regarding your care, you have the right without recrimination to voice those concerns, have them reviewed, and when possible, resolved.
Please contact us if you feel we have not met your expectations. A Patient & Guest Relations representative will review your message and respond to your concerns. The contact us form is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All messages are read within one business day.
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I have the "right" to have my voice my concerns.
Gatekeepers.
Well guess what, gatekeepers: I also have the right to start a thread about it. Let a thousand web searches show that my doctor is Dr. Janet Brown at Phoenixville Area Family Medicine. (And since I've said that, for the record: I don't believe Dr. Brown is the problem. She's almost as much a pawn in this system as I am and it's likely the only thing she can do to change the system is to leave it.)
Yesterday I used the contact us form to point them to this thread, telling them who the doc was and what the practice was. Today I got an email.
Quote:
Dear Mr. S,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about the service you received at the Phoenixville Family Practice. The events that you describe are most unfortunate and I can appreciate how upsetting they must have been for you. Please accept our sincere apology that the service provided did not meet your expectations.
Concerns, such as yours, are very important to us and we take them very seriously. They provide us with an opportunity to identify potential problems and improve the services we provide to our patients and their families. To further address the concerns you have raised, your letter has been forwarded to the appropriate individuals for additional review and we will do everything possible to promptly respond to you. In the meantime, if you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
UPHS Health Care Web Team
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"We have read your message and responded to it within one business day. A low-paid
intern Patient & Guest Relations representative copied and pasted the name of your doctor's practice into our standard apology email."
You know I'm right.
I urge all those in Public Relations to reconsider the insult of the "auto-apology" -- it is almost as insulting as a website where you tell people "the contact us form is available 24 hours a day".
I will continue to update the thread.