Medical appointments

This is a pet peeve, but also an honest question. Why is it that for so many medical appointments I make these days, they set the appointment for one time, and then say I have to be there 30 minutes before that? For instance, I may have a 3:30 appointment, but they say I have to be there at 3:00. If I have to be there at 3:00, then the appointment starts at 3:00, not at 3:30.

I understand that I have to be checked in, and have always shown up for appointments about 15 minutes early in order to have time for that. But honestly, 30 minutes? They want me to come 30 minutes early, and then likely will make me sit for 15 minutes to an hour past my appointment time because they are running late – at least that is what happens historically.

If you have some patients who waltz in 30 seconds before their appointment time, or even 5 minutes after their appointment time, I feel bad for you. But that’s not me, and I should not have to sit around in your lobby waiting for my appointment just because some people show up late.

This has gotten worse and worse as the years go by, and I totally understand that a lot of it is because places book only 10 minutes for appointments that should be longer, and then they get behind because of it. But that is NOT my problem.

As I said, if I have to be there at 3:00 for a 3:30 appointment, then my appointment is really at 3:00.

I think one of the worst things (and there are many) about this is that, if I make an appointment for 3:30, that is what I put in my calendar, knowing that it means I will show up 15 minutes before that. When you let me know in a phone call a couple days before my appointment that I need to be there that much earlier, it is likely too late. I have planned for being there 15 minutes before my appointment, and may not be able to change things around in order to get there by 3:00.

And while we are on the subject, these are appointments that usually cost plenty of money, and for a lot of the time I am sitting around waiting. I think I will start to charge the office involved for the time I am forced to wait. If I can be made to pay for time that I have to wait, they can pay for my waiting time.