Inefficiency Inc.

    With apologies to my niece, who works for Logan Healthcare, sees the good in all things, and makes everywhere she goes a better place--Never have I seen inefficiency as intentionally incorporated into a system as in our local Logan healthcare monopoly. Although, my opinion might be different if I had ever served in the military. For example, I recently tried to see an orthopedist for an ongoing back problem. A friend of my husband who is a retired orthopedic doctor got a referral for me so I would not have the typical two month wait to see a specialist. I received a message from the spine clinic. My appointment was just a few days away. Miraculous! This was followed a couple hours later by a message saying my appointment was actually mid November, two months away. Typical! I called the office two more times to make sure the earlier visit wasn't still available. No, but they could put me on the cancellation list. 

    The next day I got a call for an earlier appointment--the exact same time they had told me originally. The doctor did not seem nearly as happy to see me as I was to see her. I found out later Reed's physician friend used his influence to restore my earlier appointment time. But I had violated some scheduler's obstruction system and the doctor knew I had taken cuts. She probably put the diagnosis "Entitled" somewhere in my medical chart. Since there was no one in the waiting room when I got there or when I left, I think that time slot had been available all along. The waiting list for cancelled appointments was a ruse. Whether appointments were available or not, the system specified a two month wait for a specialist.

    Example two: Recently my daughter took my seven year old granddaughter to urgent care with breathing problems following a cold. As her breathing became more labored, my daughter considered going to the ER instead, but the system there is usually a four hour wait. A nurse came to the waiting room and called another patient's name. That mother graciously offered to let my granddaughter go first, since her daughter could wait. The nurse said, "We have a system." Fortunately the other mom's system was to let the child struggling to breathe go first. I am not an RN, but I'm pretty sure Airway, Bleeding and Circulation are still at the top of the triage chart for urgency. Though apparently not when circulating through Logan's system.

   Also part of the system is that a dispatcher must call all five air ambulance services that are part of Logan's network before scheduling an emergency flight. Even though no one answering those numbers will take responsibility for approving the transfer. Even if the patient is dying. On the subject of dying, I believe if the Logan monopoly got all our hospice services into their system, it would run so inefficiently, no one would die. 

     If a program is working well, Logan changes it. If a manager is effective, they either quit in frustration or get replaced. The continually changing new managers recycle the same ideas that failed in the past. Logan will pay a self proclaimed expert for advice and ignore the input of the actual experts, their own employees. I know that nothing I say will sterilize the septic system at Logan or budge their corporate culture from inefficiency, but I just needed to get this rant out of my system.