Dear Compleat Rehab Gastonia,

I feel that you have been incredibly unprofessional, and I don't appreciate it. My 5 year old son was referred to you by his doctor at the beginning of June for speech-therapy. This was good timing, because it gave him 2 1/2 months to recieve help before he started school.

I heard nothing from you, and called my doctor back 3 weeks after the initial order to find out why. I was informed that indeed the order had been sent to you, but that they would send it again. 2 weeks later, I made the exact same phone call to my pediatrician, and this time, as well as sending the order, they gave me your phone number.

I called your office, to explain the situation, and no sooner than when I got the words "My son was referred here..." You told me that I needed a doctors order. I explained that the doctors order had been sent THREE TIMES! This is when you explained that yes, you can see how this happened, because you didn't have enough speech therapists right now, but one was being interviewed for the position that very day.

A couple of weeks later, I recieved a letter in the mail, stating that if I was still interested in services, I could call you to set it up. I immediately called, to set up an appointment.

My son came in for his evaluation, and it was determined that yes, he needs speech therapy, and that you needed to get approval from his insurance. Oh, and by the way, You need ANOTHER doctor's order, because the THIRD ONE you had recieved was over a month old, and therefore outdated. I immediately called my doctor to get this done. For the fourth time.

You called me yesterday to let me know that you had recieved the approval from my son's insurance, but unfortunately, you are completely filled up with patients, but could see him for a half-session once a week until you got an opening.

I am beyond angry.

In the first place, when you recieved the first doctors order, THREE MONTHS ago, and you knew that you didn't have openings, you should have contacted my doctor or myself to let me know. This way, he could have been referred somewhere else to recieve treatment. Furthermore, you should have done this upon reciept of the second and third order as well.

Also, my son has obviously been on the waiting list for three months, and deserved to have had a spot held for him until his insurance order approval came through. It is obvious that you do not care about the individual children who come to you needing help, but rather about getting paid as much and as soon as you can.

I will tell my docor's office exactly how we have been treated, so that they have further information into your practice, and can make a more educated decision as to if they should continue to refer patients to you. I will also post this e-mail on both of my blogs, one of which is on the "Care Pages", and is specifically read by healthcare patients and their parents.


Sincerely,


Heidi Underhill