Getting a bit stressed ?

[EternalVetBills]

Before I put anything else I just want to say that my vets have always been absolutely amazing when it comes to admin, this is the first issue I've had in 10 years.

At the end of August my vet came out to have a look at my (newly) retired mare and do her last lot of steroid injections, whilst she was here we did some foot x-rays as mare hadn't been quite right. Long story very short, it was decided that she needed an MRI. So, we are referred to a different vets as ours don't have an MRI machine.
My vets normally deal directly with the insurance company which works well for me, they tell me when they need me to sign something and that's about it. On 5th September I get a message from my vet herself (not the office) to say that the insurance and pre approval forms for the MRI have all been sent off. MRI gets booked in for 28th September. Perfect.
Today I get an email from the referral vets to say they need the pre approval by end of business today as they had not yet received it. Slightly annoying says I as my normal vets should have dealt with that (I pay an admin fee on each claim for these things), but I know they're busy at the moment so I'll call the insurance myself and sort it out.
I give the insurance a call to ask for the pre approval, another very long story very short, after an hour on the phone going through all of my claims from the last 12 months, they haven't had anything from my vets since the middle of August ?‍?. If I want I can fill in the pro forma myself, but it will now take 3 working days to go through and will most likely not be ready by the time my mare is admitted on Tuesday.
I have been trying to contact my vets all day and keep getting told that the person dealing with my account is on the phone. I completely understand that they are swamped at the moment and I don't want to make life hard for them, but I am getting very stressed now. My vet is now on holiday so I can't even drop her a message to ask if the forms definitely got sent.
I cross with myself too because I should have chased this up at the beginning of the week when I hadn't heard anything, but I just thought with the funeral on Monday everyone was probably really busy and just forgot to let me know.
I know it's not the end of the world for her not to have an MRI on Wednesday but she's really struggling now and I want to know what we can do to help. I've also booked my farrier to be at the vets for most of the day and we've jiggled her whole shoeing cycle around to fit this in.
No real point to this other than a vent, so well done and thank you if you got this far!

 

[EternalVetBills]

Update: I have spoken to the vets and they have everything signed and dated to say it was sent of at the end of August, but insurance are still insisting that they haven't had it. Grrrr!
My vets were in the middle of emailing me when I last spoke to them half an hour ago, but that hasn't come through yet. What do I do? The referral vets are saying they need the pre approval to be able to go ahead and they need it today ?

 

[nagblagger]

Can your vets email the evidence over asap to the insurance. You then phone the insurance company to say its on its way and contact the referral vets to explain and try to defer it until tomorrow.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Forward the sent email onto the insurance ?

 

[EternalVetBills]

Can your vets email the evidence over asap to the insurance. You then phone the insurance company to say its on its way and contact the referral vets to explain and try to defer it until tomorrow.

Forward the sent email onto the insurance ?

Thank you both. I have done this since receiving the email from my vets, but the insurance still cannot arrange pre approval for less than 3 working days, which will then be too late ?. They have now closed for the evening so it will all have to wait until tomorrow. I genuinely don't know how it's going to work itself out though because it seems that, even if we can prove that the insurance have had the pro forma weeks in advance, they are still unable to give pre approval any quicker ?

 

[Barton Bounty]

Thank you both. I have done this since receiving the email from my vets, but the insurance still cannot arrange pre approval for less than 3 working days, which will then be too late ?. They have now closed for the evening so it will all have to wait until tomorrow. I genuinely don't know how it's going to work itself out though because it seems that, even if we can prove that the insurance have had the pro forma weeks in advance, they are still unable to give pre approval any quicker ?

No wonder your annoyed! ?

 

[EternalVetBills]

No wonder your annoyed! ?

I've gone past annoyed now and am just really fed up. This is the last thing we have booked in before she can officially retire and we can be happy that she's relatively pain free. It's taken major choreography with physio, vet, and farrier, timings to get this all to work and now we might have to reschedule everything. It's taken all of the fluff out of me today ?

 

[Trouper]

You have every right to be annoyed. Admin is easy and there is never any excuse for such poor standards of efficiency and lack of communication. I hope it gets sorted.

 

[EternalVetBills]

So after two phone calls to my vets today, first one being my mum as I was busy, it transpires that the pro forma for the pre approval was only sent off by my vets yesterday!
Cross doesn't even begin to describe my feelings today. From what I gather my mums phone call with them this morning became quite heated and the receptionist was very condescending towards my mum, who became quite confused with all of the insurance jargon and they told her that I hadn't paid a £1000 deposit to the referral vets which needed doing before anything could go ahead. Mum said she felt it was insinuated that it didn't matter that they hadn't sorted the pro forma because we hadn't paid the deposit and very much like they were trying to shift the blame onto us, when it is their admin error.
I've then rung them after speaking to my mum and got the head of practice. She seemed slightly taken aback/annoyed at the fact that I actually knew my insurance jargon well. I informed her that I had it in writing from the referral vets that I didn't need to pay the deposit, providing I had proof of pre approval from my insurers (which is what I was trying to sort with my vets). She said she would call the insurance company and see if there was anything they could do to fast track the pre approval.
This was at 10 o'clock today and I haven't heard anything back. I rang the referral vets at 4 and cancelled the MRI as it's obvious my vets aren't going to do anything about it and I don't have a spare £1000 that I can magic up out of my backside unfortunately, it's why I have my horses insured for Christ sake! I obviously didn't use those exact words.
I feel really let down by my vets, I've been with them years and never had a problem. I completely understand that things happened, people make mistakes, but what they should have done is acknowledge that yesterday and I would have said, no worries we'll postpone the MRI until the pre approval is back. They didn't though, they firstly tried to tell me it was an error from the insurance company, then tried to gaslight (I hate that word but couldn't think of anything more apt) my poor mum into feeling like it was our fault! And I myself am now feeling awkward and guilty when there has been no error on my part, other than perhaps being too trusting.
I don't feel like I can leave it at this, but equally I absolutely love my vet and don't want to make things awkward going forward.
Sorry that's another long rant with real point but I do feel better now ?

 

[Fieldlife]

My insurance company pre approved an MRI for me whilst I was at a vet hospital with a horse. I think they can do it quickly and directly sometimes

 

[EternalVetBills]

My insurance company pre approved an MRI for me whilst I was at a vet hospital with a horse. I think they can do it quickly and directly sometimes

Mine are absolutely adamant that they can't and the referral vets are now saying we DO need to pay the deposit even though I have an email from them saying that if there was proof of pre approval we didn't need to pay it. I've had real trouble getting money back off of this vets in the past, hence my not wanting to pay the deposit and opting for pre approval instead; it's not an amount I can afford to loose for upwards of 3 months!
I have genuinely had enough of it all now and am seriously considering just not sending her for an MRI as it's just not worth the hassle for a retired horse. I know I'll end up doing it anyway because I'd feel to guilty not sending her, but I'm having a sulk at the moment.

 

[Fieldlife]

Mine are absolutely adamant that they can't and the referral vets are now saying we DO need to pay the deposit even though I have an email from them saying that if there was proof of pre approval we didn't need to pay it. I've had real trouble getting money back off of this vets in the past, hence my not wanting to pay the deposit and opting for pre approval instead; it's not an amount I can afford to loose for upwards of 3 months!
I have genuinely had enough of it all now and am seriously considering just not sending her for an MRI as it's just not worth the hassle for a retired horse. I know I'll end up doing it anyway because I'd feel to guilty not sending her, but I'm having a sulk at the moment.

Can you go to different vet hospital for MRI?

 

[Red-1]

As it is the vets fault that the MRI can't take place, I would simply wait for the reschedule and rebook.

If they need the £1000 upfront and won't budge, I would go for a different hospital.

But then, I also decided not to MRI a horse who had stepped down from serious work. The MRI wouldn't have fixed him. We simply gave a steroid into the area he blocked to and rested. He was a happy hacker afterwards.

 

[EternalVetBills]

Can you go to different vet hospital for MRI?

I absolutely can and looked into it last night, but the issue now isn't even the MRI really and it's not the referral vets fault that there has been a massive cock up on my vets end.
Now I'm upset about my vets attitude to all of this. All they needed to do was, when they realised they'd made an error, let me know! I then could have postponed the MRI, annoying but these things happen, and waited for the pre approval. Instead, they firstly told me it wasn't their error. Then when they realised the error was theirs, failed to let me know until I rang up and explicitly asked "when was the pro forma sent?". And then tried to flip it back onto us that reason she wasn't going for her MRI was because we didn't want to pay the deposit!
I just feel really let down and unvalued by my vets whom I have been a loyal customer to for 10 years! And with this current mare they've been getting nearly £1000 per month from either me or my insurance company for the last 3 years

 

[EternalVetBills]

As it is the vets fault that the MRI can't take place, I would simply wait for the reschedule and rebook.

If they need the £1000 upfront and won't budge, I would go for a different hospital.

But then, I also decided not to MRI a horse who had stepped down from serious work. The MRI wouldn't have fixed him. We simply gave a steroid into the area he blocked to and rested. He was a happy hacker afterwards.

I am seriously considering this, but am going to wait a week or so to make my final decision as I am angry at the moment and don't know whether I'm wanting to make that decision for myself or my horse.

 

[Trouper]

When I hit a blockage like this (totally frustrating though it is) I sometimes think the Gods are trying to tell me something and just take a pause to think things through again. Take some time to let the anger subside and then decide from where you want to start again. If the medical condition is not acute, time is probably on your side - and not theirs.

When I was not so upset I would however sit down and write a calm and dignified letter to the Head of Practice setting all that has happened and pointing out that this level of service is not acceptable - and staff members trying to shift the blame to the clients is certainly not acceptable.

ETA - crossed posted with your latest post!! Great minds ....................

 

[Red-1]

I am seriously considering this, but am going to wait a week or so to make my final decision as I am angry at the moment and don't know whether I'm wanting to make that decision for myself or my horse.

I think waiting is an excellent idea, as long as the horse is comfortable.