Received: from CMU-CS-G by CMU-CS-SPICE; 31 Oct 83 13:11:34 EST
Date: 31 Oct 1983 13:06-EST
From: Ed.Gehringer@CMU-CS-G.ARPA
Subject: Re: HMO's
To: William.Maddox at CMU-CS-SPICE
Message-Id: <436471594/efg@CMU-CS-G>
In-Reply-To: William.Maddox at CMU-CS-SPICE's bboard message of 31-Oct-83 01:10    

I have been with Penn Group for about 3 years.  In that time, I have
had six appointments--two for the flu, two for removal of a conical
callous from my foot, and two for an ear infection.  Getting an
appointment is no problem if you can wait two or three days.  If you
want it *now*, they'll give you some grief.  I guess you'd have to
convince them it was an emergency, which I wasn't able to do in the
case of the flu.  It may take 5 or 10 minutes on the phone to get thru
to the right person to schedule an appointment, although this situation
may be improving.  I have no complaints about the staff or the
facilities.  However, doctors tend to come and go more often than they
would in individual practice, so a long-term relationship may be more
difficult to establish.
				-Ed