Thread by @bridgelle

WARNING: I'm furious, and what follows is likely to reflect that.

I unfortunately use @elicahealth via @DHCS_CA . Their previous psychiatry provider prescribed me a schedule II medication. However, like literally every single provider I've had through @elicahealth, that provider later left the clinic. I was provided no notice of this. Nor was I

Given notice when the previous 6 providers I had been seeing departed. Some providers left @elicahealth so abruptly that I only had time to see them once before they simply vanished.

There has been no continuity of care after any of these unceremonious departures. Each time

Ive had to find another @elicahealth provider, I have to start all over again, trying to make this new person understand my medical needs and history.

And given that I have a chronic illness, establishing a standard of care with a brand new doctor is extremely difficult and exhausting. Particularly because very often, a

Provider will assume that "chronic illness" means "faker," "malingerer," "drug-seeker," or all of the above, and that B) I'll only see this person an average of 3-4 times before they leave @elicahealth .

Worse still, none of the providers I've seen have actually taken responsib-

-ility for my care (and lack thereof).

For example, as mentioned, I was prescribed a medication by the then-psychiatric provider. That provider then left @elicahealth , leaving the clinic with no psychiatric providers *at all.*

Now, admittedly, I did see the now-departed provider a handful of times, so it is certainly possible that it was in fact me who drove them away.

I think it more likely, however, that that was outside my control.

In spite of that, when I need to refill the aforementioned

Medication, I have no alternative but to turn to an @elicahealth PCP for the authorization.

Thus far, I have been flat out denied a refill by 2 @elicahealth providers who "weren't comfortable" authorizing the med bc it was originally prescribed by a psychiatrist, not a PCP.

Apparently "not being comfortable" renewing a medication prescribed by another provider *from the same clinic* is a valid excuse to variously ignore communication with or hot-potato away a patient.

Which says something quite pointed about the faith @elicahealth providers have in one another.

When a PCP doesn't trust the care prescribed to a patient by a fellow provider so far as to refuse a patient a *prescribed* med that the patient has taken for nearly a year,

One has to wonder why the doctors at @elicahealth won't coordinate care among their patients, particularly when the doctor turnover rate is so high.

Coordinating care between doctors should be the first thing @elicahealth does for its patients.

(But--spoiler alert--it isn't.)

To simply refill a long-term med, I have to incessantly call, message, and otherwise beg and plead with all the doctors, office staff, and customer service reps for days, and sometimes weeks.

And I have to do this EVERY. MONTH.

Which means that every 4 weeks, I end up in a panic, trying desperately to get this minimum of care out of @elicahealth , inevitably missing 4-10 days of my medication while I'm alternately ignored and tossed off between providers.

Perhaps the PCPs at @elicahealth are not aware,

But completely stopping a medication that you've been taking regularly not only impairs the medication's effectiveness, but it also wreaks havoc on a person's body.

At this point, *not* going to @elicahealth at all almost seems better than actually seeking care.

It begins to feel like staying home chanting to magic crystals might very well be more effective than using @elicahealth .

This time around, for example, I've sent my PCP 4 messages requesting a refill to no response. So I began calling office staff everyday...but still no response.

FINALLY, today I received a message from my provider...telling me to try asking someone else.

Perhaps my powers of observation somehow dramatically outstrip those of my provider, but...there is no one else.

There *are no psychiatric providers* at @elicahealth . IOW, there *is* no one else to ask.

If I could avoid pleading with yet another @elicahealth provider, I very obviously would.

Begging for care while being ignored and dismissed isn't actually a thing I do just bc I have nothing better to do.

It's not a hobby I've cultivated out of an affection for infuriating situations.

This monthly horror show actually inflicts real harm on my body and health.

For an organization ostensibly about healthcare, this is inexcusable.

@DHCS_CA
#medicaid #healthcare #medicine #Fibromyalgia #spoonie #chronicillness #prescriptions #access #equalcare