After being told that the physician to which I was assigned by MDWise under the HIP was no longer accepting patients, and that the person I switched to after that (being told by MDWise that their system listed them as ‘active’ or accepting patients) was also no longer accepting patients, I called another practice. I asked if they were accepting patients and they asked if I needed to see a doctor or if a nurse practitioner would be okay. I told them that it didn’t really matter because I just wanted to establish care with someone, get a general physical, and have the sebacious cyst on the back of my neck re-examined. They took my information, and were able to look some of it up based on my MDWise RID, and then scheduled me an appointment for next week with a nurse practitioner.
I called MDWise to tell them this and they said that care with a nurse practitioner wouldn’t be covered, it had to be a doctor. I called the office back, canceled my appointment and tried to see if any of the doctors at that office were accepting new patients. They weren’t accepting new patients, so I continued down the list of results from the MDWise web site. Of the people on the list that I have called so far, 10 out of 20 are not accepting new patients. Right now I am stalled at waiting to get a call back from one of the doctor’s offices who I was told was accepting patients.
One of the biggest confusions that I have encountered is the fact that many of the doctors on the list that MDWise provided are part of very large practices (the on-hold message at one of the practices said they had over 60 physicians) at the same location with diffrent offices and phone numbers.   It’s very hard to figure out who I’ve talked to already, especially since I’ve been transferred to different offices via the phone system. The thing that has cleared things up the best for me has been to ask the seceretary “Which doctors do you schedule appointments for? Are any of them accepting new patients?”
I have been pretty frustrated by this process so far. Last month, I went to a forum about the FSSA privatization and how it has affected people receiving food stamp beverages. WFHB covered the event and its worth a listen just to see how messed up the program is and how many people have been treated unfairly or just had to jump through a bunch of needless hoops just to get their benefits. At least there was a general consensus, even by the FSSA rep there that things needed to change. A lot of people who did get their situations resolved did so with support from their state representatives or senators. I would really recommend that if you’re having problems with the HIP, that you contact your Indiana rep. as many actually have social workers working for their office who might be able to help you navigate the crazy HIP system. You can look up your representatives at the state’s Who’s Your Legistator page.