In All HONESTY,

 ...it's not over yet. I left no message during my attempts to call. Today Carrie called me again. I don't know if she knew she'd called me before. She repeated the purpose of Honest Health and how a nurse  could provide additional services associated with my primary doctor, as part of Albany Med. I asked what the services might be, provided as they would be, by telephone calls.  Oh, checking in on me, maybe helping with appointments, communicating with my doctor, etc. It has been my recent experience , that when a doctor orders a test, that the test is sometimes scheduled months in the future. So, with nothing to lose, I said I'd agree to Honest Health's offerings, at least temporarily. Nurse Sue will be calling me, or so I understand.

Honestly, Honest Health Update 6/18/ 26

 I'd already received the letter from Medicare, which  my  primary doctor's office had apprised me of. Everyone on Medicare would receive that letter, at least in New York State. So I was not surprised when I received a call 3 days ago from  a pleasant sounding woman named Carrie, but unfortunately, I was away from the phone and  missed the call. 

She left a message explaining the  Nurse Care Management Team, associated with  Honest Health, in partnership with Albany Med,  to which my primary doctor's service belonged, would be available to offer additional services  to me if I so chose. She left a telephone number for me to call for more information if I was interested. 

  With nothing to lose, understanding that Medicare pays for the services, I called the number. I want to verify what type of help would actually be available---what  a member of the Care Management Team could actually do to help. I called, was connected, was told to wait to speak to the Nurse Care Person, but in a few seconds was told "that all of our nurses are busy helping other callers." That is a familiar situation, but again, instantly, the voice said not to wait for a person, but to leave my name and number to be called back.

     I did not do so, as I dislike waiting around to receive callbacks. Who knows how long that might be. So I called later in the day, and the next day, and met with the exact same scenario. 

Maybe just coincidence, but my somewhat cynical mind suspects otherwise---that this Care Management Team is structured so that it is one-sided and  all the communication is generated by the Nurse Care Management Team, and not the patient. I'll try again hoping to rid myself of my suspicions. But I can't see how this organization can be helpful to me. HONESTLY, I don't. 

So I called the next day, again, and received the same recorded message, after only a very short wait time;  "We are currently unavailable, assisting other patients. Leave your name and phone # and we'll get back to you."  Seems like the ball is always in their court. 

Dream Endings

 The voice that awoke me from last night's dreaming, not once, but twice, was my own. 

 The first time, I am advising those setting a quite fancy dinner table, for a formal event to which I was not invited.  The  family members were  evidently not including napkins because there were none they considered suitable. I told them  to go ahead and use the economy pack of paper napkins: put 2 of them at each place setting. They're better than nothing.

  The second time I woke to my own voice, my words were, "Well, because it's my dream."  I assume I must have encountered some opposition to the advice I'd given earlier.

I didn't know that I ever talked in my sleep, but I woke to my own spoken words.

Honest Health (Revisited)

 I'd received  telephone call wanting to confirm my relationship with my primary care doctor, quickly mentioning her name 3 times. I tried to ask about the service he was representing, but he said he'd transfer me to another line, which went dead. Caller ID supplied the name Prospero Crespo. 

I suspected the call was a scam, and emailed my primary's office. I received  a response saying it was not a scam, that all on  Medicare would receive a letter confirming a new pilot program,  Medicare's ACO Reach Program---"to improve health care  and better meet individual health needs." 

I received such letter from Medicare a few days later. The letter contained a number to call for any questions. I called it, asked about the call I'd received, supplied the name on Caller ID. The rep said he had not heard of Prospero.

crespo.

Honest Health letter received

 Today, June 1, the U. S. Mail brought me the letter from Albany Med Health System, Honest Health, CMS, Honest ACO of New York LLC in Nashville, TN.

A yellow banner across the top of the page reads:  NOTIFICATION ONLY." I wonder why that is there, what could it mean?  That I am being informed, but not to have any expectations to use any of what I'm reading?  

    I'm sure there is a reason for why it's headed only a notification. I just don't know what it is. 

     Just 3 days ago, I asked if  a script for a procedure from an Albany Med. participating doctor's office could be sent to Samaritan prior to my office visit.  I was told that it would be difficult if not impossible, and anyway it would take such a long time to be received that it would not be in time for my office visit, which would not be of any value without the results from the script. "We are in 2 different systems, you know."

I meekly accepted her explanation, though I know my primary care doctor is in the Albany Med system and she has been sending scripts to Samaritan for years. 

When Prospero Crespo called me last week, apparently to advise of what is in this letter, I suspected it was a scam. His accent was difficult enough to understand, but he could not understand me at all, leaving me on line, which led nowhere.  

  I advised my primary care office, that the caller kept repeating the doctor's name.The office assured me that Honest Health was legitimate. 

If I were of a critical nature, I would question the choice of name---what the heck is honest health? Opposed to dishonest health? Bad enough there is already an Honest Weight.  

  The program's  purpose is to improve my health care experience and better meet my individual needs. The emphasis is on coordination. Unfortunately, many of the doctors I see are too busy to do more than barely coordinate what they are reading on the computer with the patient in front of them---all in the 15 minutes allotted for the office visit. 

But I remain optimistic---the letter is so detailed as to help it can offer. I'm hopeful that adding another layer to the delivery of health care services can only improve things. HONESTLY.

  

A Day in My So-Called Life

 Ah, the travails of being. 

   My car has been in the shop for 3 days.   I was told I would be called when it was ready, but with the weekend coming, I made the call. I was "just about" to be called. The car is ready. At home, reviewing the quite hefty charge, I see a "Credit Card Fee" for $32.77. No big deal, I guess, but if I'd known there was such a fee, I would have written  a check. 

 The phone rings. The doctor will not be available for my scheduled 6-month appointment. But I can get an appointment a few days later if I go to a location other than where I was scheduled. She tells me it will be in Malta. I decline. I recall driving a friend from Amsterdam to her home in Gansevoort, through 5 separate Traffic Circles in the Malta area.  I'll reschedule for more familiar territory. 

   I drive to the store to replenish my pantry, and find that the car radio is not working. I find a secure place to pull over and read my manual.  I am very familiar with having to enter the Code to re-set the clock, having done it so frequently I know the code by heart,  but didn't realize  (or forgot) the car radio also needed the code. I enter the familiar code, press a few buttons, and drive to the store, with music  playing in the background.   

  I open the car trunk and take  the bag of returns to the Bottle Return Machine. It is closed, not accepting anything. So back into the trunk with the bag of cans. I finish shopping, mostly small items, and the check-out person asks if I would like a paper bag in addtion to my plastic shopping bag. I say yes. I don't want  to be dropping stuff on my way to my car. The price of  a paper bag, 5 cents I guess, is an insignificant amount; it just rankles for the way that it was assessed and that it is probably intended to last forever. .

I go to the mailbox to retrieve the mail, and find a bill from my fuel company that I should not owe. I pay all my bills, never even late, my credit rating is exemplary, but I do not intend to  pay what I don't owe. So that saga continues.

All the fabric of life. So sweet.

\ I just received 6:30 p.m a Message re my cancelled doctor's appointment which indicates "Cancel Reason: Patient"  No, I didn't cancel. THEY DID.  Also the tme allotted for that appointment and the future appointment is 15 Minutes. *****Are they not aware that HONEST HEALTH , the ACO REACH Model Pilot Program is working  with doctors to improve the delivery of high-quality COORDINATED health care.  Maybe adding a 16th minute to the visit?

Don't We All Want "Honest Health"?

 Yesterday I received a call, from Prospero Crespo, if you go by what Caller ID tells you. He spoke in such broken English I could not understand the reason for the call.  He mentioned my Primary Doctor's name 3 times in what turned out to be a short conversation. I asked him where he was calling from. He said something about a health service associated with mine. And then he told me to stay on the line while he transferred my call, and the line went dead. 

   I emailed my doctor's office re above, and received this response today. It's a PILOT PROGRAM, all for our own good. Thanks, Medicare, and associated Pilots,

for your concern. 

OK, I have read this explanation. "What's it good for?"  Any patient on Medicare will receive a call from this company, I am told. How does it change anything? The stated goal is for health care providers to work together to give you better care. Isn't that already supposed to be possible---in this time of easy transmission of data? Our "health care teams" can now share data and thus provide the "better, safer, and more coordinated care."  In reality, it seems your health care provider often looks at your "chart" for the first time at or just before your office visit. 

   Being somewhat cynical, I suspect maybe the takeaway, the  raison d'etre,  for the existence of such a pilot program, is found in the sentence, "You may save time, money, and frustration by avoiding repeated tests and appointments."  Is this where the pilot could be flying us?