DMIA

Well, last year I LOVED this little radiology center. They were professional and kind (the staff still are), easy parking, very accessible and I was in and out in 15 minutes. Wonderful. Today I went as scheduled for my annual mammogram. I learned they moved down the street. So I got back in my car and drove to the new address. The signage indicated it was the DMIA MRI Site. I figured that it was not the location for my mammogram, so I drove around some more. Not seeing any other building with DMIA on it, I returned and parked at the "MRI" sign. A paper sign on the door indicated that if patients was there for an appointment, we had to walk back across a 4 car-wide parking lot to another building with a different name than DMIA. I walked into the "MRI building" to ask if this was in fact, the location where I would get my mammogram. It was a drab room with room dividers as partitions. The woman was nice and affirmed my query, then told me I had to walk back across the parking lot to register. (It really did not help the situation that it was raining). I walked to the other building, registered, sat for a bit while they processed it, then handed me paperwork back and politely told me I had to walk back across the parking lot and to give the form to the person there. I went back across and sat down in the drab, partitioned room. I waited for about 10 minutes before anyone saw or acknowledged my presence. A woman came out of a door, nicely took my paper, gave it to the person behind the partition (invisible to me), then she disappeared again. Another woman came out of the back hallway and spoke my name. She led me to a changing room. After a few minutes, I found it odd she did not knock, she just opened the dressing room door and showed me to the room for the mammogram. After I sat, she asked me about my insurance, noting that my last mammogram at DMIA had been December 11, 2011. Well, no I had not realized that. My previous experience has been that diagnostic centers note when my previous exam had been. That had not happened when I made this appointment. I said I could not have the exam today because I could not risk having to pay for this myself. I returned to the room, got dressed and left. PS: I made an appointment with another provider today...for December 12. I will claim that I did not remember when my last exam was. I often rely on the provider to help remind me to keep the rules of the insurance companies. But the whole experience, while not terrible, was quite a shift from the wonderful, cozy experience I had last year.