Can not be get a referral for diagnosis

dkrtgood

I had a nomogram done 3 weeks ago by the Advent Mammogram bus that comes to my work. Yesterday they called me and said I need to get further testing due to a couple of things they saw in my right breast. I have a new doctor due to my old one retiring and covid hitting. I can not be seen by him until July 22nd. He will not send any orders to have myself further tested because I have to establish myself with him first. I've tried other doctors to see if I can be a new patient and seen before July 22nd only to be told they are all booked up. How can I get further testing if I can't get a referral to have the testing done? If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

flashlight

Do you have a Gyn? Did they send you a report to give to your doctor? Maybe instead of a new patient visit where you have to have a physical you could ask for a consultation appointment for an issue.

moth

dkrtgood, I think first thing to do in this case is to get a copy of the actual mammography report. You don't need the images at this point, just the written up report of what the radiologist said. Every pt is entitled to get that. One thing that would tell you is what BIRADS score they gave the mammo and that would help you determine the urgency of the follow up and what kind of follow up was requested.

I think knowing that info is important because if you have a low score you can just put yourself on a wait list with your dr. If it's a high score, you march into the dr's office with the report and ask to be seen by the next avail dr and camp out all day if necessary to get your referral for the next steps.

Each_day_2018

I know it is worrisome to wait. It's actually not that far out, it's already June....From my experience with making appt in a Covid world, I'm not being seen until 4-6 weeks out, which seems to be right around your time frame. Waiting is the hardest part, but just try to stay busy and it'll be here before you know it! If you're really anxious and don't think you can wait, I would get a second opinion/find another doctor...but again, you may see delayed appts with other doctors too.

ShetlandPony

Have you tried calling the insurance company? I would think they would have an interest in avoiding a delayed diagnosis. (Of course we can’t assume there will be a bc diagnosis. Further investigation is needed.)

jhl

You can go to any Planned Parenthood & they will provide resources for a mammogram.

smc123

I had my mammogram done at a Breast center that only did mammograms...and they were able to do the follow up ultrasound and biopsy. Granted this was pre-Covid but I had everything and my test results within 1 week.

dkrtgood

Thanks for the info but I tried that too. I do have an appointment tomorrow with a nurse practitioner to hopefully give me a referral.

dkrtgood

I did that this morning and they were very helpful. They got me an appointment with a nurse practitioner who should be able to write the referral. Thank you!

dkrtgood

Thanks for the info

dkrtgood

That was a plan. I finally got an appointment with a nurse practitioner for tomorrow. So I will ask for the reports. Thanks

dkrtgood

Thank you

ShetlandPony

Dkrtgood, I'm glad you got an appointment with someone who can give you the referral you need. I can't tell from your replies what worked? Please let us know how it turns out.