I too was a victim of Hawaii Radiologic Associates ineptness. I was scheduled for an MRI exam on Nov. 1, the earliest appointment I could get when I booked it a month earlier. Because I required a high resolution scan I had to go to Hilo since it isn’t available in Kona.
I drove from Kona to Hilo Tuesday only to be met by a person outside the HRA offices telling me their computers were down and my exam would have to be rescheduled. No phone call; no email; nothing in the newspaper to advise they were closed. Why, I asked, had I not been contacted? Allegedly it was because they could not access their own computers and had absolutely no backup systems. No patient lists, no calendar of appointments, no roster of referring doctors who could be notified.
Incredible incompetence in this day and age for any such critical business not to have backup systems to enable contacting patients and referring physicians about urgent matters. (Why do I suspect they have ample backup protection when it comes to their billing?)
I learned from the West Hawaii Today article that this had already been going on for more than ten days, and they still do not have a firm date for their problems to be corrected. I do not know what prompted the article in WHT today, but surely Hawaii Radiologic could have notified the newspaper sooner to print a notice to their patients — at the very least. Or gotten word to the Big Island medical community to alert patients who might have pending exams. One wonders if they were hoping to bury their medically dangerous problems, hoping they would just evaporate without repercussions.
This goes beyond negligence. It demonstrates a serious lack of care about patient welfare. Before retiring to Hawaii I practiced law in California for 50 years, mainly in malpractice actions involving health care providers and organizations, and I must say it was rare to see this level of unconcern and incompetence. I do not know if this is the type of issue which would be of concern to the American College of Radiology or any other certifying organization in their accreditation programs, but I would hope it will be taken into account in the future.
This is not the only criticism of HRA — just the latest and by far the most serious. I suspect others have noted how hard it is commonly to get through to them by telephone, to the point that a local physician has advised that when needing to schedule an examination it is best just to go to their Kona office and wait in line to speak to a receptionist to get scheduled. I have also had the personal experience where a radiologist did not follow standard protocols in reporting a scan such that I had to have it reread at a medical facility in San Francisco.
“Third World health care” indeed. I wonder if both patients and physicians would be well advised to reconsider using HRA when any other options are available if this represents their level of diligence about patient care.
Arne Werchick is a resident of Kailua-Kona.
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