[StillHoping]

Could anyone whom has been to The UNC in North Carolina please tell me why one needs a referral from their doctor in order to get an appointment there?

I was able to get an appointment at Temple in Philly without needing a referral and they are suppose to be one of the best hospitals for the treatment of digestive diseases and disorders.Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

 

[Guest]

Dee, are you refering to seeing a specialist at UNC?

 

[SpAsMaN*]

Sometimes,i just claims that i have a referral paper but that i forget it at home.It works!!!And i can use the paper over and over again.

 

[StillHoping]

Dee, are you refering to seeing a specialist at UNC? Yes.

I tried to get appointment with them before I made the appointment at Temple but they said I needed a referral from my doctor.Thus far,I have never needed a referral to see any of the GIs I have seen, but apparently you need one to see a doctor at The UNC.I was just wondering if anyone knew why?

 

[Kathleen M.]

I think referral policies vary from hospital to hospital, and from practice to practice.Maybe it's because of how things are around here, but I always thought is was usual to need a referral from your regular doctor to see a specialist.I know at UNC GI clinic there can be a long wait to get seen as a new patient for some of the doctors, so they may be trying to keep the new patients limited to people who really do need to see a GI specialist rather than whoever just wants an appointment.K.

 

[StillHoping]

Maybe it's because of how things are around here, but I always thought is was usual to need a referral from your regular doctor to see a specialist.***Until I tried to make an appointment at The UNC I had never needed a referral to see any doctor.I know at UNC GI clinic there can be a long wait to get seen as a new patient for some of the doctors, so they may be trying to keep the new patients limited to people who really do need to see a GI specialist rather than whoever just wants an appointment.***Thanks for answering my question,K.

That makes perfect sense and I probably should have figured that out.They,IMO,seem to be the only people who really understand all the various functional & motility doctors and that the "mind-gut" connection is a big factor.