How SMC and WHN LME's Could Improve Their Relations with Providers: ANSWER THE QUESTIONS AND THE PHONE, PLEASE

This is a correspondence between myself and Stephanie Gibson of SMC LME.  She clarified that she did not hang up on me but that there was a snafu in the SMC LME phone system.

Unfortunately, both WHN and SMC LME's have phone systems such that the operator at both places has NO IDEA how to turn up a live human. 

Here is what we talked about as per e mail.

***********************************************************************
On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Stephanie .. Gibson wrote:
> Hi Marsha,
> I apologize you were not able to speak to someone. I did not hang up on you, the operator called me and I told her to forward the call to me and a staff member came in my office so it went to voicemail, the call was never picked up on my end. The operator called back saying you were on the line and I was talking with the staff member so I asked that she send your call to my supervisor, Patty, to see if she might be available. I did not realize that Patty was in a meeting.

> I will ask for clarification on the communication, the communications are originated in Provider Network and sent to me to email and post on the website.

Thank you. 
Stephanie Gibson

**********************************************************************

I appreciate this clarification, Stephanie. If you had been on the receiving end of this Medicaid Waiver business, I assure you that you would be as paranoid as I am-----given how I detail the matters on my blog----and will continue to do so. I stand corrected and will correct it on my blog right now.

I did not know that I was 'shooting the messenger', w/ you being the messenger.

Whoever is constructing these posts could benefit from having them proofread by someone w/ a degree in English or at least a good writer to go over it. They are confusing, utilize acronyms that I have no idea what they refer to, and are generally unhelpful. And they come at the providers almost everyday.

I can appreciate that someone is trying to keep us informed but creating confusion should not be confused w/ informing the providers.

If it is true what you are saying, then I might suggest that your phone system, just like the phone system of WHN LME----wherein the operator has absolutely no idea if anyone will ever answer the phone or if one will simply get endless voicemails----needs some kind of system such that the person one is trying to reach is AVAILABLE.

The ONLY person at SMC LME that was ever immediately reachable was Doug Trantham and he went away and started Appalachian Counseling Services.

He had a system that if he was not at his desk, it would ring over to his cell and you could almost always talk to him. It not like I am calling up to talk about the weather. I have no intention on bugging you people.

I greatly admire that man, Doug Trantham, for that very reason. .

marsha hammond, phd