Voices

Aug 14, 2025, 09:12

Roupen Odabashian: If Amazon Can Refund in Minutes, Why Can’t Hospitals Schedule in Hours?

Roupen Odabashian, Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Karmanos Cancer Institute, shared on LinkedIn:

“Customer service in Healthcare Sucks!

I have been calling several imaging centers to book an appointment for an imaging out-of-pocket! I am bringing my money to you and giving it to the hospital or the imaging center. I am giving them my money without the hassle of dealing with insurance!

It took me 8 phone calls and more than 20 minutes to find someone to accept my money!

Then I was able to find someone ( Henry Ford Health ) to take my money and do the imaging test I am interested in doing. Thank you, BUT!

After 15 minutes of being transferred and talking to automated answering machines (there are AI phone assistants for the love of GOD! ) to different departments and waiting, I finally got an estimate. Then the biller has to transfer me back to the booking department.

At minute 18, the call dropped!

Then I had to do this all over again and finally got to the scheduling department! After all this, I spent 10 minutes giving information to someone about the address, date of birth etc, because they can’t send me a link to complete this information.

Then, I was told someone would call me to book an appointment today! Still couldn’t book an appointment!

It’s not only the Henry Ford system I am talking about! It’s every healthcare system you have to deal with!

These phone calls are not fun!

It’s not like you are shopping for a Tesla or ordering a pizza! Every minute is filled with anxiety and frustration! Then, someone calls me saying that I can’t book an appointment! I need a doctor’s order!

Wait what!

What if I am an educated patient who is advocating for myself, and I want a test to be done? The future of healthcare is direct to consumer!

Remove hospitals and doctors, educate patients! Doctors should be there to tell you how each item on the menu will taste like but I should not need a doctor to expedite my healthcare needs!

Compare this to the customer service of companies like Amazon! Within minutes, I can talk to a human and get a refund for a product, and sometimes they don’t even want me to send it back!

Healthcare customer service sucks next level! But this is the ripe area for innovation!”

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