1 year ago today, our dearest friend passed away. We bought his one practice last year and were both a little creeped out about it (we felt his presence everywhere) and reluctant to change things, and yet very excited about it. It was in a town we first began our marriage and we had fond memories of that time and the town and still had many friends in the area. Geographically it was ideal for us...not too close to either of the other offices but not too far away as to spend an hour commuting between offices. We also hired his widow (our friend) to work for us which has actually turned out fantastic since she has lots of experience and I was able to turn over a lot of the things I did to her.
We rent space in one of our other offices to an internist who is there one day a week, on a day we are not there so there are no problems between the 2 of us. The new office though, is shared with a dentist. We each have our own lease in the same space. Ideally we would love to move this practice to a larger space but because the purchase of the practice was done due to the sudden death of the doctor, we need to keep the business as is for a minimum of 3 years. So this means we have to share the office with the dentist who has 10 part time employees and another dentist who works 2 days a week. Lots of employees to try and get along with.
So we come to office politics, not within our office but between the 2 offices. For the past year, we have had minor problems off and on but were easily handled. Lately though, it was been horrifying. We have a totally different philosophy of practicing than they do. Our schedule is run on time and efficiently so our patients never wait more than 15 minutes if that. We have a policy that if we run more than 15 minutes, you get your copay free that day. The other office: they usually run 1-2 hours late. They are loud and very noisy. Their front office girl has her kids or husband or friends in and out all the time. She wears low cut shirts that are not kind to a 300 pound person nor appropiate for office attire. She is actually the only person we are having a problem with. She is very nosey and wants to know what each of my employees make. She is a back stabbing gossip who loves to cause trouble. She was responsible for cleaning the office. I terminated her from cleaning our side because we have standards and she didn't meet my standards for cleaning. We do our own now plus clean the shared waiting room and bathroom. The main dentist and owner: she is a very nice person, however, she does not like confrontations nor being a boss nor working. She would rather be with her kids or on her horses and can't say that I blame her.
Last week we got 'the letter' stating how bad we are and how she wants us to move out. Hubs tried 2 times to talk to her but she avoided him (to her credit she was busy but she did manage to go into her office and close the door, effectively cutting off any type of communication between the 2 business owners). We are looking into possibly leasing the space next door to our current location and the landlord actually is really up for that since he would get to renegotiate the lease with the other office and raise her rent. But we would have to do a total buildout which would cost us more than we are currently willing to spend right now ($75.00 a square foot and the space is 1500 sq feet).
Hubs answered the letter in a very diplomatic way. I was impressed. No response to the letter yet but last night I went to see another dentist because I am still in dental hell and pain. I had them request my records from the dentist we share the office with. I received a call from new dentist who stated old dentist's office girl (and dentist we share the office with) would not release my records until I paid my bill and paid a fee. Well, not only was the bill was paid and check cashed but one does not mess with someone who knows the rules and how HIPAA law works (HIPAA for those not in the know, is a government law that states how a business keeps your information private. The official name is Health Information Portability and Accountability Act). There is a clause that if a patient asks for their records there is a fee. If another doctor asks for the records they are provided free of charge to the other doctor or health care professional for continuity of care. When I tried to tell her the HIPAA law, she interpreted that as I was threatening her. She would not state anything else on the phone but "don't threaten me" over and over and over. She would not listen to me that I was not threatening her but reading to her her own policy she made me sign about HIPAA, so I hung up. She has since left me 3 messages an hour telling me that her bark is worse than her bite and I will pay for threatening her. Calls to her boss: unanswered. So I called the new dentist and told them that I will continue to try to get my records but that I was willing to pay to have all new x-rays taken.
So in effect, I currently have a bully threatening me. So how far should I take this? I am really not threatened by her. She is plain and simple a bully. But this is creating an office situation that is slowly becoming horrible. Staying out of it is not possible when she is calling me every hour.
So instead of dwelling on this today, I have the honor of reading an authors works in progress for her and later honoring our beloved friend who we lost one year ago today.
We love and miss you Larry! You are always in our hearts.
