I have found the more technology we have, the harder it is to actually reach a person, much less talk to a live person during normal business hours in their office. During the course of a business day, I have ot deal with insurance companies where it is almost impossible to reach a live person for help without going through at least 30 prompts to find out the person that I need to talk to “is either away from their desk or assiting another client. However, if I will leave my name, taxpayer ID, my NPI number, my telephone number and a brief message of why I am calling, they will get back to me at their earliest convience.” This entire process ususally takes about 25 to 30 minutes. The absolute worst offender for this situtation is AT&T here in Dallas. It is impossible to call the telephone company, without reciting your personal info at least 20 times and being passed from person to person. I have to schedule several hours out of my day to do business with the telephone company /cable/internet. I also place a large number of advertising in local publications. I generally spend 5,000 to 10,000 per month. Or at least I try to. Again, it is impossible to talk to a live person, and they always will call me back when it’s convienent for them. That is usually 2 or 3 days later, and then I am too busy to talk. I have gotten to the point that if business’ do not answer their phone during normal business hours, I do not do bussiness with them. Of course advertising publications wonder why ads are down. Maybe they should try answering their phones. Gone are the days, you could call someone with a problem and get it sovled within a day or two. You can’t even call a cardiologist office or hardly any doctors office and talk to a live person. Then I spend about 2 hours a day just answering emails. Ok, sorry, I could vent for another hour or so, but I won’t. :-D I won’t mention the time that I have to spend on a daily basis just to keep our 7 computers up and running. Fix the glitches in the software that we have paid dearly for. Oh and the password debacle. Insurance company and banks make us change our passwords every 30 to 60 days. When you work in medicine, that alone entails about 2 to 3 hours per month. Not to even mention all of the CPT coding that changes on a daily basis. NO, my job was so much easier when we didn’t have all of this technology. I long for days gone by, when life and work was truely so much simpler. Then there is ever growing identity theft problem due to technology. The goverment is absolutely adament about all doctors offices going to electronic medical records. Does the goverment REALLY think that the data is safe? I’m here to tell you that the data is absolutely NOT SAFE. Hospital records are being hacked as I type this. And I guess if you don’t mind everyone in the world having access to your personal history, SS number, etc. This includes, your current employer and anyone they appoint to moniter your health and personal life as well as prospective employers, plus any doctors office you go to, has the ability to get your current records,including lab tests, drugs you are currently taking plus any drugs you have had for the past 5 years. Every doctor you have seen for the past 5 years.