Why I don't "hate", but certainly dislike, private medical labs

My wife has a minor heath issues which for the last four or so years have required the regular use of those private labs where the doctors send you for blood tests and other such "technical" testing.

I don't have a major complaint about the actual testing process in these places, as they seem to be able to accurately knock off 10 or 15 patients in a half hour or so. I also assume that they get paid "scale" (ie. the government set's the price they are going to pay for each kind of test, and the lab has to do the test, pay the overhead and make a profit from those list prices,) so in that respect I'm not too worried that prices will spiral out of control.

It's also not that they are attempting to "rush" through the testing process, after all, it's not like when they draw blood that they hook you up to a 20hp pump to save the 60 seconds it takes to fill the test tube with your blood.

No, the issue I have is not so much to do with the actual testing service, the issue I have is with the way the client is treated before they make it to the testing area.

As I've said, my wife is a "regular" there, and I always accompany her to the lab.

There has seldom been a case where there has not been a line up, with people having to line up outside the actual office and out into the hallways and front entrance area. When I first saw this kind of line up I assumed this was a rare occurrence, or maybe just a weekend thing, but after four years, it is pretty clear that this is a predictable regular occurrence.

So while there may not be a serious issue of these labs contributing to the raise in health costs, there is still some issue as to what these companies do in order to turn a profit.

Seems that without the ability to raise profits via price hikes, these places skimp in other ares, such as client waiting areas, and quite possibly workers wages.


I don't mind standing the hallway for 45 minutes myself waiting for my wife to be called for her 2 1/2 minutes of blood letting, but I do have an issue when sickly seniors are made to wait in the hallway, way back out of the way where they can't hear their name being called, and the receptionists are too damn lazy, too damn busy, or so underpaid they don't really care, to step outside to see if the person they are calling happens to be down a long hall out of ear shot because there is no room in the waiting area.

They just let the client wait until they are frustrated enough to march down the hallway, up to the front desk and ask "how much longer it will be" ... "oh, we called your name 20 minutes ago, but you never answered."

You'd think that a business that has as their clientèle a large proportion of elderly and sickly people would be required to provide at least a minimum level of service and comfort standards?