Absolutely appalling service!!!

I took my mom to hospital this morning and she was treated at the emergency room with the Dr concluding she must be admitted for further tests. Discovery Health was called to obtain authorisation for hospitalization. The hospital admission clerk provided all info requested and was told to call back after an hour as a review board had to decide whether to give authorization or not. An hour later, we are told the authorisation was declined due to the hospital not providing clinical information. The hospital clerk calls them again seeking clarity as to what exactly was required. An email was sent detailing the diagnosis, results of blood tests and x-rays done as well as treatment administered by the Trauma unit. We are told to wait another hour as the review board needs to look at the info and decide. After the second hour, we call Discovery back and the consultant advises that the matter has been forwarded to some other department and they have already gone off for the day. The treating doctor needs to call the case manager for a decision. The hospital staff call this case manager and after waiting ages to get through, the case manager does not have any information on hand to make a decision and was not interested in the fact that all the information had been sent to her colleagues earlier in an email. The case manager also refused to provide an email address where the email could be forwarded to her so she could have the information. A nurse had to be called from the Trauma unit to provide vital stats and results of the blood tests and x-rays. No matter what the nurse said, the case manager was just not interested. And after almost an hour on the phone, she declined the authorisation citing that the information provided over the phone did not warrant an admission. We had to take my mom home - in the pain that she was in - because Discovery didn't see the need for my mom to get further medical care. Yet they are quick to debit her account every month end.

I am truly appalled at Discovery Health and particularly that case manager who was just totally disinterested and it sounded like we were bothering her to do her job. Absolutely pathetic. And I will definitely be canceling my mom's membership!!!