Last week, I tried to schedule a routine doctor’s appointment. This was easier said than done. In particular, I ran into the following obstacles:

– The office only takes appointments up to six months in advance, so you can’t just book next year’s visit when you finish the current visit.

– The front office staff can’t set appointments. You have to speak with the specific doctor or their nurse.

– There’s no way to just call and talk directly to the person with appointment-setting power. You have to leave a message and wait up to three days for a call back.

I have no idea why a doctor’s office would make such a simple process so obtuse and difficult. In my case, it took three phone calls and about a week in total to get an appointment scheduled — and I can only imagine how much time is wasted when you multiply this across all of the patients that they serve.