[markem]

I call before any doctor appointment and ask how far behind the doctor is. He doesn't have control over patients, so I figure that it makes sense for me not to show until he's ready to see me.

At first, I could not get info about how far he was behind and was told that if I was late for the scheduled time that it was considered a missed appointment.

I explained to my doc how beneficial it was for his nurse to keep the front desk informed so that people weren't pissed off and he went for it. Now, when I call, they tell me something like, "I see you have a 2:00 appointment, but we won't be ready for you until 2:45".