Transportation Trouble
To get it out of the way I have
ADHD
DID (Complex-PTSD with dissociation)
Anxiety
Depression
Okay cool
So I greatly benefit from disability transportation that picks you up at your door and drops you off right outside the door of your location.
The city bus isn't safe for me because of the dissociation and switching and anxiety and ADHD all combining for me to get horribly lost or engage in behaviors or activities I hadn't planned on.
I'm having extreme troubles getting approved for disability transportation which I haven't had before.
a "national provider identification number" is required in the professional verification form.
I was staying at a homeless shelter and the nurse there had filled out the prof. verif. form many times without needing to provide and NPI and she doesn't have an NPI.
Well I haven't been able to see a GP since I moved into this state in November because there's very few doctors in the area I can get to without a car and even fewer who take medicaid/medicare so I haven't seen a GP so the GP won't be very familiar with my disability at all.
My therapist filled out a form and I'm HOPING she has a valid NPI but I'm worried I won't be able to make it there to pick up the paperwork to email it to the transportation services.
And I have an extension from the transportation services until march 31st so that I can get the paperwork from the doctors.
But I don't see my GP until the middle of april.
I'm starting to spiral - I was called this morning by the nurse from the homeless shelter her saying she doesn't have and NPI was never required to before and I'd need to see a doctor who would have an NPI and...
I'm terrified.
I'm terrified this will lead to a downward spiral. When I was left to my own devices on public city transit before I was in danger, actual danger of my life. Not exaggerating danger, I got into bad situations easily.
I don't want that again.
I'm scared.
@DichotomousDetia
It seems like so many disability services have added hoops and barriers when we need have trouble as it is.
I can understand why you would be stressed and scared.
If you're open to some suggestions - can you or a friend call and get a further extension? Can you share a copy of what you already have and see if they will just accept that (I assume a nurse has some sort of license number, even if not an NPI). Or maybe a friend or someone at the shelter can help you connect online to a doctor who is willing to help with the form for free (if allowed, I don't know the rules).
I hope getting it sorted isn't incredibly difficult and that you can stay safe.
@AffyAvo
Thankfully my therapist had an NPI.
I'm pretty short on helpful friends currently and this extension is as far as the services want to go. I've asked for a variety of accommodations and they say because they're federally funded they NEED the NPI for when they get audited so they won't take it without an NPI doesn't matter what I write. Cause anyone can write things down on paper I guess, that was one of the things they said which sounded ignorant to me. Had a major life-change and had a lot of enablers and untrustworthy people who did not respect my boundaries. I have one friend in the country and area I'm in that I could trust for anything like that.
The homeless shelter didn't have a dr and the nurse on the phone told me she has no NPI and never has needed to use one.
So thankfully I was able to send the form my therapist filled out. I just have to wait now for a reply and hope that it's valid to the services.
the panic I had after the nurse called to say she doesn't have an NPI and never needed one before really put me in a panic. I'm feeling a bit better now. Time is ticking though.
They only approved me for medical transportation because of how I wrote out my paperwork the first time. I'm hoping maybe the subsequent versions I wrote for professional verification makes it obvious I would also benefit from grocery trips. I didn't know I had to specify if I needed a ride to very specific places because there's nothing on the paperwork that asks "will you use this for medical appointments, grocery trips, visiting a friend?"
@DichotomousDetia
Also connecting online to a doctor, to be seen by a doctor, for a doctor to put their NPI on anything in the USA you need insurance, doctors can't do that without risking losing their license. I found a doctor who supposedly takes my insurance in the area. In the United States you can't see a doctor out-of-state and the wait-lists are currently long in my area because we have limited doctors.
Doctor's are licensed state by state, so if they don't have licensing for the state I'm in I can't see them.
Many doctors won't do a first-meeting or 'intake' session without insurance and will not do it through telehealth(online).
