What to expect and chances of getting in?

@carndt, Mayo Clinic Connect is a public forum and it is recommended not to post personl email addresses. @roch is a patient and volunteer here on Mayo Clinic Connect. There are people who can help with your questions about getting an appointment however.

Should your patient advocate wish to know more about getting an appointment at Mayo Clinc, they can contact Mayo Clinic coordinators who are best equipped to answer your questions. Here are your options:

Fill out the online form to schedule a time to talk with a scheduling coordinate. Get started here: http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

Canadian patients may speak with a local patient advocate to help answer questions prior to scheduling appointments. You can contact the Canadian advocate by calling 807-346-2218. See more info here: https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/international/locations/canada

As a fellow mom, I can understand how concerned you are for your daughter. She is lucky to have you in her court. Sending you courage and strength as you support her.

Thank you so much. As you can imagine this is all very overwhelming to us. I'm going to encourage Miranda, my daughter to sign up here as well. We're just in the process of gathering documents and whatnot. It's been a very long hard journey for us so far and we've exhausted all resources in Canada to get help for her, so this is the last stop. As you can imagine, we're terrified.

@colleenyoung is there a method of how to send or describe issues that is successful to get you admitted or helps the doctors?

@lpsinduced, that's a good question. The intake form http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63 asks for preliminary information about your main concern and a time to schedule a phone meeting with an appointment coordinator. At that time, you expand on the information and may be asked to share medical records, etc.

Sometimes, it can be helpful to have your physician submit the referral for ease of medical record sharing.

@colleenyoung hi Colleen! Thank you for responding. I did speak with them on the phone and they sent me an email asking for a small summary of issue and medical records, which I responded on wednesday and today friday they have sent me a text message stating to submit some documents to schedule an appointment. Does this seem like good news? that we will get an appointment ?

@lpsinduced, it's moving in the right direction. Is this to schedule a telephone appointment with the scheduler or to schedule a medical consult?

@colleenyoung thank you once again! I'm not sure I will be calling them today for better clarification. Also do you happen to know if they would accept VA healthcare as an insurance? Or how it would work?

@lpsinduced
When you talk to a schedule coordinator to review your request, they will ask about insurance. The appointment coordinator will know Mayo's requirements for VA insurance coverage.

You might review these two websites prior to your call to familiarize yourself and prepare questions about insurance to ask the schedule coordinator:
Mayo Clinic’s participation in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Community Care Network. Veterans may be eligible for this care when community care requirements are met and the VA authorizes it.
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-expands-commitment-to-serving-veterans-by-participating-in-va-community-care-network-beginning-august-1-2020/
For more information about VA's Community Care Referals, visit this VA site.
https://www.va.gov/resources/how-to-get-community-care-referrals-and-schedule-appointments/
A few questions they may ask:
Are you currently being treated at a VA clinic/hospital?
Do you need a referral to be seen at a non-VA clinic?

Hope this helps

@roch and @colleenyoung thank you both and I will do! They have reviewed my husbands records and they gave us a referral to a different department than what we applied for but that is no issue for us! The department we were referred to gave us a call and asked for more information about his health. Is this a good sign and normal to do be referred to a different department than applied and is this a good step into getting approved and close to getting an appointment at the mayo clinic? We are super excited and happy to get accepted and for once resolve my husband issues that he has been struggling with for three years now that has stopped him from living. Thank you thank you for the support and answers!

I feel like I made a mistake calling in to try to get an appointment instead of typing something out. I focused on the most recent issues (ENT-related) and was asked to get those records submitted, which I did (think they were all submitted a few days ago). This has been a very long and complex illness, though, which has in recent months completely compromised my ability to function as a provider, husband and father. I'm afraid my foggy brain didn't do a great job of advocating for why Mayo is right for me. Like others, I've seen so many doctors and really have nowhere else to turn at this point.

@roch and @colleenyoung , I assume once my initial call happened and now I'm waiting for a review/decision, I don't really have an opportunity to provide more background. Also seeing crazy wait times for appointments from some people, hoping that's not always the case...