Memorandum on Medical Document Bundle
The form asks for the documents. The documents are in three different places, two different formats, and one of them requires a login.
The form was sent on a Wednesday. The form required five documents.
The first document was the vaccination certificate. The vaccination certificate existed as a PDF downloaded in April. The subject had renamed the file "covid-vacc-final.pdf" at the time of download. The file was now in the downloads folder beneath seventy-three subsequent downloads.
The file was found.
I.
The second document was the most recent lab report. The lab report existed on the hospital's patient portal. The subject had not logged into the portal since February. The login required an ID number and a password, and a one-time passcode sent to a phone number that had since been updated.
The phone number update required a form. A different form.
The subject called the hospital's helpline. The helpline wait time was eleven minutes. The number was updated in approximately four minutes once connected.
The lab report was downloaded.
II.
The third document was a prescription record. The prescription record was with the pharmacist. The pharmacist required a request to generate the record. The request could be submitted in person or by calling during business hours.
It was 7:30 PM.
III.
A medical document bundle is complete at the exact moment it is no longer needed for the original purpose. The subject submitted three of the five documents on the form with a note explaining that the remaining two were in progress. The form's acknowledgment said a complete submission was required for processing.
The subject understood this to mean the form would wait.
IV.
On Thursday morning, the prescription record was obtained. The fourth document was the general practitioner's referral letter, which the subject had been told was sent directly to the specialist and did not need to be submitted by the patient. This turned out to be accurate for the specialist but not for this particular form.
The GP's office said the letter could be re-sent in two to three business days.
V.
The fifth document was an insurance policy number. The subject had the card. The number on the card did not match the number on the insurer's online portal, which displayed an updated policy number following a renewal. The form required the current number.
The system is supposed to consolidate information, yet the act of consolidating it requires accessing systems that do not consolidate. By Friday, the subject had the complete bundle. The deadline was Friday at 5 PM.
The form was submitted at 4:47 PM.
The form was processed. The appointment was confirmed. The subject filed the complete bundle in a folder labeled "medical" where it will remain, accurate and complete, until a subsequent form requests a document that has since been updated.