GENEVA — It is not out of the ordinary for a patient or a doctor to be late to an appointment.

What happened to one Geneva resident at a new medical facility offers a curious tale with mixed results.

After standing in a short line to reach the receptionist’s window at the Rochester Regional Health Geneva campus recently, Edith Wormley was told that she was late for her appointment with a primary care physician.

“They said I was a minute late for my appointment,” the longtime Geneva resident elaborated, “and that they had canceled it. I’m trying to find a parking space, and then when I get there, I have to wait in line because somebody’s in front of me. So my appointment was at 10:20 a.m., and when I actually got to the window, it was 10:31.”

Wormley, who has worked at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for three decades, expressed her disbelief to the receptionist who ended up summoning a manager to help.

“The manager said, ‘Oh yeah, those are our rules. We can’t see anybody if you’re late,’ ” Wormley recalled. “I said, ‘A minute. Are you serious?’ ”

She wondered out loud to the manager why patients have to wait for doctors who are late for appointments while that doesn’t seen to apply the other way around.

The manager told Wormley she had two options. The first was to reschedule the appointment. The second was to use the onsite telehealth system to speak in real time to a medical professional available at another facility. Telehealth appointments are held in private rooms at the campus with a nurse in attendance.

Wormley decided to take the telehealth option since she said she had made the appointment seven months in advance and didn’t want to waste any more time. She lost her husband a year before to a brain tumor, she hadn’t been feeling well, and she wanted to make sure that her health was in good stead.

“I didn’t get an M.D.,” Wormley said. “I got a physician’s assistant, who, by the way, was really good. You know, sometimes physician’s assistants can be more thorough than the medical doctor.”

She told the physician’s assistant she suspected she had an ear infection and was concerned about recent weight loss and feelings of fatigue.

“I’ve been going through a lot,” she reflected. “I just want to make sure my health was OK because I haven’t been feeling the best. I know that comes from a little depression and grieving.”

Wormley was impressed that the attending nurse could use an instrument to inspect her ears and the physician’s assistant could see the imaging as if she were on site. The same was true for checking her heart and other vitals.

“Yeah, it’s red in there,” the physician’s assistant said to Wormley. “You have an infection. I’m gonna send in some antibiotics for you.”

The PA asked about Wormley’s last breast exam. They also talked about bone density. Wormley came away impressed. And, the physician’s assistant set up a mammogram and bone density test for Wormley at Geneva General Hospital.

Though initially taken aback by the cancellation of her appointment with a primary care doctor she had just started seeing that year, Wormley said she ended up getting what felt like focused, competent care during her telehealth appointment.

If you’re late …

The Finger Lakes Times reached out to several health care organizations in the region to find out how each deals with cases of late patients and doctors.

At UR Medicine Finger Lakes Health, which oversees GGH and Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hospital, if a patient is 15 minutes late, the check-in staff will determine if the person can still be seen.

“If a patient cannot be seen at their originally scheduled time but there is an open appointment later that day, we will offer that available time,” said Andre Forcier, the assistant vice president, physician network, at Finger Lakes Health. “If another clinician has an opening and it is appropriate for the patient to be seen by them, the patient may also be offered an appointment with the clinician the same day.”

Forcier added that in the case of doctors, they strive not to keep patients waiting more than 15 minutes. In emergency situations, they will reschedule with the patient.

Speaking about late arrivals and busy schedules, Finger Lakes Community Health recognizes that “life happens.” FLCH medical visits are typically scheduled in 15-minute increments. If the situation is complex, the doctor will spend more time with the patient.

Chief Administration Officer Lawreen Duel said FLCH, which oversees nine health centers, tries to adjust the patient’s appointment so they can still be seen. They look for openings in the provider’s schedule for later that day. If there are no openings, they attempt to find another provider to see the patient, give the patient the option of waiting to see if an appointment becomes available later in the day, or reschedule for another time.

At Rochester Regional Health, which counts Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic and Newark-Wayne Community Hospital under its umbrella, patients who arrive 10 minutes after their scheduled appointment time may be required to reschedule, said Julia Welbourne, public relations advisor. The staff will work with the patient to determine if there are options for being seen at a different time that day.

At UR Medicine Thompson Health, Anne Johnston, spokesperson for the organization’s Office of Corporate Communications, said the formation of a council is being considered to craft a uniform policy across its 15 primary care providers. For now, patients should become familiar with the specific policy of their individual primary care provider, she said.