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This just goes to show - Charlotte docs have jerked us all around. Now, the way your pediatrician handled the records is what I would expect. WHen I moved to KCMO - I didn't go thru/ the ridiculous mess these docs here in Charlotte have put our family through! I had the same problem when our insurance changed last year. Hubby got sick and no one would see him - said he was not an established patient and until we made an appointment for a full physical and were considered "established patients," the docs would not see us for a sick call. They said for us to go to the Urgent Care Centers.
I got this from both CMC and Presby docs - and of course, w/ insurance, one is usually limited as to choices of practices. As you know, Bibit, this resulted in my hubby getting a mis-diagnosis of acute bronchitis from 2 trips to an Urgent Care Center, when he was actually suffering from congestive heart failure. The only way I finally got an appointment with a doc (the next day) here in Charlotte was to get a friend of ours to call the doc's office where they had been a patient and ask the PA to see our doc as a favor. As it turned out, this doc would have seen us if we had known to call his SMALL practice. All the large practices listed on our insurance network info would NOT see my husband.
Thank God this doc did - as hubby was diagnosed and admitted as an emergency admittance to the hospital immediately.
Sheesh! Ani! makes you wonder why some people go into the practice of medicine in the first place. I thought people decide to become doctors because they want to help others....
Ani, they all just had their physical, by the same doc less, than six months ago. This is the pediatrician that we have been seeing since we moved here. They don't have to fill out a damn thing, they just have to sign the form...crazyness!
stmaarten - Try forgery next year! This is one of the very few disadvantages of moving out of NJ for me! It seems that all the doctors and dentists believe they are "Hollywood Doctors to the Stars" and charge accordingly. Dentists are another horror story too! I'm beginning to understand why so many people here are missing teeth! "Park Avenue Princes of Dentistry" abound! Too bad the medical industry doesn't mirror the housing prices!
Ani, they all just had their physical, by the same doc less, than six months ago. This is the pediatrician that we have been seeing since we moved here. They don't have to fill out a damn thing, they just have to sign the form...crazyness!
Yep. I understood what you were saying and it is sheer craziness!!! It is just a way to make more $$$$. Docs here have a racket going. And I will be glad to say that to any doc's face - hope one comes on here and tries to justify it. Having lived in other areas of this country, I know for a fact that this is just a regional phenomena.
Sheesh! Ani! makes you wonder why some people go into the practice of medicine in the first place. I thought people decide to become doctors because they want to help others....
Healthcare is a business. Physicians want their practices to make money. And if the practice is owned by a hospital, physicians have contracts that tie salary into practice profitability. And please - I hope a doc comes on here and wants to debate this. I know what I am talking about. I see physician contracts on a monthly basis. I am sick of doctors whining that $750,000 ain't enuff. Really. And I am talking about docs hired by hospitals - who have all sorts of arrangements going as to their office expenses - and many have arrangements re: paying their educational debt. I am sick of hearing how docs are underpaid.
One of the reasons for high healthcare costs in this country are physician salaries. (please, please - someone debate me on this. I am so ready to go off on this topic, LOL!!!!)
caveat - and yes, I know pediatricians don't make the big bucks that cardiologists make - I am fully aware that the $10 they are charging goes to offset office expenses. And I still say it is BS.
I think the fee is fair. It's the doctor's job to see patients, not fill out paperwork. If I were a doctor, I wouldn't "just sign" something that some kid's mom filled out, especially not with the rampage of ridiculous malpractice suits in our litigious society. This task requires that someone pulls the kid's chart, and then the doctor has to take their office time to review what's on the form compared with what's in the chart before they can sign it. That's time they could be seeing a patient. Multiply that by a couple hundred parents with kids who want to go to camp, and...
I think $10 is a pretty fair fee. It's like a copay for an office visit.
Healthcare is a business. Physicians want their practices to make money. And if the practice is owned by a hospital, physicians have contracts that tie salary into practice profitability. And please - I hope a doc comes on here and wants to debate this. I know what I am talking about. I see physician contracts on a monthly basis. I am sick of doctors whining that $750,000 ain't enuff. Really. And I am talking about docs hired by hospitals - who have all sorts of arrangements going as to their office expenses - and many have arrangements re: paying their educational debt. I am sick of hearing how docs are underpaid.
One of the reasons for high healthcare costs in this country are physician salaries. (please, please - someone debate me on this. I am so ready to go off on this topic, LOL!!!!)
caveat - and yes, I know pediatricians don't make the big bucks that cardiologists make - I am fully aware that the $10 they are charging goes to offset office expenses. And I still say it is BS.
ani - That seems to be one of the unmentionables in the health debate - Physician salaries. Are the services of great doctor worth 30 or 40 times the worth of a great teacher? I don't think so - maybe 4 or 5 times, but that's it! I don't think I should be subsidizing a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" for any physician. Certainly a doctor should earn more than a Walmart greeter for all that educational expense and years of training, but it shouldn't evolve into "Who's going to be a Millionaire" either! It's that view, that is creating a movement for single-payer medicine by people who see doctors as being overly-rewarded "haves" in the "haves and have not" equation. I don't think any doctor on earth is worth more than a $250,000 salary. If you can't manage on an amount like that, something is wrong -big time!
When my son's get their yearly physical I am sure to get a hard copy. I make several copies of each and file them. Physicals are good 1 year from the date of the physical. When it comes time for sports physicals, etc. I simply attach the copy of the physical to the form after I've filled out the parts of the form that aren't covered on the physician's sheet. I've only been asked once for a current physical and I reminded them that insurance only covers one per year and the year ain't up yet.
When my son's get their yearly physical I am sure to get a hard copy. I make several copies of each and file them. Physicals are good 1 year from the date of the physical. When it comes time for sports physicals, etc. I simply attach the copy of the physical to the form after I've filled out the parts of the form that aren't covered on the physician's sheet. I've only been asked once for a current physical and I reminded them that insurance only covers one per year and the year ain't up yet.
Works every time!
Did this too in CT and the CT camps took the copy. Same with the daycares. No need to repeat and handwrite everything down.
when my son's get their yearly physical i am sure to get a hard copy. I make several copies of each and file them. Physicals are good 1 year from the date of the physical. When it comes time for sports physicals, etc. I simply attach the copy of the physical to the form after i've filled out the parts of the form that aren't covered on the physician's sheet. I've only been asked once for a current physical and i reminded them that insurance only covers one per year and the year ain't up yet.
Just because there is a ten dollar charge does not mean the doctor isn't a caring, good doctor.
But I can understand the frustration, though, especially if you were not aware of the charge. And having to fill out and pay for the forms for every single camp would get old fast.
On the bright side, though, it sounds like your kids are attending several camps, and will have great time. To be young again, right?
I was reading the Observer series about the summer camp fund, that helps kids whose parents can't afford to send them to camp.
It was heartwarming to see how excited these kids were to attend camp, many for the first time.
Last edited by cmhousesearch; 06-12-2009 at 04:24 PM..
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