[danielle.m]

I am really at my wit's end with trying to find a good doctor's office up here in the Florida panhandle. I live in Niceville, Fl but at this point I'm willing to travel within 60 miles or so just to find a decent doctor.

A little back story - I was born and raised in Central Florida and not to knock the panhandle, but I never had problems with doctors there. I moved here with my husband 4 years ago and it's been difficult to find a good doctor since then, but my experience today takes the cake.

I went to see a new gynecologist for my annual exam and I was told over the phone that the cost of an annual exam was $170, which was fine with me. This was important to me because, while I have insurance, I have a very high deductible, so any costs would have to be covered by me at the time of my visit. So anyway, I go in, everything seems great, and then I meet the doctor. She comes in and she's pleasant enough, but she rushes through asking me the normal questions about whether or not I'm on birth control, etc. I mentioned to her I have some pain each month and she writes me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory and that's it. Then she did the exam and she was out the door. I'd say she was in the room for 10 minutes, max, and that's probably an overestimate.

So then I go to check out with the receptionist, and she informs me the doctor is charging me $370 but they would only be collecting $120 from me now and billing me for the rest. I was confused and the office was super busy, so I just paid it and then examined my bill when I got home. They had an additional $200 charge for seemingly nothing, so I called back and talked to the billing specialist. She says to me, "Oh, that's for the talk you had with the doctor about birth control pills." I said, "What talk? She asked me if I needed them, and I declined. That's it. She talked to me for about 3 minutes, just the routine questions that doctors ask their patients." First she tried to tell me they legally HAD to charge me more because patient consultations about medications weren't covered under my insurance's annual exam definition. I have BCBS and I just plain didn't believe this, since I've never had a problem with gynecologists in the past. I asked her to read me the definition of an "annual exam" as defined by BCBS right from their handbook, and it blatantly said it included the exam, patient consultation, any prescriptions written, and addressing patient concerns. I guess she figured out that trying to blame the insurance company wasn't going to work and then she actually said to me, "Well, in our office, an annual exam is just that. The doctor could have just walked in, done the exam, and walked out without even saying anything. Instead she introduced herself and talked to you, and that is why we're charging you for that conversation."

WHAT?!! I just about lost my cool when she said that! I have never even heard of a doctor charging extra for talking to a patient. That's absurd. I can maaaaaybe see how a doctor would charge extra if he/she spent a very long time with the patient, but she didn't. If anything, this was a shorter exam than any other annual exam I've had in the past. After a lot of arguing and stress, I finally got the $200 taken off my bill and they informed me that the doctor would no longer see me as a patient since I refused to pay it. I told them that I think I can live with that .

Seriously, for anyone who lives here -- who is your primary care doctor? And for any women, have you had this sort of problem with any other OBGYNs in the area? I have never had a problem with doctors and since I moved here, it really seems like this area is lacking in health care. Are we really at a point in our healthcare system where doctors are charging patients an extra $200 for a simple doctor/patient conversation?!


Unbelievable. If this hadn't happened to me, I wouldn't believe it myself! My husband is still fuming over the very idea that they tried that, lol. Ugh.

[beachmouse]

Health care is one big failing in the area from the hospitals on down. Spouse has had reasonable luck with Dr. Yang at the Bluewater White-Wilson for GP services, but that's the only recommendation I cam make at this point.

If we ever need hospital care, we are so getting it at either Sacred Heart Emerald Coast or going to Pensacola for Sacred Heart, West Florida, or Baptist because I simply cannot trust the HCA hospitals in-county to provide minimal quality of care. (Thanks Rick Scott!)

[danielle.m]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

Health care is one big failing in the area from the hospitals on down. Spouse has had reasonable luck with Dr. Yang at the Bluewater White-Wilson for GP services, but that's the only recommendation I cam make at this point.

If we ever need hospital care, we are so getting it at either Sacred Heart Emerald Coast or going to Pensacola for Sacred Heart, West Florida, or Baptist because I simply cannot trust the HCA hospitals in-county to provide minimal quality of care. (Thanks Rick Scott!)

Thank you. I've tried White-Wilson in Fort Walton Beach and while I never had an experience like I did today, I just feel like they always rush you out the door and don't truly care about their patients. I guess that's what can be expected out of a huge medical group like that.

I completely agree with you about the hospitals in the area as well. The doctor I had this experience with (whose name was mod-edited out, or else I would give it to warn others) is affiliated with Twin Cities Hospital in Niceville. I've since been told by several people that they wouldn't even take their dog to Twin Cities or Fort Walton Beach hospital! I wish I would have known this before today's experience.

I just don't get why health care is so poor in this area. I know it's dismal all over, but I really feel like Okaloosa is especially lacking. It's very unfortunate for all of us who live here year-round and love the area despite this. My husband and I really think this is a great place to start a family but at this rate, I'll be driving to Pensacola to find a decent OBGYN!

[beachmouse]

It's what happens when a for-profit hospital company is able to get an effective monopoly in the area- quality suffers to the extreme because you've got to be willing to drive to Crestview, Santa Rosa Beach, or Pensacola to have an alternate option and a lot of people won't or can't. FWBMC is bad enough that they almost had their ability to treat medicaid patients yanked by the state a while back and they are not in compliance with regulations designed to prevent Baker Act patients from eloping.

HCA also sets prices for common procedures sky high- we pay some of the highest costs in the Southeast for what's really a low quality of service, and in turn, it causes health insurance prices for both individual and group policies to be higher than they are in neighboring counties.

FWBMC is actually one of the big reasons why I utterly loathe Rick Scott, but that's getting into politics.

[danielle.m]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

It's what happens when a for-profit hospital company is able to get an effective monopoly in the area- quality suffers to the extreme because you've got to be willing to drive to Crestview, Santa Rosa Beach, or Pensacola to have an alternate option and a lot of people won't or can't. FWBMC is bad enough that they almost had their ability to treat medicaid patients yanked by the state a while back and they are not in compliance with regulations designed to prevent Baker Act patients from eloping.

HCA also sets prices for common procedures sky high- we pay some of the highest costs in the Southeast for what's really a low quality of service, and in turn, it causes health insurance prices for both individual and group policies to be higher than they are in neighboring counties.

FWBMC is actually one of the big reasons why I utterly loathe Rick Scott, but that's getting into politics.

If you don't mind my ignorance, what does Rick Scott have to do with FWBMC? I try to follow politics but I'm unaware of any connection there. I'm interested to know about it, though, because I'm really just fed up with my health care options.

I agree that FWBMC is horrible. I have degenerative disc disease in my back and I was told last year that I had to have an MRI at the hospital. They wanted to charge something insane like $2,300 or something! My mom has the same condition and her MRI last year was around $800 down in Orlando. I cannot believe the inflated prices here for health care ... the ironic thing being that, like you said, the quality of service is very poor. As I was leaving FWBMC a nurse pulled me aside and said, "I wouldn't get it done here. It's much too expensive, we charge 3 times as much as anyone else does." I wouldn't have gotten it done there anyway but I was glad to see that at least someone in that organization has a conscience.

[beachmouse]

Rick Scott was CEO of Columbia HCA, owner of FWBMC and Twin Cities, and while he was running the company, they consistently put profits ahead of adequate patient care.

[danielle.m]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

Rick Scott was CEO of Columbia HCA, owner of FWBMC and Twin Cities, and while he was running the company, they consistently put profits ahead of adequate patient care.

Ahhh, I see. I do remember hearing about that and he pleaded ignorance to the whole mess, as they all seem to do. I wasn't aware Columbia HCA was the owner of FWBMC and Twin Cities though, so that clears things up a bit.

[scubacat]

I am thinking of applying for a pediatrician job at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center, but after reading these comments I am hesitant. Does the hospital have a bad reputation because of the quality of medical care? It seems like most of you are just complaining about the high cost and not the medical care you received.

[beachmouse]

It's the double whammy of high cost and low quality at FWBMC. Management has a reputation for cutting corners wherever they can in order to keep the bottom line v. high.

[hiknapster]

There is a woman on CD who was recently in a Port Charlotte hospital. She said that a doctor that she had never seen before basically walked into her room and out again. For that, she received an enormous bill. When she called his office to complain they went so far as to say he gave her some sort of treatment. She eventually talked them down a bit, but I would have reported the whole thing and not paid a cent.

I wonder if now that folks have less or no insurance they are catching this stuff. I know that decades ago there was a big expose on how hospitals were overcharging insurance companies. I suspect medical personnel are no longer going to be able to pull this stuff now that individuals are actually reading and paying these bills.