More hospitals begin charging fees for MyChart messages (handicapped, heart, prescriptions)
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All of this is precisely why I refused to sign up for My Chart or any other online health record. It never was about patient convenience. These tools are nothing more or less than harvesting your medical data and sharing it far and wide.
My former internist (retired) asked every time I'd see her when My Chart first came out but stopped after I finally gave her my reasons for not using it. She agreed with me.
We get what we vote for. People increasingly want socialized medicine. This is just a taste of it.
Wow, I hadn’t heard of this trend of charging for asking questions. I ask my doc maybe one question per year, if that.
I guess if I were on the other side, I’d have my staff send a boilerplate response “I’m sorry, but for insurance reasons, I’m unable to provide consultations electronically. Please call our office to set up an appointment. If this is an emergency, please call 911.”
You should be asking most of your questions during the visit, because they are getting paid for your visit. Who wants to work for free? You? Not me.
There are some questions you CAN’T ask during a visit. For example, if I try a new medicine, most doctors explicitly tell me to let me know if there are issues through MyChart messaging. I haven’t done so that often since it often takes me until I get to the doctor to realize a specific medication is causing an issue, but it’s still a valid tool. If you just need to change a medication dose or try a new medication, it makes sense to use the messaging instead of going in.
FWIW, I do see people’s MyChart messages as part of my job, and some people do overuse it to email back and forth with their doctors. In those cases, the doctor or nurse just tells the patient they have to come in.
There are some questions you CAN’T ask during a visit. For example, if I try a new medicine, most doctors explicitly tell me to let me know if there are issues through MyChart messaging. I haven’t done so that often since it often takes me until I get to the doctor to realize a specific medication is causing an issue, but it’s still a valid tool. If you just need to change a medication dose or try a new medication, it makes sense to use the messaging instead of going in.
And that's a legitimate use of it. You can still ask MOST of your questions during a visit. I don't know what some (few) people expect here, if doctors spend all day messaging people when will they have time to see people?
All of this is precisely why I refused to sign up for My Chart or any other online health record. It never was about patient convenience. These tools are nothing more or less than harvesting your medical data and sharing it far and wide.
My former internist (retired) asked every time I'd see her when My Chart first came out but stopped after I finally gave her my reasons for not using it. She agreed with me.
We get what we vote for. People increasingly want socialized medicine. This is just a taste of it.
I love MyChart. I can see all of my test results, all of my MRI images, all of my CT images, etc. It also allows my cancer doctors to see my PCP/other hospital records, so I don't have to explain what's going on every time.
Electronic health records are far superior to paper. My PCP has to look at my folder because all of those records haven't been converted yet. That folder is over 3 inches thick. With electronic records, she can look at graphs of test results over time, something that's impossible with paper.
I would be pretty happy if the US had some sort of single payer system for health care. The rest of the world seems to do just fine with that concept.
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Originally Posted by Arya Stark
The greed is STUNNING.
Ok fine.. next medical appointment I am coming armed with every question I can possibly think of.
Beware. . .your insurance may not cover that, if the office billing person codes it as multiple issues being addressed at the same appointment. Believe me, they have thought of every possible way to increase revenue and save themselves from bankruptcy. With the amount they are charging us and our insurance, it seems odd that they can't make ends meet. The medical care system is completely broken, as predicted when Obamacare came.
Medical anything is nothing like it was a few decades ago, when you went to the doctor for a specific reason and that reason was addressed and, hopefully, resolved...thanks to the fact that doctors back then would use this really nifty thing called 'common sense/process of elimination', etc. Now? They pull out a laptop...ask a question, the answer you give prompts them to the next question and on it goes. We lived in Dallas for a few years, the bigwig doctor we saw would have us come in, run tests, refuse to call us with test results and made us go in for a separated appointment to GET the test results...then run more tests, have us go in again for test results....we had good insurance, however...those 'office visits' (where we saw the actual dr. only the first time we went in, forever after it was the medical assistant working under the dr's license...) were running $500 per. With any blood work being sent out to Boston, MA. Mind you, this was Dallas we lived in. As. In. Texas. Big. Texas. Have you noticed how people who are, say, in their late 50s or so all seem to be on roughly the same meds? Blood pressure....statins....etc.? And I have to admit, I was somewhat surprised a few years ago when I started noticing on the dr. websites, etc., the patient's being referred to as 'customers'. That's no mistake, I'm sure. At this point in my somewhat questioning, jaded life, my own thought is...think for yourself. Question. Don't assume you're not more intelligent than you're being told you are.
I'd be happy if I could just find a solo practitioner or small practice doc. I am so sick of these mega-corporation hospitals and their stifling bureaucracy. Just their phone systems are enough to drive you up the wall. "If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911..."
You will not find a solo practitioner anymore because of the federal mandate for Electronic Medical Records (EMR). The cost is too prohibitive for a solo practitioner to afford. Another example of what happens when the Feds get involved in healthcare.
(I've no doubt that there are still some practitioners that haven't followed the mandate. I don't know how they get away with it. Probably refuse to take medicare/medicaid or insurance patients.)
Personally, I'm a HUGE fan of MyChart, though I do find that when the nurses answer my query, they often give incomplete answers. Otherwise, I love it. (But then, I'm okay with virtual/video physician visits - IF they make sense.)
You will not find a solo practitioner anymore because of the federal mandate for Electronic Medical Records (EMR). The cost is too prohibitive for a solo practitioner to afford. Another example of what happens when the Feds get involved in healthcare.
(I've no doubt that there are still some practitioners that haven't followed the mandate. I don't know how they get away with it. Probably refuse to take medicare/medicaid or insurance patients.)
Personally, I'm a HUGE fan of MyChart, though I do find that when the nurses answer my query, they often give incomplete answers. Otherwise, I love it. (But then, I'm okay with virtual/video physician visits - IF they make sense.)
I recently found a sole practitioner though it's not a convenient drive. He takes my medicare too. Great doc just a little too out of the way for my liking.
The doctors I use have MyChart and we communicate through it, for short subjects, etc.
They have a warning on the website that replies that take an excessive amount of time may be billed at physician’s rates. They haven’t billed me for anything yet.
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