1. Show up a couple of minutes early or at least on time.
2. If you are a new patient, show up about 15-20 minutes before your appointment. You will need to have your insurance verified and fill out new patient paperwork.
3. We never intend to run late. I promise you that we don't meet every day to figure out the best way to upset our patients. If you follow rules #1 and #2, it will help us avoid running late.
4. While it is helpful to have a list of questions for the doctor, do not expect us to take care of ten problems in 15-20 minutes. It simply can't happen. Expect three issues AT THE MOST to be discussed at one visit.
5. It is much easier on us and our staff if you don't wait until the last minute to get medications refilled. Give your doctor's office about one week to get refills done. And don't expect anything to be completed after 4pm on Friday afternoon. Doctors and nurses are just as anxious as you are to get home for the weekend.
6. Doctors do not get reimbursed for all the paperwork we do. All the requests we get for FMLA, powered scooters, refills, prior authorizations, home health orders, etc... are to be done on our own time, either between patients, at lunch, or at the end of the day. You would never go to an attorney and ask them to draft a will, power of attorney, etc... for free. But that is exactly what we do. So it may take more than 24 hours to get your FMLA paperwork back to you. There are only so many hours in a day (and again, we like to eventually go home).
7. Contrary to what most people think, a majority of doctors make LESS money today than they did ten years ago. Yet it costs more to run a business today. To make up for this deficit, we must see a large volume of patients. If you feel as though you are just herded through the doctor's office and nobody really listens to you, call your congressman to discuss reimbursement to primary care physicians. If we support primary care better (by this, I mean pediatrics, internal medicine, OB-GYN, and family medicine), your doctor will not have to see as many patients to be able to pay the bills. Not seeing as many patients=more time spent with you.
This is not intended as a rant, just a heads-up. I LOVE what I do, and I was aware of these obstacles when I decided to go into medicine. I'm sure there will be more tidbits, and please feel free to leave me your comments for ways you think healthcare can be improved.
3 comments:
I have a list of rants on the 'patient' side of it. lol.
I'm one of those patients that follows the rules, yet most doctors just want to shove a bucket of drugs at me getting me out as quickly as possible, but I want to get to the root of the issues and actually try to heal and not just treat symptoms.
I'm sure both sides are frustrating.
I hear what you are saying. I promise you that there are docs out there that don't want to keep filling the bank accounts of the big pharmaceutical companies. I was lucky enough to be trained by a group of physicians that emphasized the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. It is much easier to just write a prescription for somebody than to take the time to educate them about how things like diet, exercise, and home remedies can work. And some patients have such faith in prescription drugs, I'm seen as a weirdo when I suggest they try something else before I write one. There is no solution that I have figured out yet. I have a long battle in front of me...
Good luck, girl!! :) I wish we lived closer and you could be our doctor!! I know a lot of people just want pills instead of making any sort of lifestyle change. I don't get that. We go see our new doc next week (for Paige's 4month visit). Hopefully she's a good one. :)
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