Re: Legal system defining...long
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Sun Apr 22 13:24:53 2001
again - repeat after me -
look for ...
the union label...
art
At Sun, 22 Apr 2001, Kevin D. Dew wrote:
>
>I have noticed in the past several days several posts espousing that the
>medical community in the USofA "stand up and be counted," "lift up our
>voices in outcry," or something similar to protest the influences that the
>courts and insurance companies have on medical practice in the USofA.
>
>I have a friend, a general surgeon, who says it best when commenting on the
>above admonitions to stand up for our rights. "Getting doctors to agree on
>anything is like herding cats!"
>
>We are caught between telling the third party payors to take a hike and not
>getting paid at all for our services. 100% of the docs would have to agree
>not to participate with third party payors with whom we disagree. Recently
>a large group of surgeons stopped participating with Humana. Those patients
>simply have gone to the one surgeon in town who still participates. Should
>we refuse to participate and should we be the only provider of a particular
>service in the "service area" we could and have been held liable for patient
>abandonment. It is truly a no-win situation.
>
>I have a patient mad at my office because we billed her for a co-pay for her
>second and third office visit for a problem. She says her insurance policy
>rep told her she should not be billed a co-pay for subsequent visits. My
>office manager has spoken with three reps about this situation and has been
>told three different things, yet we, the docs, are responsible for knowing
>how, why, how much and when to bill the patient.
>
>For those overseas who deal with "socialized medicine" in whatever form it
>may take, please try to understand the BS we deal with everyday in the USofA
>before casting stones about our motives.
>
>Many, not all, of the docs who are schooled in countries with "socialized
>medicine" in it's many forms have a significant, if not complete, subsidy of
>their medical education. We, in the USofA, unless on military or public
>health service scholarship, pay for it out of pocket, often graduating with
>debts far in excess of $100,000, at 7% to 10% or more interest, none of
>which is a tax deductible expense once we begin to make money. Forgive us
>please if we wish to pay these debts and have a decent lifestyle.
>
>Kevin
--
art fougner, md
A series of 1000 cases begins with but a single anecdote.
