Re: Semantics
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Thu Dec 30 09:12:58 2004
Gordon and Garry
You both have the right stuff
Happy New Year.
art
At Wed, 29 Dec 2004, Gordon M. Goldman wrote:
>
>Garry,
>
>You have the 'right stuff'!!!!
>
>One of my pet peeves, also. I have for the past 10 years or so, been
>crossing out "Health Care Provider" under signature lines for all forms.
>There was a very interesting article about a decade or so ago from an
>internist in California. I think it was in a Time Magazine series called
>'My Turn". He berated society for accepting all the euphemisms that they
>(managed care) use to describe the practice of medicine. Something to the
>effect that he didn't go to 'health care provider school', he went to
>medical school, etc. A really good article if you can lay your hands on it.
>Thanks for spreading the word, even if it is the 'old fashioned way', one
>patient at a time.
>
>On another note, last July we received a notice from one of the insurance
>plans, that as of our liability renewal date, we would be dropped from their
>plan, unless we raised our coverage limits from the state mandated minimum
>of $500,000/$1,000,000, to their minimum of $1mil/$3mil. I don't know what
>the differences are in other states, but in Missouri, it amounts to about
>15-18% increase in premium.
>
>We sent them a letter explaining our reasons for not doing this. Their
>response was that they would make a final decision closer to our anniversary
>date in January. Well, when we had not heard from them by December, We
>decided to 'draw the line in the sand'. We sent a letter to all of our
>patients in that plan, some of whom we had taken care of for 20 years. We
>explained to them why we might not be able to continue their care and
>specifically, the reasons why.
>
>We sent the letter on a Thursday. The next Monday, we got a call from the
>health plan asking why we did that. We told them because it was in our
>patient's best medical interests to know they may have to change physicians
>soon, and why. They said we lacked a spirit of cooperation. We said, all
>we did was to be upfront and honest with our patients, so they could prepare
>accordingly. We asked them if there was anything dishonest in what we said
>in the letter..... dead silence. They called again two days later, stating
>they had been deluged with angry calls from benefit managers and patients,
>and asked us not to send any more letters. We told them, as soon as we have
>an answer from them, another letter would be sent out. The tone and content
>of that letter would be entirely up to them and what they had decided.
>
>Within 10 days of the time we sent the letter, we received a letter back
>from them retracting their demand for increased liability coverage.
>
>I guess what I am getting at, is that we have enormous power to influence
>what the public perceives medicine to be, or not to be. The little things,
>like what you just did, will be passed on by that patient to others and the
>'snowball effect' will come into play.
>
>Thanks for doing that,
>
>--
>Gordon M. Goldman, M.D., FACOG
>Private Practice, St. Louis, Missouri
>
>"Will you now be my care provider?"
>
>I didn't miss a beat when I said, "No, I'll be your Obstetrician."
>
>Garry
>
>--
>Garry E. Siegel, M.D.
>Private Practice
>Roswell, GA
>
--
art fougner, md
May the Joy of this Holiday Season Be with You
and Yours throughout the New Year.
