Re: Million Med March
From: Roberta Speyer, President OBGYN.net (roberta.speyer@OBGYN.net)
Tue Jun 30 20:36:58 2009
Wow Rick!
You said it all!!!
We have about 20,000 US based Ob/Gyn personal emails. Over 100,000
internationally in our databases. But this is a US issue by and large.
Do you want me to promote this message to our US doctors?
I would like to put it on OBGYN.net and send out a shorter version with
a link, and let people sign up with one click.
You should consider extending the invitation to women and allied
healthcare providers. In my opinion the Ob/Gyn gets the worst of it
because of malpractice and the basic inequity of women's healthcare in
general. Can't pay for BC pills for women but ED is covered. When was
the last gall bladder you heard of done by laparotomy? But
hysterectomies...still over 70%.
Women can not stand what is happening to their doctors. It effects us
all. It makes us all sick to suffer and see you all put out of business
because of the few and greedy.
In all the years I have been doing OBGYN.net I have never met or heard
from anyone in the insurance industry. Big pharma very little. They
like to watch you all on Sermo, and here too I'm sure. Surgical and
device companies are more engaged with doctors directly. They seem to
actually respect you. But as for insurance companies, and
pharmaceutical executives, I think they would all be happy if you were
replaced with vending machines.
It is impossible as a small business owner to even buy a decent health
insurance policy. I end up going to Mexico and Europe myself for dental
care and so forth because with 5 kids I would go bankrupt paying out of
pocket full rack rates in the USA.
I went to the emergency room one night (uncovered) for a very sore
throat. They could not even tell me what it would cost...not even a
ball park guesstimate. Turned out to be about $1,500 which did not even
include a strep throat test because the doctor wanted to keep my cost
down so just prescribed an antibiotic. I asked if there was any
discount for cash pay and was told no...not unless I was indigent. I
told them with my coverage just give me time. and I would be.
But seriously, how can a hospital, a business, make people agree to pay
whatever the bill is and have no responsibility to even tell them what
it might be in best case scenario? Can you imagine any other business
operating like this? Like going to a restaurant and agreeing to pay any
price for whatever is served to you with absolutely no idea what that
will be and how much it might possibly cost?
Executive compensation is just rewarding bad behavior:
* Ron Williams – Aetna – Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
* H. Edward Hanway – CIGNA – Total Compensation: $12,236,740.
* Angela Braly – WellPoint – Total Compensation: $9,844,212.
* Dale Wolf – Coventry Health Care – Total Compensation: $9,047,469.
* Michael Neidorff – Centene – Total Compensation: $8,774,483.
* James Carlson – AMERIGROUP – Total Compensation: $5,292,546.
* Michael McCallister – Humana – Total Compensation: $4,764,309.
* Jay Gellert – Health Net – Total Compensation: $4,425,355.
* Richard Barasch – Universal American – Total Compensation: $3,503,702.
* Stephen Hemsley – UnitedHealth Group – Total Compensation: $3,241,042.
And that is only the top dogs. There is a lot of middle management in
there too.
So who from the Ob/Gyn world is going to D.C. in October?
Maybe OBGYN.net should come and film some doctors telling their horror
stories.
Call me Rick,
Roberta
At Mon, 22 Jun 2009, Meenan, Anna wrote:
>
>I can cut and paste it there, but why don't you join Sermo? Start a
>discussion. The first thing everyone will want to know when I post
>your message is why didn't you join and post it yourself?
>
>I won't post your name with it unless you are OK with that.
>
>Anna Meenan, MD
>
>>Anna
>>Can you copy and paste the message there? Glad that I will see you
>>there. We already have 20 doctors committed to go.
>>Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: annam@uic.edu (Anna Meenan, MD)
>>
>>Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:38:40
>>To: Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L<ob-gyn-l@mail.obgyn.net>
>>Subject: Re: Million Med March
>>
>>Are you on Sermo Richard? There's a quick way to reach over 100,000
>>docs. I think I might be in the mood for a vacation in DC on or about
>>October 1. We have family there.
>>
>>Anna Meenan, MD
>>
>>At Mon, 22 Jun 2009, Richard Chudacoff wrote:
>>>
>>>I'm tired, mad as hell and just not going to take it anymore.
>>>
>>>I'm tired that I cannot practice medicine the way medicine is meant to be
>>>practiced: with care, quality and timeliness. Economically I feel
>>>handicapped as most of the health care dollar goes for administrative costs
>>>to health insurance companies, and a large part going to the salaries and
>>>bonuses of the executives of these companies, money meant for patient care.
>>>It disgusts me that so much money goes to pay medical malpractice premiums
>>>and tails, and that our livelihoods are at risks as attorneys consider us
>>>lottery tickets, using their clients as entry fees. It bothers me that
>>>pharmaceutical companies now look for diseases on which to use their
>>>patented chemicals, rather than looking to improve patient care with lower
>>>cost, but equally effective medications.
>>>
>>>Little of the health care dollar even goes pharmacies and hospitals, much
>>>less to physicians. Now the current administration wants to decrease
>>>payments to these three, in order to 'save' the health care system. We
>>>already have enough capable people leaving our profession, or declining the
>>>arduous journey to become an American trained physician; not to mention the
>>>huge number of physician who discourage their own children from following in
>>>their footsteps. How sad when we don't want our own progeny to follow us all
>>>because we are treated like thieves, or worse, as children who cannot govern
>>>ourselves. And don't get me started on the AMA or the specialty colleges,
>>>who rarely stand up for the regular, non-ivory tower doctors that roll up
>>>their sleeves and care for patients on a daily, fee-for-service basis. The
>>>attitude in our county towards physicians does nothing but create a loss of
>>>quality, well trained, American-trained physicians.
>>>
>>>Doctors get far less of the healthcare dollar than do pharmacies or
>>>hospitals, yet without us they would be out of a job. What is the joke:
>>>hospitals would be great places to work if it wasn't for all those doctors?
>>>There are around 1 million doctors in the country, yet there are over 25
>>>million people in the health care industry. Each physician supports about 25
>>>people. few actually treat or care (for) about patients. Once we actually
>>>get reimbursed, we have our medical school loans and ever rising business
>>>costs to pay for with our ever decreasing dollars.
>>>
>>>Our patients suffer as physician must see more patients every year just to
>>>make the same amount (or often less) money than last year; physician burnout
>>>is a well documented and a worrisome trend in our profession. This affects
>>>our ability to treat patients properly. Then, adding the paperwork and
>>>increased regulations put upon us by the state and federal governments, we
>>>have even less time to treat patients, read journals, go to seminars or get
>>>sleep. Quality of care suffers.
>>>
>>>On top of everything else we need to deal with malignant hospital
>>>administrators and medical staff members or nursing staff members who can,
>>>just for untoward facial grimaces, suspend us and report us to the National
>> >Practitioner Data Bank, thus irrevocably ruining our careers, well before
>> >any investigation or fair hearing needs to be called. We worked our butts
>>>off to get top grades in college, to get into medical school, then residency
>>>programs where we often worked 80, 100 or even 120 hours a week, for what?
>>>So we could give up nights, weekends, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and
>>>even miss the birth of our children to practice that vocation to which we
>>>were drawn. And how are we treated? We are considered the most vile
>>>criminals, cheats and depraved practitioners with no sense of integrity or
>>>consciousness, only out to harm those we have struggled so long to serve. If
>>>we are so bad, so vile and so depraved, shouldn't we let our patients get
>>>treated by witch doctors with voodoo medicine. But of course, that is
>>>already being practiced in US hospital.
>>>
>>>I really don't need to feel guilty that the profession I have chosen also
>>>puts food on my table, clothes my wife and kids, and allows my children to
>>>get a college education (not premed of course.) Yet what am I to do when 25%
>>>to 50% of my procedures, which are 'authorized' by insurance companies, are
>>>not reimbursed because, although authorized, they are now determined to be
>>>uncovered benefits. Sometime we have to sell vitamins and other services to
>>>make up for the loss of payments.
>>>
>>>Quality of care suffers with less time to see patients and less
>>>reimbursement received when we do see patients. We cannot do pro bono work
>>>as we have in the past as we have to see an ever increasing number of
>>>patients. This extra work is forced upon us when insurance companies,
>>>especially Medicare and Medicaid, constantly refuse to pay us in a timely
>>>fashion for our time and efforts. And, then once we do see patients our
>>>clinical acumen is stifled as we must follow a cookbook approach to patient
>>>care.
>>>
>>>When healthcare insurance companies siphon money away from patient care and
>>>into the hands of the their executives, to support a life style that demands
>>>sometimes more than $30 million/year, this decreases money to medical
>>>schools for training and research that might create advances in medical care
>>>that actually benefit patients. Insurance companies have no incentive to
>>>provide better care if it in turn might make patients live longer.
>>>Medicine is going corporate, and we, physicians are just flipping burgers so
>>>corporations have an improved bottom line.
>>>
>>>It is time that we stand up for ourselves. Our founding fathers gave up
>>>their lives to fight for their liberty and freedom, so that we, their
>>>progeny could live in the land of the free and home of the brave. But we are
>>>passively giving up our noble lives as physicians, without the liberty to
>>>practice as we know we could, and without the freedom to stop the government
>>>and the insurance companies from turning us in to hourly workers rather than
>>>the true professionals we believe we are and forever should be.
>>>
>>>I am going Washington DC. At noon, on Thursday, October 1 2009. I will be on
>>>the mall with a few other physicians. We simply decided that we will not
>>>work that day and perhaps the day before and maybe even the day afterward.
>>>We are not 'organizing' anything other than a vacation from the stress of
>>>work, so we can enjoy our nation's capital and perhaps even say hello to our
>>>congressmen or members of the administration. Perhaps we will show the
>>>country that physicians are worth more than a $5 co-pay; that physicians are
>>>more important than a mid-level healthcare worker; and that our profession
>>>is needed, our services are required and our practice is a calling to be
>>>respected, not a trade that is to be negotiated to the lowest bidder.
>>>
>>>I want our services adequately reimbursed so that we may spend more time
>>>with our patients, and I want less paperwork. I want less money going into
>>>the hands of insurance companies administration costs, less money going into
>>>the hands of pharmacy companies for the development of drugs that are either
>>>unsafe or targeted for 'diseases' they seem to invent. I want brand named
>> >drugs that are as affordable in the US as in Canada or Mexico. I want
>> >medical malpractice reform, with caps on all damages, so that we can
>>>practice without the fear of needless and unwarranted lawsuits that only
>>>benefit the attorneys. I want the National Practitioner Data Bank reformed
>>>so entries are made AFTER all administrative remedies have been executed, so
>>>due process is given to all physicians and that all entries are reviewed by
>>>an independent board of physicians without any ties to the accusing
>>>hospital, nor state or local medical societies, prior to submission. And I
>>>want compensation for services that pay us enough to allow us to continue
>>>formal and informal continuing education, and that pays us enough to manage
>>>our practices and allow us a living that compensates us for our years of
>>>study and training.
>>>
>>>And, most of all, I want you to join me for a vacation in Washington, DC. I
>>>want us to get together, informally, so we can share experiences with each
>>>other. I am inviting you to come there for a vacation. I want you to invite
>>>10 of your physician colleagues and let them know that you are going to be
>>>in Washington DC on October 1 2009, and invite them to come themselves. I
>>>want you to tell them to invite 10 more their physician colleagues to join
>>>them, and so on.
>>>
>>>I have purchased my flight to Washington, DC. I have informed my patients
>>>that I will not be available to care for them the week of October 1, 2009,
>>>and suggest that they make alternative arrangements for care. Perhaps they
>>>can find a good mid-level healthcare practitioner to take care of their
>>>traumas, emergencies or deliveries.
>>>
>>>Perhaps we can actually have a 'million med march' however spontaneously it
>>>may be. See you in DC.
>>>
>>>We do have a facebook page: Million Med March I hope you will register as a
>>>friend
>>>
>>>--
>>>Richard Chudacoff, MD, FACOG
>>>
>>>Las Vegas International Center for Advanced Gynecologic Care
>>>
>>>(Specializing in minimally and non-invasive surgery)
>>>
>>>TEL: 702-485-8893
>>>
>>>FAX: 702-629-4628
>>>
>>> <mailto:rchudacoff@lasvegasgyncenter.com> rchudacoff@lasvegasgyncenter.com
>>>
>>> <http://www.lasvegasgyncenter.com/> www.lasvegasgyncenter.com
>>>
>>>"The measure of a truly great man is the courtesy with which he treats
>>>lesser men." -Anonymous
>>>
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>>>
--
Roberta F. Speyer
President and CEO
MediSpecialty.com
Home of OBGYN.net
The Universe of Women's Health
http://www.obgyn.net
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