Comments on: Twenty Days and Counting… http://www.nittanyturkey.com/archives/2006/06/05/140/ Mostly about Penn State football, this is a tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:37:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: The Nittany Turkey http://www.nittanyturkey.com/archives/2006/06/05/140/comment-page-1/#comment-3718 The Nittany Turkey Wed, 07 Jun 2006 04:47:12 +0000 http://www.mrbig.com/tnt/archives/2006/06/05/140/#comment-3718 By the way, I received the statement from my health insurer today showing that both the doc and the lab have already been paid for my visit and lab tests. Thus, the office people have done their efficient best to get the payments rolling in much faster than the damn results they're being paid for! Not one peep out of them! ---TNT By the way, I received the statement from my health insurer today showing that both the doc and the lab have already been paid for my visit and lab tests. Thus, the office people have done their efficient best to get the payments rolling in much faster than the damn results they’re being paid for! Not one peep out of them!

—TNT

]]> By: The Nittany Turkey http://www.nittanyturkey.com/archives/2006/06/05/140/comment-page-1/#comment-3620 The Nittany Turkey Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:37:51 +0000 http://www.mrbig.com/tnt/archives/2006/06/05/140/#comment-3620 Dougie, I am aware that primary care docs are put in a compensation squeeze by both Medicare and private health insurers on the revenue side of the ledger, and by increasing malpractice insurance premiums and costs of operating a practice on the expense side, requiring more patients per day and more hours of work to maintain their lifestyle, which, in turn, puts the squeeze on the patient. I'm not arguing with the notion that a doctor should live nicely; indeed, there must be a reasonable incentive to persevere through eight years of higher education and a couple of years of residency followed by the grueling process of board certification. Surely, if the primary care situation gets much worse, fewer young doctors will choose to enter the field and more established doctors will exit the practice. However, what adds insult to injury is the trend toward group practices that are managed by non-doctors who are more concerned with being "efficient" than being effective treaters of patients' ailments. The people who deal with patients on the front line are fully engaged with pecuniary issues; thus patients are regarded as necessary evils, pains in the asses whose primary purpose is to convey the all-important insurance card. These are people who are trained in billing codes, not in customer relations. Does anybody in the profession think that being pleasant and helpful with patients is important? Apparently not, based on my extensive empirical observation. Practices hire people and get them trained in obligatory stuff like HIPAA and health insurance billing codes, yet they don't train them in how to make patients feel comfortable and nurtured. How difficult would it be to hire people who had some human relations skills? Or get them some sensitivity training? Too difficult, I guess. Accounting skills are much more important. And thus, the dehumanization of patients continues. ---TNT P.S. One more day and no phone calls or postcards from the holders of the results. Dougie, I am aware that primary care docs are put in a compensation squeeze by both Medicare and private health insurers on the revenue side of the ledger, and by increasing malpractice insurance premiums and costs of operating a practice on the expense side, requiring more patients per day and more hours of work to maintain their lifestyle, which, in turn, puts the squeeze on the patient. I’m not arguing with the notion that a doctor should live nicely; indeed, there must be a reasonable incentive to persevere through eight years of higher education and a couple of years of residency followed by the grueling process of board certification. Surely, if the primary care situation gets much worse, fewer young doctors will choose to enter the field and more established doctors will exit the practice. However, what adds insult to injury is the trend toward group practices that are managed by non-doctors who are more concerned with being “efficient” than being effective treaters of patients’ ailments. The people who deal with patients on the front line are fully engaged with pecuniary issues; thus patients are regarded as necessary evils, pains in the asses whose primary purpose is to convey the all-important insurance card. These are people who are trained in billing codes, not in customer relations. Does anybody in the profession think that being pleasant and helpful with patients is important? Apparently not, based on my extensive empirical observation. Practices hire people and get them trained in obligatory stuff like HIPAA and health insurance billing codes, yet they don’t train them in how to make patients feel comfortable and nurtured. How difficult would it be to hire people who had some human relations skills? Or get them some sensitivity training? Too difficult, I guess. Accounting skills are much more important. And thus, the dehumanization of patients continues.
—TNT

P.S.

One more day and no phone calls or postcards from the holders of the results.

]]> By: preston douglas http://www.nittanyturkey.com/archives/2006/06/05/140/comment-page-1/#comment-3617 preston douglas Tue, 06 Jun 2006 14:41:58 +0000 http://www.mrbig.com/tnt/archives/2006/06/05/140/#comment-3617 I think you show an amazing amount of patience with your PCP. At this point, I would be calling the office and demanding the results (which would probably be unwise). As to that other jerk who refused to take your pneumonia seriously: He actually exerted more energy denying your condition than he would have if he had taken it seriously. I am appalled by his behavior. I once had a blood test at a doctor's office and it was two MONTHS later that they called me and told me there was a problem and acted like I should have known! Unbelievable. When will this madness stop? I think you show an amazing amount of patience with your PCP. At this point, I would be calling the office and demanding the results (which would probably be unwise). As to that other jerk who refused to take your pneumonia seriously: He actually exerted more energy denying your condition than he would have if he had taken it seriously. I am appalled by his behavior.

I once had a blood test at a doctor’s office and it was two MONTHS later that they called me and told me there was a problem and acted like I should have known! Unbelievable. When will this madness stop?

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