Community Chat

[ECBG]

@sage4 

Our system went to HCA Healthcare.

[Trinity11]

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@ECBG wrote:

@Trinity11 

I went to the neurologist 2 wks ago, and they shocked my arm in several places.  I had total feeling.

Then they inserted a small needle every inch from my wrist to my hairline (not fun in the least), total feeling.

Everyone thought it was arthritis; turns out I have a mass of nerves in my left shoulder from a previous injury when I thought it was a sore muscle.

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It must have been a brutal test. As a Type 1 diabetic I have had the test because of neuropathy. I lost so much feeling from nerve damage, I barely felt anything.

I have RA. Not a whole lot they can do about it. Hopefully, with a good physical  therapist they can find a way to give you some comfort.

[CatsyCline]

Urgent Care is a racket and they are many times part of  chain.

My Mom was taken to one by her housekeeper a few years ago for a skin cyst.  I was LaborDay weekend and she did not want to go to ER.    A day later the office called my sister and then me to set up an appointment for surgery!    i said to the coordinator my Mother has a PCP and we had already made an appointment for her.  they were pushing for her to be seen by their surgeon.

[Carmie]

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@ECBG wrote:

I am wondering if any of you have run across this business model in health care?

Story:

Two weeks ago, DH was in the hospital, I fell down the dark bedroom stairs a 4am (Shadow had to potty) forgetting to turn the light on.

Both ankles were swollen (one had a bone chip), my back was very sore, and I heard several (cracks) out of my neck.

My DIL took me to urgent care who took foot x rays and gave me a light weight boot; making me an appt with the ortho place upstairs for a hard boot.

The ortho place with a walk in clinic, (appointments come from new appointments and rechecks) told me EACH area that I want looked at will be a separate appointment!

"We can only look at one body part at a time.".

That means I will have 4 copays for one situation in addition to copays for rechecks for a possible total of 8!

Our health care system was bought by another group several years ago.  I have spoken to nurses that are very unhappy.

The company also bought other hospitals around us as well.

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With my background in health insurnce, I know that your doctor's office wants to bill each body part seperate to get the max amount of reimbursement.

Insurance companies, including Medicare will pay the max amount for the first body part then pay 50% for each additional part for the same visit.

This is why some doctors will not replace both knees at the same time.  They wait until the recovery period is over, then do the second knee.

It has been this way as far back as I can remember, 1988.

This does make the patient incur more thn ine co-pays and deductibles.

I doubt things will change.

[RollTide2008]

It’s very common for orthopedic doctors to specialize by body part. When my son injured his elbow and shoulder and broke his collar bone, several doctors examined him and consulted on his treatment.

[Love my grandkids]

@AZfem Mine just had a very unpleasant personality. Sometimes nice, other times not, huge turnover all the time and the front office people changed constantly. It was so liberating to call and cancel my appt. and when they asked why I said "I don't like him and he's not a nice person. I have a new doctor."  I almost did a dance of joy!

[Shihtzursqmom]

Yes our local hospitals and most of the Drs practices in our area have been bought out by a large corporation
We see one orthopedist group , we have to see different Drs for different issues
I see one Dr for Plantar Fasciitis, a different Dr for my back , I was recently diagnosed with another issue with my foot and saw a different Dr and had different X-rays than the plantar fasciitis,
My husband goes to the same practice and saw a different Dr who preformed surgery on his shoulder
All this from the same group of Drs

[meem120]

This isn't new. The problem is the docs don't get paid for 2 visits/procedures during one visit. It's simply about revenue. 

[Desertdi]

Gosh....I remember when you "made a list" of concerns to give the doctor...

[LTT1]

@NicksmomESQ @ECBG 

And often, too, everybody leads such busy lives, they are trying to "capitalize" on this factor hoping you'd just opt to go home rather than insist and wait for them to pull up their records which you were right to do.

@ECBG 

I think that is just ridiculous trying to make your ailment into as many separate visits as possible!

I know my healthcare during COVID was very forgiving. Profits were probably down and they sustained losses. They are really making up for it now!