Why Doctors are Changing What I share today is probably not what you were looking forward to reading. However, it’s important that you know about major changes coming for both patients and doctors. In the past doctors welcomed Medicare patients. They took the time needed for important screening tests, took the time needed to explaining the risks and benefits, and advised you about changes in guidelines. It was expected that your family doctor would care for you through medical crises, help you to control chronic diseases, treat your acute illnesses, and coordinate your care with your medical specialists. In the past a doctor routinely requested prior authorizations when your preferred drugs weren’t covered and helped you get prescriptions if you were in the donut hole. At times this meant holding your hand in time of crisis, talking about end-of-life issues, and explaining the purpose of Advance Directives. This is what you came to expect from your family doctor. It was an expectation that come what may, your doctor would be there for you. Unfortunately, the regulatory burden doctors must bear today makes this level of service impossible. For every office visit there can now be twice the time spent after an appointment on mandated documentation. Medical notes, which used to be informative and succinct, now become pages of information to prove your doctor is playing by the rules. At last count the Federal rules exceeded 160,000 pages with as many more pages of rules from State Government and private insurance companies. If documentation doesn’t measure up, honest or not, the physician faces heavy fines and even jail time. The fundamental problem is a Government attempting to manage a complex medical system from the top-down by directives from Washington. In this environment, controlling cost has become a self perpetuating system of more rules, more laws and less time for doctors to be with patients. Doctors get it. Costs have to be contained. However, the solution is not more Government. The solution is for patients to decide when their doctor is providing value. The Government can only guess how you feel and the more they try the more they add inefficiency to what should be a simple relationship between you and your doctor. Although primary care physician payments only make up about 4-5% of the cost of health care in the United States, the government seems determined to reduce even further the reimbursement made to the medical doctors that should be providing over 90% of the healthcare most will need over a lifetime. The answer to healthcare is not more daily productivity reports, more middle managers, and more documentation. The answer is more time with a physician that knows you, knows what needs to be done, and has the time to do it. As the Government further intervenes it raises several questions: What happens to the doctor who takes time to care for sicker patients? Will doctors have to dismiss patients simply because it makes them look like they are spending too much in the new incentive based reimbursement system? What will be the side effects of a system where doctors are paid more to do less? Getting this level of full service increasingly requires selecting a doctor that offers a more personalized service. For under $2,000 a year, for example, seniors on Medicare can contract with a personal care/concierge doctor. These doctors offer prompt access, the option of calling them directly, and time to make good medical decisions. An advantage is that they can serve as the patient’s advocate in a complex healthcare system that leave most bewildered. Tell Me More about Concierge Physicians in Huntsville, Alabama. Exit |