Quote:
Originally Posted by queasy27
I truly do sympathize with the doctor's side of things, but I'd also expect a bit of forebearance on their part.
The difficulty is that "not forcing me to take medication" isn't a good way to find doctors. This is my 5th internist in 9 years -- three of them left TV and one I left because of excessive wait times and error-prone office staff. I'd hope to find something who's willing to work with me as I try to take back some control over my health care after a couple of stressful years on the medical merry go round. I'm tired of the paperwork and repeat testing and having to start over and explain everything again with someone new.
I absolutely dread going to the doctor these days and get quite anxious (blood pressure up!).
United Healthcare even contacted my danged pharmacy and had them call me to say I needed to take statins. Like, really?
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Let me first say that I'm on board with your thought processes. I wish I dealt with more patients that had your mindset of wanting to take back some control over your healthcare. Having said that, as a pharmacist I can directly speak to the statement in your post that I highlighted.
United Healthcare is not unique in "requiring" pharmacies to contact patients about various things including using statins if you are diabetic regardless of your cholesterol levels. It has become a standard of practice in the industry overall to put diabetics on statins to help in the prevention of cardiovascular disease which often occurs as part of the disease process. To put it simply, insurance companies dictate certain standards of care, such as this one, with which pharmacies must comply or it risks not being paid the full amount for medication dispensed. I'm sure doctors are under the same kind of pressure to comply with certain standards dictated by insurance companies in order to get paid for their services. IMHO, the result of insurance companies dictating reimbursement based on the standards they set has taken away much of the individuality of treating patients because we professionals are forced to follow their protocols. I believe this has led to a great disservice to patient care and a lot of frustration in healthcare professionals across the board. As I said, this is the simple version. It's really much more complicated and as often happens with regulations, there are both good aspects and bad.
Again, kudos to you for listening to your body and speaking up when you feel something isn't right for you. We are not all made the same so medications will not necessarily react the same in every body. Hope you find a new doctor who meets your needs.