[sunnyatlast]

Originally Posted by CFrance

I don't think the doctors don't care, Mikeod. I think the accountants don't care, and push the doctors into an unacceptable position. Then the patients/customers suffer.

Maybe the answer is to enter a teaching hospital's medical system. Our experience with the University of Michigan health care system, for example, was so far superior to our experience with local medical groups in our location outside of Grand Rapids, MI. We encountered so much overbooking and poor service and attitude in our local community that we switched our total health care over to U of M even though it was almost three hours away. The difference was amazing. No overbooking, acceptable waits, better treatment of us "customers," (none of the "doctor-is-God and you're lucky he's seeing you" attitude from the staff) and excellent care. We asked two of the doctors at U of M what they perceived the difference to be, and their answer was that they had no idea what the billing and profit-making practices were, did not have to be involved with that in any way, and could simply concentrate on their patients…….

It's interesting that you bring up university hospital systems which are buying up physician practices. Patients not on Medicare, who have to pay for their new higher deductibles of $3,000 to $8,000 per year now, are painfully aware of the facilities fees being added onto doctors' office visits/procedures simply because they are part of a "hospital" system. What were "physician office visits and procedures" are now "Hospital visits and procedures", at a much higher price.

These out-of-pocket costs are forcing many people to NOT go to the dr. when they need to, because they do not have the cash and still have the ethics to not run up bills they cannot pay:

"Facility fees’ add billions to medical bills" (Kansas City Star)

"ST. LOUIS
It was a minor skin infection. The visit to the dermatologist’s office at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center took just a few minutes.

Before she left, Allison Zaromb paid $40 for her 4-year-old son’s care, the amount listed on her insurance card for an office visit to a physician specialist.

Zaromb assumed she had settled the bill, until a shocker arrived in the mail: After paying for the doctor, she still owed about $200 for a “facility fee” charged by Cardinal Glennon.

“I had no idea you would have to pay another fee because the doctor’s office was on a hospital campus,” Zaromb said.

“It’s just not fair. It’s like paying the barber for a haircut and then being charged extra for sitting in the barber chair.”

Fair or not, facility fees are built into the way Medicare and commercial insurance plans pay for health care. Hospitals have charged them routinely for years for services at their outpatient clinics.

But the fees are getting new scrutiny now that hospitals nationwide are buying up physician practices and putting thousands of physicians on their payrolls.

Sometimes by making few visible changes beyond putting their logos on the door and issuing new ID badges, hospitals can declare newly acquired practices part of their outpatient department and start billing patients more.

The doctor’s office doesn’t have to be in the hospital or even on the hospital campus to charge facility fees. It can qualify if it’s as far as 35 miles away.

Facility fees can more than double the cost of a visit to the doctor, a major hardship now that many people have high-deductible insurance plans with substantial out-of-pocket expenses…...

Read more here: Day 2: