"......The Villages-USF Health partnership is now poised to revolutionize health care.

Over the coming months and years, The Villages Health will establish a new patient-focused model of care reminiscent of the days of Marcus Welby, the fictional family doctor whose warm bedside manner and availability was a sharp contrast from today’s medical system that compensates doctors for quantity rather than quality.

“Medicare is a lifesaving program but it has been set up in such a way that doctors are no longer able to care for us senior citizens in the same manner that we grew up with,” said Villages developer Gary Morse. “Medicare pays a doctor for every patient he sees, not how much time he spends with that patient. If the doctor sees 100 patients a day, he or she makes twice as much as seeing 50 patients.”

The result of that volume-driven system has changed the way most doctors operate.

“Now doctors are incentivized to go into business, hire a business manager, set up their own records system, buy their own testing equipment and get paid for every test they can give to as many patients as they can run through their office,” Morse said.

The Villages Health will operate differently. Physicians will be paid generous salaries that are not tied to the volume of patients seen in a day or the number of tests or procedures ordered. And although Medicare reimbursements will still be utilized, that payment system will no longer drive how patients are treated. The salaried physicians will be able to focus on their patients as individuals, giving them the personal time and attention they need......."
http://www.thevillages.com/usf-0310.htm

In other words, the partnership of The Villages and USF Health will set up and manage the business operations and costs, and consolidate the "business managers, records systems, testing equipment", and staffing more under one roof/system, to reduce overhead costs and make Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance receipts go further toward paying the physicians a decent set salary that does not fluctuate downward due low reimbursements/collections and rising overhead costs like malpractice insurance and employee costs like wages and benefits.

Well, it sounds good so I hope you're right but I'll believe it when I hear from some of those who become patients.

We are on the waiting list - so apparently a whole lot of us like this idea.

Just because I predicted that there will be a monthly or yearly fee, does that mean I'm "beating it up"?

I based my judgement on a radio program where healthcare experts had a discussion about concierge type clinics. Everything I heard fit the discription of the clinics we will soon have in The Villages.

This is what this USF/Villages health alliance has been about from the very beginning. You live your lifestyle, whatever it may be, and when you get sick, you go to a medical doctor and he/she will make you healthy by prescribing medications or operating on you. Comparatively little attentinon will be paid to dietary or nutritional changes.

No the above quote from your OP is why I think you are beating it up. The concierge statement came later on. All I am is saying is "give it a chance and then make your decision".

So far, I can only judge by what I heard coming from the lectures and what I heard coming from a focus group that I took part in. The clinics may do better but how will I be able to judge that?

Most people don't like to complain, especially on this board. Some do complain about doctors but they often get dismissed as cranky. And a good report from someone will carry more weight with those who are big Villages promoters. So how are we to arrive at an objective evaluation?

USF said they will do an evaluation but I hardly consider them to be objective. They are big believers in prescribing medication. That's already known. I found that out when I asked my question: "Shouldn't we judge the health of a community by the percentage of people taking 3 or 4 medications per day, rather than the percentage of people [subjectively] claiming to be in good health?" And she said, "the most important thing is how people feel."

3 or 4 medications really isn't that much if someone has a chronic disease such as diabetes, cardiac, or copd. It's not unusual to have multiple meds treating a condition. I had a patient the other day who was 92 on only 3 meds. They were maintenance meds for conditions that were well controlled. He was one of the ones with a positive attitude and I was shocked to see he was 92. The patients that I consider worse are the ones who have a back ache and want a muscle relaxer, a pain med, then their stomach is upset so they get prilosec...on and on until literally I have patients on 20 or more medications.

:BigApplause::agree::BigApplause:
I agree. Drug reps also provide the newest information and education on RX meds. Doctors DO NOT get paid for prescribing meds. Actually, some insurance actually give them incentives to NOT prescribe meds. I'm not sure this is such a good idea either. Many complain that doctors order tests to make more money. Unless the doctor actually performs that test, he/she does NOT get paid. The testing lab/facility gets paid.

When you have 1/3 of people retirement age that are obese, this cause all kinds of aches and pains plus many other diseases. I guess we shouldn't even go into the alcohol on top of the weight issues we have here. Go figure.:icon_hungry:

:BigApplause::agree:So many like to complain about Doctors. My son is a family physician and do you know what his biggest complaint is?
Patients come in and he offers lifestyle changes that they don't adopt. He prescribes meds that they don't take. They come back in and complain they are still not well. Hmmmmm. Also he is the only physician in his county that accepts Medicaid patients. These patients get paid mileage for their trip to the doctor and some of them get paid more for coming to see him than he does for the office visit. He has one full time person to file their claims and tries to find a specialist to see them if they need it. The number of "back office" people it takes to get reimbursed for insurance, Medicare and Medicaid is amazing to me. So while some are complaining about their doctors, that doctor may have some thoughts about you too.:smiley::smiley::smiley:
BTW, he has been in practice 22 years and sees more patients than he did 10 years ago and gets paid less.

But isn't it true that many tests generate return visits to the doctor? I was getting one blood test per year. The result: Everyting is always good. No problems and no need for drugs. But this last time the doctor asked me to get more blood work in 6 months. Quest Diagnostics does the blood work but it's always followed by another office visit to my doctor, even if the results are good.

I have always gotten my test results by mail or email. If there was a problem I was called to come in. I can't speak for what others do.

What we do is ask that a copy of the results be mailed to us, which they must do.

Or if you get a script have that request written in.

No follow up if you wish.

we also ask to have a copy sent to us when they send it to the doctor. It is easy to interpret and then if there are questions one can set an appointment for blood work follow up with the doctor. To go in as as matter of course to have the doctor tell one all is OK is one of the problems with health care....not necessary expenses. They do it because medicare will pay for it. That in itself is not a reason to go to the doctor to get the results.

btk

3-4 meds?

I'll tell you from actual experience as an RN at TVRH that people who are inpatients at the hospital average MUCH more than 3 home meds. It's rare if anyone over the age of 50 has 2 or less. Many, many have 10 or more!

I'm not saying it's wrong or right - just letting you know my experience over the past 8 months at TVRH.

And PS > My personal doc up north (and so far down here) has never, ever left my room to talk to a RX rep. I know for a fact that he made them come on a certain day, at a certain time. And he gave all all of the 'free' samples to those people who could use a break (money wise).