271–280 of 372 posts
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I've never had a problem across several doctors on getting a direct reply to my message. For me, there is an SLA. They explicitly state I'll receive a reply within 24 hours. That has been true across multiple health systems I've used. Edit: In no way am I saying "American healthcare is just fine!" only that I actually have had a really good experience using messaging to communicate with my care teams.
Are you, by chance, using concierge doctors?
My partner has had issues that could be fixed with a few messages and the doctor just refused to respond and said they have to wait until the next appointment. It begins to feel like malpractice when they're refusing to fix simple issues because of billing limitations. I think the core issue here is that we're trying to make healthcare profitable when it probably shouldn't be. Stuff like healthcare, housing, and educ…
The only people actually winning in our health insurance system are the shareholders and the executives. Everyone else is being left worse off than they'd otherwise be.
TL;DR: The arguments against socialized healthcare make sense if you believe healthcare actually costs what American providers charge. It doesn't. They just know you have to, you know, not die and that they can charge whatever they want for that service. That's why it's fundamentally unethical for medicine to be a for-profit industry.
I worked for a mature healthcare company and much of our marketing centered around healthcare provider surveys of doctors and nurses. The results were unsettling. Extremely high rates of burnout, typically due to administrative overhead. Horrifying medical error rates. Doctors should be compensated for the amount of time to send an email. Every other industry is capable of restructuring support to satisfy demand. It'…
Maybe it wouldn't fix everything but I'd like to see a great increase on the cap of the number of medical residencies supported by the government. The AMA and doctors in general shouldn't be artificially limiting the number of doctors. I'd like to see the other usual suspects addressed too but it seems like the doctor shortage is a big part of the problem.
My spouse is a physician, and "patient messages" (aka "non-face-to-face" encounters) usually aren't reimbursed by insurance. Having a friendly online conversation with a patient doesn't generate the "RVUs" they need (contractually!), so time spent messaging is time taken out of their personal day on top of their regular workload. Responding to messages can also just be very difficult and time consuming. Maybe you ask…
I agree that charging a fee can be fine. For me it's often a win-win. I spend less time having to go there, and the doctor can spend less time than an in-person visit and even do it on some down-time. But it's still a service, so paying about same as a regular doctor visit (about ~$20 or so here in Norway) is fine. My biggest gripe here is that if the doctor answers me outside office hours, an additional "emergency /…
The hospitals are poorly run. Please hate your hospitals management more. Or if you are a good manager, convince some friends to run a hospital. Imagine 10 appointments a day, 30 mins each. You have to write /everything/ down the patient tells you. You often have to go over the 30mins because some patients need it. You need to follow up to order extra tests, you need to occasionally google something. You skip lunch o…
It seems like we just need more doctors, no? The AMA is notorious for trying to limit the number of new doctors. They do that more than much of anything to do with public health.
My spouse is a physician, and "patient messages" (aka "non-face-to-face" encounters) usually aren't reimbursed by insurance. Having a friendly online conversation with a patient doesn't generate the "RVUs" they need (contractually!), so time spent messaging is time taken out of their personal day on top of their regular workload. Responding to messages can also just be very difficult and time consuming. Maybe you ask…
I agree that charging a fee can be fine. For me it's often a win-win. I spend less time having to go there, and the doctor can spend less time than an in-person visit and even do it on some down-time. But it's still a service, so paying about same as a regular doctor visit (about ~$20 or so here in Norway) is fine. My biggest gripe here is that if the doctor answers me outside office hours, an additional "emergency /…
In the US, a regular doctor's visit can cost hundreds of dollars.
> Dr. Lauren Oshman, a family physician and associate professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, says she initially experienced some patient resistance and anger about the prospect of being billed for emails. > Now, she says, patients are typically pleased that they are able to get a direct response from her through a portal message. > “They’re thrilled when they get me directly,” she says. Geez, this co…
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> trying to That's an understatement. It is blatant and deliberate.
Is it greed? Is it all doctos tacitly agreeing to this so they can get bigger paychecks?
We (the AMA?) regulate where a doctor gets their education in order to become a doctor. This gives schools a lot of power. It also gives hospitals a lot of power when those doctors work insane shifts during their rotations.