An Anesthesiologist venting out! Thoughts?

[RT2DO]

Keep up the insults, and good luck finding a physician in 10 years

If physicians are “muggers” and co-conspirators in “taking money away from the rest of us”, then journalists and economists are pontificating parasites who produce no goods or services of any real …

apennedpoint.com

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[DocVapor]

This looks juicy, but it's popping up an error screen that the site has exceeded its bandwidth. What is this, 1995?

 

[nimbus]

This looks juicy, but it's popping up an error screen that the site has exceeded its bandwidth. What is this, 1995?

Keep insulting doctors, and good luck finding a physician in 10 years

The tragedy that’s happening in medicine today is that the loss of respect and the constant threats to fair payment are making physicians regret that they ever chose medicine. They were fascinated with science and wanted to help people, and their reward is insult.

www.kevinmd.com

 

[DocVapor]

Keep insulting doctors, and good luck finding a physician in 10 years

The tragedy that’s happening in medicine today is that the loss of respect and the constant threats to fair payment are making physicians regret that they ever chose medicine. They were fascinated with science and wanted to help people, and their reward is insult.

www.kevinmd.com

Thanks. Juicy, indeed.

 

[PieOHmy]

I bet you the amount of people trying to access it crashed the site..
Basically its a response to a washington article here.

 

[caligas]

Well said. (Although I hope most of my labor epidurals aren’t mm’s from the spinal cord.)

 

[ucladoc2b]

Well said. (Although I hope most of my labor epidurals aren’t mm’s from the spinal cord.)

I actually have a problem with Dr Siebert’s response. The original Washington Post article was about an out of network surgeon charging $15k for a lap appy and balance billing the patient for it (note this was only the surgeon charge. The OR and other charges were covered in full an in network). If this is true, this charge is excessive. I actually understand why she feels the way she does (and really have a difficult time defending the surgeon).

 

[IMGASMD]

I actually have a problem with Dr Siebert’s response. The original Washington Post article was about an out of network surgeon charging $15k for a lap appy and balance billing the patient for it (note this was only the surgeon charge. The OR and other charges were covered in full an in network). If this is true, this charge is excessive. I actually understand why she feels the way she does (and really have a difficult time defending the surgeon).

What do you see as the problem with her response?

 

[PieOHmy]

I actually have a problem with Dr Siebert’s response. The original Washington Post article was about an out of network surgeon charging $15k for a lap appy and balance billing the patient for it (note this was only the surgeon charge. The OR and other charges were covered in full an in network). If this is true, this charge is excessive. I actually understand why she feels the way she does (and really have a difficult time defending the surgeon).

He did the case for three grand which is reasonable..

 

[ucladoc2b]

What do you see as the problem with her response?

He did the case for three grand which is reasonable..

He eventually settled the case for 3k, which is more that generous after trying to collect an unreasonable $15k. The author had to fight for it.

Siebert claims that she is “calling out” the writer and then discusses issues that physicians experience (with some hyperbole). But the crux of author’s complaint about certain practices within medical billing is legitimate (but then again, it’s not just the physicians who engage in this practice).

 

[aneftp]

The bottom line is people will take their talents elsewhere. Anyone will access to aamc application data from 1996-2000 saw a DECREASE in the number of applications to med school. Why? Simple. Tech boom. The brightest decided medicine wasn’t worth it at that time (besides 1995-1996 being the toughest years to get into lcme med schools (46k applications for 16k slots)

 

[anbuitachi]

I actually have a problem with Dr Siebert’s response. The original Washington Post article was about an out of network surgeon charging $15k for a lap appy and balance billing the patient for it (note this was only the surgeon charge. The OR and other charges were covered in full an in network). If this is true, this charge is excessive. I actually understand why she feels the way she does (and really have a difficult time defending the surgeon).

i think the issue is the attitude of teh writer in the Post article, who blamed everything on the surgeon. While you can argue the surgeon couldve charged less, the article didnt address many problems that goes with this.

 

[Southpaw]

I actually have a problem with Dr Siebert’s response. The original Washington Post article was about an out of network surgeon charging $15k for a lap appy and balance billing the patient for it (note this was only the surgeon charge. The OR and other charges were covered in full an in network). If this is true, this charge is excessive. I actually understand why she feels the way she does (and really have a difficult time defending the surgeon).

The alternative to this is to note that insurance companies should be FORCED to negotiate fairly, or even to the benefit of physicians, for the sake of patients. They are the middle man. Completely unnecessary to the process of caring for patients, and yet they hold the power due to how FUBARd American health care currently is. It’s worth noting the insurance company collected 25k in premiums from a presumably healthy couple. It’s also worth nothing that their CEO made 14 million last year, and their job/role is completely irrelevant to the care delivered between patient and surgeon/anesthesiologist/hospital. The balance of power in American healthcare is clearly massively in favor of insurance companies and hospitals. Our patients are losing the game and the score isn’t close.

 

[Status Sciaticus]

i think the issue is the attitude of teh writer in the Post article, who blamed everything on the surgeon. While you can argue the surgeon couldve charged less, the article didnt address many problems that goes with this.

Theres two problems with the WAPO article that shouldve been addressed by the author, but were not. For whatever reasons, the author presents a biased opinion to further demonize physicians without fully understanding the business aspect of medicine or how reimbursements work. 1) There is no mention of a billing charge vs. a billing collection. The amount charged is never the amount collected. Usually this is a back and forth between the payer (insurance) and the recipient (hospital, PP, etc..) until a middle price is reached. It is likely true that the 15K was excessive, but we all know that the surgeon was not planning on collecting it. He was high-balling it to counter the low ball insurance offer for being OON. 2) there is no blame placed on the insurance companies for playing this IN vs OON issue and the strong-arm methods insurance companies use to force physicians to take a lower in network fee. This event shouldve been a spotlight on the lack of regulation in the insurance industry, but the author missed that chance just to $hit on physicians. They hate us cuz they aint us.