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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by randy on March 29, 2000, at 13:04:33
Went to see a regular M.D. to adjust medications.
I am bipolar with some a.d.d and pstd thrown in.
My last pdoc has moved to a new town and I am very picky about pdocs. I was having trouble sleeping so I went to the M.D.s office. I saw an physicians assistant. He gave me ascript for Ambien and changed my
wellbutrin to the SR formula. I told him what I thought\I needed (thanks to the experience of all of you and parting comments from old pdoc.)and he agreed and I was on my way home.
My bill came yesterday and they charged me for a mental health visit. The bill was for 68.00 after bc\bs
adjustments. Bc/bs paid nothing but applied the 68.00 to my annual deduction. In my opinion that visit should be charged as a normal patient visit that costs me 12.00 co-pay and bc/bs pays about 25.00.
Am I offbase or is this normal practice?
they did no tests, i did not see a doctor, I could have seen a pdoc for a half hour and paid the same amount of money. If I was diabetic and saw a regular m.d. would he charge me as an internist? if a regular doc casts a broken arm is he allowed to charge as an orthopedic? Advise please before I go poastal (over the phone, no threat of physical harm implied) on the billing clerks.
Posted by Greg on March 29, 2000, at 16:21:21
In reply to Should I get mad at this doctor?, posted by randy on March 29, 2000, at 13:04:33
> Went to see a regular M.D. to adjust medications.
> I am bipolar with some a.d.d and pstd thrown in.
> My last pdoc has moved to a new town and I am very picky about pdocs. I was having trouble sleeping so I went to the M.D.s office. I saw an physicians assistant. He gave me ascript for Ambien and changed my
> wellbutrin to the SR formula. I told him what I thought\I needed (thanks to the experience of all of you and parting comments from old pdoc.)and he agreed and I was on my way home.
> My bill came yesterday and they charged me for a mental health visit. The bill was for 68.00 after bc\bs
> adjustments. Bc/bs paid nothing but applied the 68.00 to my annual deduction. In my opinion that visit should be charged as a normal patient visit that costs me 12.00 co-pay and bc/bs pays about 25.00.
> Am I offbase or is this normal practice?
> they did no tests, i did not see a doctor, I could have seen a pdoc for a half hour and paid the same amount of money. If I was diabetic and saw a regular m.d. would he charge me as an internist? if a regular doc casts a broken arm is he allowed to charge as an orthopedic? Advise please before I go poastal (over the phone, no threat of physical harm implied) on the billing clerks.Randy,
My wife works for a medical billing company and says that Drs have very little to do with how a patient is billed, the billing dept makes that call dependant on info that they get out of a book. She says usually if you question an unreasonable bill you can get it reduced. Its worth a try, Good Luck!
Greg
Posted by kazoo on March 29, 2000, at 16:42:24
In reply to Should I get mad at this doctor?, posted by randy on March 29, 2000, at 13:04:33
> I saw an physicians assistant.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
First mistake!
I don't know what's happening with medicine these days, but it seems to me that Clinics and Hospitals, in an effort to save money,
pound off their patients to these SO-CALLED PAs (or APRNs: Assistant Physician Registered Nurse).
After nearly a 16 year stint at the Charlotte-Hungerford Hospital (Torrington, CT 06790 (860)496-6350), seeing a pdoc, I suddenly
found myself face-to-face with a PA (or APRN) who didn't know shit-from-shinolla about me, or the medicine that I was taking and needed.
This was because CHH was too CHEAP to hire a new pdoc, so they got this inexperienced LACKEY, who used to be a simple talk-therapist,
to now take the place of the doctor. She's hardly a doctor! Does anyone know what it's like to suddenly find yourself with no one to turn to for help, not
to mention no medication?
I was forced into the position of finding a new place to go to (UCONN Psychiatry), which is a quantum leap over that "other" place,
that dungeon of stupidity.As far as your financial concerns go, you shouldn't have pay for a doctor's visit if you DON'T see a real doctor.
APs are NOT doctors. They're just fancy pill-pushers.Tell them to go piss up a rope!
Greetings to Randy.
kazoo
Posted by JohnL on March 30, 2000, at 3:15:41
In reply to Should I get mad at this doctor?, posted by randy on March 29, 2000, at 13:04:33
There was an incident a couple years ago where the GP saw me for no more than two minutes, basically brushed me off in a hurry, and then charged me $50 for the office visit. A few days later, after thinking about it, I got pretty upset. I wrote a complaint letter. They followed up and reduced the fee by $25, along with a generic politically correct bogus explanation.
I don't go to that GP anymore, but it is proof that they will sometimes adjust the billing if there is a complaint. Sometimes they're so money oriented they lose sight of logic. JohnL
Posted by bigbertha on March 30, 2000, at 8:15:33
In reply to Re: Should I get mad at this doctor? CERTAINLY!, posted by kazoo on March 29, 2000, at 16:42:24
>didn't know shit-from-shinolla about me, or the
medicine that I was taking and needed.
&
>got this inexperienced LACKEY
&
> Does anyone know what it's like to suddenly find
> yourself with no one to turn to for help, not
to mention no medication?
&
> quantum leap over that "other" place,
that dungeon of stupidity.
&
> Tell them to go piss up a rope!Randy-I hope your problem gets corrected to your
satisfaction. However, at some point, we all have
to resort to the squeaky wheel,nasty letter, and/or
foul-smelling eruction to get noticed. And it doesn'thurt to
have a advisor like kazoo whose wicked observations
is a better treatment than a store full of pills!
Best of Luck!
bb
Posted by dove on March 30, 2000, at 9:27:32
In reply to Randy, take kazoo with you next time, because..., posted by bigbertha on March 30, 2000, at 8:15:33
This situation is completely unacceptable Randy. The entire, whole reason people see PAs, NAs, or GPs is because of the *price* difference. Absolutely call this one in, they are way off base. You didn't have a mental health visit with a mental health professional/doctor, you had a quickie med-change/update/refill visit with a Physician's Assistant, filling in for a GP. So, even if we're stretching this a bit, it would still only be a GP visit.
Call billing and soon!
dove
This is the end of the thread.
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