Physicians Practice - June 2008 - (Page 10) LETTERS “If the insurance companies re-establish provider relations and make it possible for our practices to resolve problems by talking with another human, I, for one, promise to be nice.” THE HUMAN APPROACH D-I-Y VS. PATIENT INCOME I am a pediatrician in a small rural area in Central Michigan, and I read with interest your journal and enjoy your editorials. In your April column (“D-I-Y Career Repair”), you presented the interesting story of Dr. Posner, who decided to kiss goodbye his local medical insurers and turned his “boat” toward the happy lands of cash-only medicine. Although details abound, you failed to mention one simple thing — where is Burke, Va.? Is this a typical U.S. city/ town/village? I found some details for you. According to City-Data.com, estimated median household income in Burke in 2005 was $109,200. Eight other small towns surrounding Burke on a seven-mile radius display similar numbers (ranging between $70,000 and $100,000). The estimated median house/condo value in Burke in 2005: $477,200. For a second I thought about transitioning to the same kind of medical business you refer to in your article. For some reason, though, I don’t believe a $32,300 estimated median household income will constitute a good starting premise in the town I practice. As for the initial $305 visit charge, my patient would probably have a good laugh first, and then go and see the family practice guy across the street. As much as you will try to talk us into “joining” all those “medical spa franchises,” one thing is for sure — the great majority of the doctors in U.S. will continue to care for poor, underserved, underinsured patients. And this is beyond anyone’s control, unfortunately. There will be no miracles in the way the “business of medicine” will evolve in the following years, and the vast majority of us will continue to have a bitter taste in our mouths or an ironic smile on our lips whenever reading about “the guys who made it.” We are supposed to be doctors. —Daniel Ivan, MD Carson City, Mich. OUR MISSION Helping physicians manage their practices more efficiently, leading to improved patient care. P U B L I S H I N G S TA F F VICE PRESIDENT & GROUP PUBLISHER Ken Karpay kkarpay@physicianspractice.com GENERAL MANAGER Katherine Hermann khermann@physicianspractice.com EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Bob Keaveney bkeaveney@physicianspractice.com SENIOR EDITOR, PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Pamela L. Moore, PhD pmoore@physicianspractice.com MANAGING EDITOR Abigail Beckel, MA abeckel@physicianspractice.com SENIOR EDITOR, PROJECTS Laurie Hyland Robertson lchrobertson@physicianspractice.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Barbara A. Gabriel, MA ASSOCIATE EDITOR Shirley Grace, MA sgrace@physicianspractice.com MANAGING EDITOR, PROJECTS Alyson Siclare asiclare@physicianspractice.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Erica Lukenich elukenich@physicianspractice.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Robert Anthony, Bill Dacey, Robert Lamberts, MD, Jonathan McCallister, Shelly K. Schwartz, Ken Terry PROJECT MANAGER Amanda Norbury TECHNOLOGY ANALYST Alka Chander DESIGN GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR Nancy Bitteker ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Naddya Chavez ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Bill Ellis PAYERS LACK PERSONAL TOUCH I read your recent column “Try a Little Tenderness” (The Bigger Picture, March) with a mix of amusement and irritation. You state that “some of the day-to-day problems we’re actually facing in running practices can be relieved, if not solved, by improving our people skills and trying to see things from the other person’s point of view.” My people skills are fine, thank you. Just give me some people on whom to use them. As the practice administrator for a large pediatric group, I can state emphatically that the physicians and staff I represent prefer the “human approach” you so guilelessly recommend. I yearn for the days of a decade ago when we actually had relationships with the provider relations reps from the insurance companies. I knew by name and face the reps from each of the companies because they visited our offices, hosted focus groups, and returned phone calls. Our physicians could place a call to the company’s local medical director to discuss payment policies. Problems certainly occurred, but there was a mechanism in place for addressing those problems. 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Copyright © 2008 by CMP Healthcare Media LLC. Single copies $10; annual subscription $56. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Send address changes to: Physicians Practice, c/o CMPMedica, 330 Boston Post Road, Darien, CT 06820; or send by email to wdingle@cmp.com. 10 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | JUNE 2008 WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.PhysiciansPractice.com http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM
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