We have had two docs either retire or die here in the last few months. My staff has been instructed to ask the following questions when patients call wanting to transfer records to me:
1. What kind of insurance do you have?
2. How old are you? (If they are under 65 and on Medicare, that is often a bad sign...disability issues, pain meds, etc.)
3. Have you ever been a patient of Dr. Strouse's before? If so, why did you change doctors? (I will not accept a patient back who transferred records for reasons other than they moved out of town and then came back or their insurance changed and I did not accept it. I do take it personally. Once a patient leaves me they are generally gone forever. I was at the grocery the other day and ran into a former patient who transferred records because I no longer go to the hospital. She was one that I had gone out of my way numerous times for through the years. She made a bee-line towards me when she saw me and I knew what was coming. She told me how she really did not like her new doctor and that their office was so inefficient and would I take her back? "Gee, I am really sorry to hear that but I do not think re-establishing our relationship would be in your best interest as I do take offense to patients who do not feel a loyalty to me when I have tried very hard for many years to see to their medical and often personal needs").
4. Do any of your relatives see Dr. Strouse? Some families are genetically programmed to be difficult patients.
From these 4 questions we can glean a lot of information. Although my practice is not completely closed, at this stage of my game I am in a position to be a little more selective in the kinds of patients I want in my practice. I would just as soon sit and twiddle my thumbs and not get paid as to have a practice full of patients whose insurance does not pay.
Leslie
