No at times you all really work more with all the uncompensated managment of care that nobody pays for or repects. Try that with your lawyer. "Oh I just want the doctor to call, I need to speak with her for just a minute". They hit the chess clock right after hello how are you?
As I tell everyone, our business is just a conduit for "other" people's money. we don't really get to see or keep much if any of it. But boy do all those specialists want to make sure they've got their "referal". But they make sure that the contracts make a mockery of the relative value system by having fee schedules that pay them "more" for the exact same codes you PCP's get burned on every day. So Let's say Nancy does a skin Biopsy, she will almost certainly get 10% or more less than a Dermatologist does for the same exact code with the same exact plan!!! No less that most PCP's live and die by the level 3 and 4 E&M code for the most part, with some CPE thrown in for good measure. Ped's having a few more than FP's I would gather. Meanwhile the specialist have all sorts of procedures and surgeries to make more money in one day than PCP's make all week. I think PCP's need to demand fees that pay them about 25% more for all E&M codes, allow for any and patient managment in 15 minutes sections, including charges for night call, just for getting paged at 2 am.
When was the last time the CEO of UHC got woken out of bed or dragged out of their kids school play because someone else's kid was throwing up or someone elses mom had fallen at the assisted living place while going to the pot?
Check this out because this is the type of commando tactics that work in labor situations. There was a local that during Ted Turner's non-union (IATSE, the Stagehands Union) filming of the Civil War movie that kept making for a lack of "Quiet on the Set", by flying an old style prop bi-plane over the battlefield with banners trailing behind in the shot frame no less "Hire Union Today". It was great!
So anyway, I think we should get the private numbers of all the CEO's of our health plans and call them and wake them up everytime we get paged. "Oh hi there Mr. Dontgivearatsass, just wanted to let you know right away because you are so concerned about patient care that little Joey Smith is running a temp of 104.2 and can't sleep or hold anything down. Do you have a pen and paper, that's patient ID Number 123XYZ456, subscriber is the father, Joe Smith Sr, DOB: 03-03-1968. They have HMO Blue Options that needs prior auth for everything. Have a good night sir." We'll see how long it takes them to find a "value" for such things then. Much like when Michael Moore on TV Nation put the garbage trucks running and slamming outside the rich private homes of the guys who owned the garbage hauling companies at 4 am? Let then live with their own bull$&*! I need to get some more work done around here. Be well.
Good Night and Good Luck
Paul
