I was rushing back to the office today to make the first appointment (He was a new patient). I completed the payroll, finished my emails , filled all the Rx requests, and reviewed my schedule.
The patient showed up at 9:15 AM for a 9:20 AM appointment. He was asked to come in at least 20 minutes early to allow for paperwork and medication review (He didn't bring his meds, we ask all patients to bring them in for review or to provide all this information before the day of the appointment).
In the background I hear the new patient yelling at my staff that we don't need his social security number and that he was here to interview me.
My staff explains that I don't do interviews (I'll never be on Oprah, thank God) and that we collect the Social for identification purposes.
The attempts to talk to him were in vain.
I stepped to the front, thanked the gentleman for his time and told him that we were probably not the practice for him and asked him nicely to leave.
"I'm reporting you to the state."
Thank you, have a great day.
" I knew you weren't the kind of doctor for me when I saw you."
Thank you, please leave and have a great day.
End of story .
We set aside 40 minutes with me for new patients (usual slots are 20 minutes). We could have had another new patient in those slots or 2 f/u patients. We don't double or triple book as a few articles I have read recently have suggested to increase revenues (if that works for you great, but I try not to do that). If I am running late , the patient is notified at 15 minutes and offered another appointment slot at 30 minutes. We value the time of our patients and expect them to respect our time also.
I am a good doctor and well trained. Sometimes , patient expectations are can be too great and we have to control our time.
When did we start having to interview for our patients? I don't have the time for this.
Reimbursements are down. They'll be going down another 2% April 1st (great day for that to happen).
What is happening to our profession. We need to take control back. It can't all be about physicians giving in. Patient's have to accept responsibility also.
Just as an aside, when we moved to this community, our pediatrician brought us in to interview us. I was told that he does this to evaluate the parents and the children. I didn't like it, but it worked for him. He has a very busy practice.
I have Dr. Oz's phone number on my monitor. When a patient makes a comment about "Dr.Oz says", I refer them to the number to get the clarification.
"Never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill.
Frustrated in Florida.
(I know you should never write anything longer than the amount of time you could spend reading it in the bathroom but, it has been a trying day. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa).
