… others want a 4-day work week.
I think we’ll need to mint more doctors to take up the slack.
intercst
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Even with a 4 day work week, that would still amount to 40-48 hours. Past surveys have shown the average MD worked 60+ hours a week no matter the specialty. And there was many times I worked 60 hours over a 72 hour weekend call.
The only way I can see “WFH” is if you’re in a specialty like radiology or pathology where you are looking at “pictures” that can be digitized. Otherwise, you still need to lay hands and stethoscope on the patient. Too much can be missed via FaceTime.
FWIW, there is a good chance if you’ve had a radiological procedure “after hours”, it was read by a radiologist overseas.
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My thinking was the same–only not just those taken during the day. $$$.
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Yep. The last time I got an MRI about 10 years ago at one of those strip mall, discount imaging centers, the radiologist phoned in the report from Hungary.
It was cheaper to pay cash, than use my for-profit insurance at the time and get price gouged.
intercst
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If my primary care MD had laid a stethoscope on me instead of sitting in front of her computer during entire visits she would have discovered my heart murmur. Instead, a nurse practitioner at a walk-in clinic did.
Wendy (angiogram in 2 days, open-heart surgery scheduled Nov. 19.)
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Here’s to a perfect set of surgical procedures and a rapid and full recovery!
-Chuck
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Specifically, might’ve detected it soon enough to, at least, make valve replacement via TAVR a real possibility. That’s the irksome thing…and I’ve mentioned this in the past…that the “wellness visit” an annual physical morphs into once a person becomes a Medicare beneficiary, doesn’t require the laying on of hands or stethoscope unless there’s a reason. So, apparently, some physicians don’t.
So, gawd help those of us who’ve been good custodians of our bodies and with none of the signs of overeating, oversitting, boozing etc…we run the risk of slipping through the healthcare cracks at a time when we might be expected to need closer attention.
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When I first retired, at 58, I bought bare bones coverage from United Health. Then went on Medicare at 65. The checkups I got on the UH insurance are exactly like the Medicare checkups. Nothing compared to what my old doc did, when I was working, and had Blue Cross.
I asked my current doc about the difference. He said that he was in med school at the tail end of when they were teaching the really invasive sort of check up. He said they have gotten away from doing that, because the data showed it did not lead to better outcomes. My doc does take my vitals and goes over me with a stethoscope, and orders bloodwork, but no finger, or EKG, or feeling all my abdominal organs, like the older doc did.
Steve
Well, there you go. You…like me…are getting more than is apparently required to fulfill contractual obligations to Medicare in order to bill for whatever procedure code is used for a wellness visit.