I've been looking for a new Primary Care Physician (PCP).
I found one; go to How I selected my new PCP to read how I decided.
Thanks to the internet I can learn what other people think about the physicians and their staffs.
Most rate the practitioner "6" or above on a scale of 1 to 10, but most also rate the practitioner's office staff in a minus scale.
Such was the case with my former PCP.
The doctor was a solid "10."
The office staff also was a 10, but a MINUS 10. My spouse is so frustrated with the non-medical staff she is threatening to abandon the PCP. I have complained to the office manager on more than one occasion; I get promises, but no improvement.
Maybe it is just PCPs that can't seem to hire competent people.
My specialists do better - much better.
Do the specialists pay their non-medical staffs better than a PCP?
Do they have less patient load (probably).
My vascular surgeon has a non-medical office staff of three. They work for 3 surgeons.
They are competent and personable.
My ophthalmologist has a larger office staff to support two doctors and a large technical staff. While there has been some turnover during the last several years, the non-medical staff remains competent and personable.
I just "researched" four prospective PCPs. Without exception patients complained about the non-medical staff. (In once case, they also complained about the practitioner. When the complaints greatly outnumber the kudos it's time to take them seriously.)
The question is: "Why are PCP administrative personnel rude and incompetent?"
One reason advanced is that the PCP's practice is so large - possibly thousands of patients - that the non-medical staff simply is overwhelmed.
The question then becomes: "Since the practices live on insurance payments, why don't the insurance companies, and Medicare where Medicare is accepted, threaten and then remove the practice from the list of providers?" That may be the reason my former PCP was delisted by the Medicare Advantage program I used at the time. Unfortunately, even though delisted, the non-medical staff is, if anything, worse than before.
Granted it is more likely to read complaints about a practitioner and the practitioner's non-medical staff than it is to read compliments. We take good service as a given; when it is lacking, we complain.
A lot of the problems with the non-medical operations in a practice - based on personal experience and on-line reports by others - is simply due to carelessness.
For example: Patient changes insurance provider. When the patient shows up for a doctor visit, the patient informs the receptionist and gives her the new insurance card.
In this particular instance, the insurance card is scanned into the system, along with the patient's mug shot (some places scan a photo ID rather than take a picture).
The patient has some tests performed in the PCP's office and the PREVIOUS insurance company is billed. The former company rejects the claim and the practice goes after the patient: "Your insurance rejected the claim." Duh! Of course the claim was rejected; the practice ignored the patient-provided new information.
Later the same practice managed to send a bill for services rendered to another patient with a similar name. (I'd hate to have these people handing out meds on a hospital ward!)
Years ago, I was an Air Force medic whose "specialty" was "medical administration" - the code back then was 90*30, the "*" indicating the skill level. We were not computerized and had to keep track of every patient in a rather large hospital that served two Air Force bases and a nearby Navy station. We had military, dependents, and VA patients. Some - officers and dependents - paid a daily rate for their stays in the hospital; VA was billed for its patients.
Medical records had to be maintained - on paper - for each patient. Unlike today's PCP, we accepted patients 24*7*365; no "If this is an emergency, call 9-1-1."
Now, while most PCPs still maintain paper folders for their patients, they also keep their records on computers (one hopes the data are backed up and archived in a HIPAA-compliant manner.)
Why is it, then, that in the PCP world there are so many non-medical department snafus? No one would tolerate such sloppiness on the part of the medical staff. Imagine a doctor ordering a medication for a patient and then the doctor's assistant administering a different, perhaps contra-indicated, medication.
To repeat what I suggested earlier, perhaps the insurance companies that pay these doctors need to take a look not only at doctor-patient cost effectiveness (cost is, after all, the primary concern of the insurers) but at the practice's non-medical operation as well.
How I selected my new PCP
I selected four practitioners from the insurance company's book. All were within "reasonable" distance to my residence.
I checked on each practitioner on line. Of the four, only one had no complaints about either the practitioner OR the office staff.
Still, few people go on line to compliment anyone or any thing, so while I took the complaints into consideration, I decided to visit each of the Final Four.
Two are close together and near my preferred medical lab.
10:30 a.m. and ALL non-reserved parking spots near their offices are full. (The medical lab opens at 7:30 so I'm in and out before any doctors office opens at 8 or 9 or ?)
Neither of these two almost co-located practitioners had a majority of "good" patient ratings.
I never found the third practitioner's office.
The fourth practitioner's office was right where I expected it to me. (No need for MapQuest of Google Maps; I know my city.)
Parking? Not a problem.
Walked into the office and was immediately greeted by the receptionist.
I explained that I wanted to know if the practitioner could refer me to several specific specialists.
"Come inside and see Melissa, the referrals person."
Graciously greeted by Melissa, I presented her with my list of specialists to which she said her boss refers to all of them. She even told me which of the orthopedic specialists was the best for my particular problem and why another was not - he specialized in hands and shoulders; my complaint is lower than that.
On my way out I asked a woman in the waiting room what she thought about the practice. She replied my new PCP has been her practitioner for years and she's happy.
The doctor's office is nothing fancy and the doctor himself is hardly a Marcus Welby* look alike, but from what I saw this morning, we may be in for a long, healthy relationship.
How easy was it to change a Humana PCP?
I never found a way to do this via the WWW so I finally broke down and called Humana Customer Service. After the usual Voice Response System's 20 (unrelated to my call) questions I FINALLY talked with a CS rep. It took him about 5 minutes to make the change - which will, as I knew it would, take effect at the first of next month - about the time my new patient ID card will arrive.
and James Brolin as Dr. Steven Kiley.
