Annie: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Annie."
Lisa: "Hi, this, is Lisa, referral person for Deathtrap HMO."
Annie: "Hello."
Lisa: "Dr. Grumpy referred Mr. Axon to Dr. Needlemeister for an EMG? I thought Dr. Grumpy does these himself."
Annie: "He does, but Mr. Axon has a number of issues that make the test more complicated. So Dr. Grumpy prefers that an EMG specialist do it in this case."
Lisa: "Okay, but if Dr. Grumpy has another doctor do it, I want to make it clear that we will not pay Dr. Grumpy for the test. We'll pay that doctor instead."
Annie: "Of course. We wouldn't expect you to pay us for it."
Lisa: "You people are so weird."
No, Lisa, YOU are weird.
ReplyDeleteFee referral it is all the rage, in fact in NJ there are a bunch of Doctor going to prison for taking fee referrals for referring people for lab test. It was a good thing for so long until someone figured out exactly what was going on. In some cases the labs were paying rent to the Doctors for non existent space in the medical office. Fee referral and fee splitting is a danger zone for there are statutes covering things like commercial bribery. This is the real world, not the world of government, where all rules are suspended or so it would seem.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that just complaining about fees and payment, let alone what Packer said, is common enough that Lisa sees integrity as unusual. :(
ReplyDeleteDamn Obamacare.
ReplyDeleteDeathtrap HMO no longer offers healthcare plans in my state.
Oh my.
ReplyDelete"If we only charged for the health insurance we actually provide, we'd never stay in business."
ReplyDelete