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The Water Cooler
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OKC VA as primary insurance
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<blockquote data-quote="tRidiot" data-source="post: 3303828" data-attributes="member: 9374"><p>Eh, there are a number that don't accept Medicare, too, yes. Once doctors get 'filled up' with more private insurance patients, they will often stop taking Medicare because it is a hassle to deal with them, Medicare reimbursement sucks, and they typically have more medical problems and are more complicated patients - i.e., you spend more time and get paid less. So yes, Medicare patients are in general not the best choice for one's practice. We see a SIGNIFICANT difference in our practice between some providers (such as myself) who have a ton of Medicare patients and several others who have been around a LOT longer and now see much more private insurance patients than Medicare - it makes a <strong>YUUUUUUGE </strong>difference in those practioners' bottom line, as well as being able to see <strong>MANY </strong>more patients in a day, because they don't have to spend 30-45 minutes trying to sort through medication lists, those lists being altered by multiple other specialists/providers, as well as people who don't even KNOW what they take, don't bring their meds with them, or bring a list that isn't up to date or accurate and we spend 3 times as long just trying to sort out what they're taking now, plus looking through documentation of tests being done, seeing if reports from other providers/specialists have been sent, trying to interpret a patient's perception of what other doctors told them, etc.</p><p></p><p>Compare this to a younger patient like a child coming in for a Well Child exam or someone in their 30s or 40s with just a couple of meds who are generally more on top of their medical stuff, and the time spent with Medicare (and V.A.!) patients is EXTRAORDINARILY longer than others, and really means you can only see about half as many patients - and couple that with the fact Medicare pays less for those patients.</p><p></p><p>You can see why so many of my colleagues want nothing to do with Medicare.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tRidiot, post: 3303828, member: 9374"] Eh, there are a number that don't accept Medicare, too, yes. Once doctors get 'filled up' with more private insurance patients, they will often stop taking Medicare because it is a hassle to deal with them, Medicare reimbursement sucks, and they typically have more medical problems and are more complicated patients - i.e., you spend more time and get paid less. So yes, Medicare patients are in general not the best choice for one's practice. We see a SIGNIFICANT difference in our practice between some providers (such as myself) who have a ton of Medicare patients and several others who have been around a LOT longer and now see much more private insurance patients than Medicare - it makes a [B]YUUUUUUGE [/B]difference in those practioners' bottom line, as well as being able to see [B]MANY [/B]more patients in a day, because they don't have to spend 30-45 minutes trying to sort through medication lists, those lists being altered by multiple other specialists/providers, as well as people who don't even KNOW what they take, don't bring their meds with them, or bring a list that isn't up to date or accurate and we spend 3 times as long just trying to sort out what they're taking now, plus looking through documentation of tests being done, seeing if reports from other providers/specialists have been sent, trying to interpret a patient's perception of what other doctors told them, etc. Compare this to a younger patient like a child coming in for a Well Child exam or someone in their 30s or 40s with just a couple of meds who are generally more on top of their medical stuff, and the time spent with Medicare (and V.A.!) patients is EXTRAORDINARILY longer than others, and really means you can only see about half as many patients - and couple that with the fact Medicare pays less for those patients. You can see why so many of my colleagues want nothing to do with Medicare. [/QUOTE]
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