P.S. and they really don’t care if you have to take out a second mortgage either.

This is absolutely ludicrous, I am appalled. I am angry, but I also understand what the hospitals and Dr’s offices are doing. I see it all around us. I see it in pharmacies also. This is an interpretation of HIPPA laws or CMS or Medicare. Everyone is going extremely overboard with this. For your own medical record, to have to pay for another physician’s office to receive a FAX a copy of your medical records. Man, I see a Pandora’s box here. We’ll be charged for the service, Okay, of course it will continue to escalate to an absorbitant rate. then again we will be charged for the copy we want, and again be charged to have it forwarded to the other Dr. will we eventually be EACH and EVERY single time!!!!!

This is absolutely ridiculous. It’s sheer laziness. Someone has to lift one more piece of paper or make one more phone call or punch one more button on a fax machine. I could go on and on.

I realize we are ALL busy. EVERYONE. No one is immune to the fast pace world today. Some choose it, some don’t choose it, some cause it, some ignore it, making everyone else more crazy and more busy. Geez, this will never end, will it?

Anyway, back to what I was talking about. You make a request, the office wants a release signed. Okay, no problem and really no problem to make the phone calls. This isn’t really any one person or Dr’s office staff’s responsibility. I think we can all share this task. However, with the way it’s going, certainly no one will volunteer to do this task. (Would you?) Let’s Pretend or go with what you did, make the phone call with the request. Wonderful the ball’s rolling. Now, WE make the call to verify that everything has been sent where it needs to go and the Dr’ office has the gull to ask you to pay a processing FEE! Excuse me, but good GOD. That is so Absolutely Lubricious. They just want more money. It’s almost as bad as hospitals writing off (I’m going to get in huge trouble here, but I’m on a roll) bills for people who can’t pay for the service. I completely agree everyone and I mean ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE should have access to care, but in most cases, individual’s with insurance (You all know the Routine) end up paying higher prices and also end up being charged SELF PAY for the portion the insurance doesn’t cover. (MOST HOSPITAL’S EXPECT YOU TO TAKE OUT A LOAN TO PAY THEM BACK.) They simply do not care. Whatever happened to taking the Medicare allowance or even taking insurance companies allowance as payment in full. Good LORD we all need help. We’re not going to make it much longer. (P.S. carefully scrutinize each and every bill)

Okay, so now really, the Dr. wanted you to pay for the little extra work that someone had to do for you. It is our right as a patient to request a copy of our own medical record. Especially, it is right to request records to be sent to another physician. More often than not, most hospitals and Dr’s offices have some type of consent form that should cover this scenario. Yet, you still should NOT have to pay any more for it. GOT ME HERE?

I instruct everyone I know to ask for a copy of anything done in the hospital or Dr’s office directly upon receipts of the results. Pretty soon, they will start CHARGING us for THOSE copies. Yet, if we keep on top of things we will have our own medical record and can make copies as we need them and transfer or submit the to another physician as needed. I certainly would recommend a place for safe keeping. Lock box, safe, whatever. At least you can do what you want. Something has got to change and soon. I pray.

Pharmacies use to call your Dr’s office if you needed a refill authorization.However, now they will post a little sticker on the bottle to tell you to call him. Many are doing away with the answering machines now and you can’t reach them accept for during hours of operation. They refuse to make a phone call to report a need. They are TOO busy! Well then, do what most people do….GET HELP. Pretty soon, they will be calling us with questions regarding the prescription the Dr. wrote for you. That’s in the pharmacists job description isn’t it? ‘m just being facetious, I can make a call like this one too. I have no problem with that. Even though I don’t know anything about what he ordered or what or how to ask for something else. Bah Humug!!! This is crazy…

Let us know what you think.

It’s a viscious cycle and I completely understand the concept of accepting responsibility. I think we all do or most people do. I’m not trying to bad mouth anyone. Really I’m not. I’m just sick and tired of the chaos creating more chaos. What happened to “organized” chaos. At least thing got done, maybe not fast but dependably.

As a hospitalist, I yearn for the day when I do not have to spend any extra time with other hospitals’ or clinics’ medical record personnel in order to obtain needed information on my patients.

In addition, this would remove the current false dilemma of patients having to decide whether to spend the extra time to transport records themselves or having to pay an extra fee for medical personnel to do so.

It’s a vicious cycle, they raise healthcare costs and more people can’t afford health insurance, so they raise them again, and more people can’t afford it. We’ll end up with socialized medicine in the end if by no other means than the fact that eventually absolutely no one will be able to afford health insurance and we’ll all be on the public trough.

you do realize that doctors don’t have to accept insurance, and in doing so can lower their office visits to the patients since the don’t have to ballon their costs to only settle at a lower price with the insurance companies while milking a self-pay person as myself. sorry but a $200 dollar visit to an endo for him to check my B.P. tickle my feet and tell me the low you had on X day is a concern to him. isn’t worth 200 bucks and you say i ought to be happy to give them an extra 20 dollars are you off your rocker man!!! the last time i checked most docs are driving a 600 benz or 745li bmw, while a small business owners as myself puts in 18 hours a day just to be able to pay employees buy insulin and over pay these crack doctors. as a matter of fact they ought to be happy to hand me a 20 dollar bill for going to see them instead of someone else. not only are you a patient but you are the consumer in a for profit health industry that borders corruption and fraud.

In the state where I live (Ohio), over 40% of the OB-GYNs have gone out of business in the last 5 or so years.

You should be sending them the $20 as a thank you for even staying in business. I’m not disagreeing at all that this should be a “for free” service, but because of the way insurance is killing us all….

Scott

People go through far, far worse every day, dealing with the train wreck that is health care in America.

Whenever I’m a patient, I make sure to know my rights and know exactly whom to contact if I need to involve an outside agency. I also document everything, get names, and write down dates of conversations.