What is a physician’s visit, procedure or consultation worth? The value is obviously different for different people. For the patient it is relatively easy, he or she knows how much time and effort as well as what the result of the physician’s knowledge and skill was on their behalf. Unfortunately the patient’s evaluation of the physician’s services is worthless with our present healthcare delivery system. Although there are still a few patients who pay for their services this number is so low in most physicians' offices that the aim is to produce something that satisfies the insurance company that pays the bill. In the case of procedures a complete description of what was done is needed. The longer and more complete the description the more apt the remuneration will be fairly adequate. Short reports will usually result in less money. It would seem that physicians will need to spend more time learning to write and less time on medical matters if they want to make a living.
In the case of office visits the need for longer reports has resulted in less time being available for the patient so that in a 10 minute office visit at least two minutes can be devoted to patient care. While many of the reports will contain information recorded at previous sessions the insurance company evaluating the value of this visit will judge more on the length of the generated report than on any content. Concise reports result in less money, so don’t hesitate to throw the bull a fair distance.
Posts
