doctors leaving or reducing their hours

Continuing the discussion of what Lavender mentioned about her doctor leaving.   Had that happen with my GP who sold her practice to a large corpropration.  This corporation only took Medicare Advantage which meant i had to leave since only have regular Medicare. Because our local hospitals got there own hospitalist.  Meant she lost that money from her 5am rounds.  Unfortunitaly she got Covid19.  Decided to leave her practice intirely .

Cardiologist reduced her days to only 3 days a week.  Had wondered what was going on as when recieved  through my email portal.  Needed a stress test based on what was seen on the remote transmission.  Suspect their was a threshold that triggered that.  Anyway when i called to make an appointment for the test.  Was told i need to see the Dr. first.  So i said when can i get to see her,   Told a not till March. Thought that was strange. Asked if she was really there.  But was told i could see the PA in a couple of weeks.  When i saw him asked what happened to the Dr.  He said he did not know(or could not tell me).  Finally found another site for the Dr. wrote to that.  Someone called me back and said the Dr. had been practicing for 26 years and was tired.  Said i could see another Dr.  i said i moved to this practice because of her.    Was told she still looks at reports,  since i only see her once a year,  will stay for now.   I was not told her had reduced her hours.   

new to pace

9 Comments

heart practice

by new to pace.... - 2023-01-23 22:23:51

When i heard of another EP(had only seen this one after the implant and never again since 2019) at this office from one of the user on this site.  Had called to see him.  Was told once i had a doctor could not switch.  Guess not every doctor is treated equally.

new to pace

Doctors leaving

by AgentX86 - 2023-01-24 01:55:15

My PCP shut down and left his business and people several years ago when Obamacare first came in.  He could no longer afford to practice.  The government told him what they'd pay.  It turned out that private physicians got paid half what hospitals got paid.  The message was sell, out and sell out or starve.  He couldn't pay his staff on what they were paying.  He'd stopped taking Medicare a couple of years before that.

Do you have an HMO?  ...or was it just a practice thing?  In '18 I needed to find a neurologist.  I was told that I could get in to see a neurologist at the hospital where I was a patient in eight months.  I found another doctor locally.  I'm still not thrilled but...

It's not just doctors.  My dentist's office canelled my cleaning last August and reschedule me for September, then November, and now May.  They just can't find a hygenist.

doctors leaving

by new to pace.... - 2023-01-24 06:54:11

thanks AgentX86.  I have regular Medicare i wanted it so i could see whomever i wanted.  Where ever i wanted.

Same here in Sarasota no help in the medical offices.

new to pace

Know the problem only too well

by Gemita - 2023-01-24 09:31:50

Hello new to pace, thank you for your post.  As I get older, I do appreciate “continuity of care” from a doctor, and I see you do too, but this is certainly not a guarantee any more, is it?  

We are lucky if we get to see the same doctor in our GP practice, since most of them are locum GPs now and we see a new face each time and they don’t always get to know a patient’s history before an appointment and that can lead to frustration for both patient and doctor alike. A locum GP as you know, travels from one doctor’s surgery to another in order to assist them with any under-staffing, whereas full time GPs are employed by or in partnership with one practice only.

My recent appointment with a new consultant EP at my hospital however was a breath of fresh air and I just hope he stays, but like many good doctors, they usually move on to greener pastures once they gain valuable experience working in a specialist cardiovascular centre.

I suppose with the state of our NHS today, we are still fortunate to have a free health care service, although it is getting increasingly more difficult to get the care we need when we most need it.

doctors leaving

by new to pace.... - 2023-01-24 09:44:25

One of the reasons was told the GP's  are being replaced for rounds at 5am.  Is that all our information is now someplace in the clouds.  Then these Hospitalist Dr's can pull up our history.  Thought that was interesting in that if i want to check online that same information i need a username and password.  Of course that history is only if someone posts to my account that information and hope that it is correct.

Two years ago when i would see each doctor asked them if they thought they might retire in 5 years.  As i like to pick my doctors.  If they said maybe asked who they would recomend. The eye Dr. said he only knew those like him who might retire.  Went with the Retina Specialist who i had seen before.  Did the same with the cardiologist and that is how i got the one i have now.. 

Not sure which health system is better?  Free health or pay for health.

new to pace

Which health care system?

by Gemita - 2023-01-24 14:06:35

Free or Private health care New to Pace?  When we were both working we also had private medical insurance (BUPA) and we used it a lot.  I wish we had kept it up.  With multiple health problems between us now, I don’t think BUPA would even consider covering us at a sensible premium.

For those who can afford it in the UK and I regret to say this, but private health care might be the way to go when you can’t wait to be seen under the NHS.  Having to wait for an NHS appointment, treatment, surgery, investigations, results can be a nightmare, then after waiting so long, to receive news that appointments or treatments have been cancelled or delayed, is not a good situation at all.  But I did once love my NHS which came into being a few months before I was born in 1948.  And all these years until more recently, I have certainly felt well cared for under the NHS and I don’t really want to lose it.

Free health or Pay for Health?

by Penguin - 2023-01-24 14:25:39

That's a topic of hot debate in the UK.   

We Brits love our NHS, but it's in crisis currently. Emergency care is worrying. I's not uncommon to wait for more than several hours for an ambulance (17 hr wait was reported recently in my area for something deemed important enough for an ambulance, but not top priority).

Once at hospital the paramedics can't unload their patients because the ER is bursting and patients have to wait in the ambulance or in a corridor. Then there aren't enough beds available on wards to discharge ER patients into. 

Social care is scandalously under resourced and elderly patients stay in hospital because they have nowhere funded to go to for ongoing care. Home based care is patchy and often it is inadequate, whilst funding is difficult to obtain for the help / social & nursing care needed..

Nurses and ambulance paramedics are on strike for better pay / conditions and the junior doctors who already work hours that most of us would refuse to tolerate, have threatened the same. 

Waiting lists for appointments with specialists are at an all time high and surgeons are working flat out to get through huge lists of patients.  GP appointments are difficult to arrange because GPs are too busy to see us promptly in many cases. This then causes patients to go to ER instead, thus impacting on the overstretched hospital system.   

Nobody wants to call time on free healthcare, but it's not looking good.

 

 

 

free or pay for insurance

by new to pace.... - 2023-01-24 14:53:08

When i worked used whom ever that company had.  When i became unemployed used a private insurance company.  One time  i asked why they paid so little, said it was because i lived in Sarasota.  Asked where they would pay more.  Said if i saw doctors in Englewood.  Thought wow if i needed in an emergence would take me an hour to get there. 

Then i finally got the original  medicare  and a supplement which now  are about to cost me almost as much as i was paying before medicare.  The private insurance said once i  turned 65 they would drop me.  Of course for me  medicare makes sensefor me  as want to go to see whomever without going for a referral first. 

Have a friend who lives in Canada where they get free health insurance.  Asked her one time why she did not get to see her GP.  Told me when the doctors make their quota,they have to be on vacation the rest of the year.   Also the doctors share their office with other Dr's., not in their field

. new to pace

"see whomever i wanted. Where ever i wanted."

by AgentX86 - 2023-01-25 00:16:27

I understand.  I had a suppliment last year.  I may have made a big mistake (have this year to switch back) but my previous employer's (IBM) retirement plan just change from giving a pile of money to use for whatever (medicare, drugs,...) to requiring an Advantage plan.  As long as it stays as is, it's just as good but saves me $5K a year.  Leaving that on the table was hard. It may just be a bait-n-switch.

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