Whether this is a sign of things to come I don't know, but as I approach Medicare, I was none to happy to find a letter from my doctor letting me know that she will be resigning from Medicare for the next two years, which I gather is the required minimum time frame. Below is part of the text of her letter. One of my other doctors went "boutique" on us last year to the tune of $2000 per person (no family plan discounts!). It seems extremely important to me that the Supreme Court rules in on this Health Care issue as quickly as possible as it is too big an issue to be left in limbo.
"Dear...The vast majority of these changes (changes in the Medicare program) have not been made known to you as Medicare beneficiaries or to the general public. Many physicians are complete ignorant of these changes.
The most important statute produced new definitions of "fraud and abuse" for the Medicare Program. The occurrence of the simplest clerical error has now been redefined as "abuse" of the Medicare Program and each inadvertent clerical error is potentially subject to prosecution with fines up to $2000 per error. Medicare has hired large numbers of individuals who it pays a bounty for each error they believe they find. Medicare has asked the Justice Department to allow these individuals to carry firearms when they come to a doctor's office.
(Too bad as patients we can't get the rewards when Medicare or some insurance company messes up due to their errors.)
Very disturbingly, in secret meetings between the American Medical Association and Medicare, a new system of coding and medical record documentation was developed. This new coding and documentation system contains thousands of possible combinations for a single office visit. I have studied this new system and its revisions in detail and have found it virtually impossible to perform correctly. Further, the actual time required to document and process any Medicare visit will be lengthened greatly and will usually exceed the time spent with the patient." (Above parenthesis, mine)
(Certainly I have no doubt that the medical coding for a one-doctor office can and will be overwhelming. But as a computer expert, I firmly believe that such standardization will be beneficial in the long run. Maybe we can even implant chips with the data or a reference code in each patient so that the records will be instantly available. We can track dogs that way, why not people. Just a thought!!)
Keep your eyes open for more such things to come.
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You, me and millions of Americans are going to be Medicare victims in the very near future. It's frightening to think there might be no doctors left to serve us. But, that's the free market at work. This is a clear example of excessive regulation inhibiting business.
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