I see about 13 patients in 4 hours. This guy was ambitious, but hey, that’s what a fee-for-service reimbursement system does to you.
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So? I doubt the veracity of this story, but there are several possibilities for this.
First of all, many scheduling progams only go in 15 minute increments for scheduling, so multiple patients do have the same appointment time. In reality they do not all show up at the same time, some are early, some are late, and some never show up. Many doctors overbook, just like the airlines, to compensate for no-shows.
The second reason this occurs is low revenue per patient encounter and a need to turn up the volume to compensate. You get what you pay for, and we all only have 24 hours in each day. You can do the math and derive that for this individual, the current system reimburses for about 4 seconds of chair time with the doctor.
The final possibility is that this doctor is doing “group” visits. Health care providers are sending the message that providers must be more efficient in providing care and this is one way to facilitate patient education without repeating the same lines 60 times a day.
Pay the freight and go to a “concierge” practice if this is not acceptable.
BTW, isn’t it some kind of HIPPA violation to have a sign in sheet where anyone can see patient names or other information?
Stupid. If we were under a single payer salaried system like the left is so breathlessly touting, we would be seeing 1 patient every 45mins and taking 2hr lunches. Under the system we have now the patients’ may have to wait a couple of hours in the waiting room but at least they are getting in to see the doctor within a week or so compared to the 12 months it takes to see an orthopaedic surgeon in Canada. Under a productivity based system patients will get seen in a timely fashion. I see 35 patients in 6 hours as a specialist and try to stick to the schedule as best as possible to try to minimize patient inconveinance.
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