From time to time, people ask me why I do this. For sure, it’s a significant time commitment, in addition to managing a full-time primary care panel.

I’ve previously stated that I intend to “pull the curtain back”, to expose what goes on behind the scenes at the physician’s office and the hospital. I wrote the following on my About page: “By shining a light on physician frustrations that the mainstream media may ignore, perhaps we can get one step closer to resolving these issues.”

There are plenty who have little sympathy for doctors’ concerns, chalking it up to whining by a well-compensated profession. What they fail to see is that problems physicians face will most definitely spillover to patients. And whether they like it or not, everyone will become a patient sooner or later.

So, it is gratifying to read that some of the themes of the blog are being positively received, like in this e-mail I received today:

Kevin –
I have recently begun reading your blog and find several of the stories you reference to be quite fascinating. The articles have helped me put what has been happening to me in context and provide me with a game plan for getting my issues addressed. I am not in the medical profession, but rather I am a patient. I was always healthy until a year and three months ago when I started experiencing a wide variety of symptoms including chest pain, hair loss, random stabbing pains and GI symptoms among others. I went to my PCP and have been subsequently referred to specialist after specialist for test after test finding it more and more frustrating that no one appears to be looking at the entire picture – only the symptoms that fall under their specialty, thus I have yet to be diagnosed.

Reading your blog has given me the knowledge of why this is happening. I have found especially fascinating the reimbursement procedures – both in your blog and my personal experience. I have had several appointments with a PCP over the past year lasting at least 30 minutes and have noticed the reimbursement from my insurance company rarely tops $100. I was referred to a GI specialist who spent no longer than three minutes with me and was reimbursed over $300. In that three minutes she was able to schedule me for an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy with very little evaluation of my problems.

Thanks to your blog I have a much greater appreciation for my PCP and a greater grasp on how my medical care is progressing and hopefully will be able to be a better advocate for my own care in the future. Keep up the good work.

You’re very welcome, and this is one of the reasons why I won’t go away for awhile.