Unhappy with Your Appointment Day/Time with your Doctor?

A common complaint for patients is how long it may take to get in to see a medical specialist. A new patient appointment may be 1-2 weeks away when an earlier appointment may be desired. What to do? Of course, one can call around to every single specialist office in the region to see who has the next earliest appointment. Other options which may work just as well include the following: • Do NOT limit yourself to a specific day of the week and time. Always use the phrase "the very…

8/24/2013 0

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Financial Issues with Emergency Room Specialist Care

Imagine this scenario... A young child is playing in the yard when her pet dog bites her face. Bleeding, the child is rushed to the emergency room and the emergency room doctor offers to suture up the child's face. The next question a parent will probably ask (or demand) is the desire for a plastic surgeon to suture the face instead of the emergency room doctor. As such, the plastic surgeon is called in and sutures up the face beautifully. The child and family goes home and that'…

8/19/2012 0

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Want to See a Specialist Doctor Who Does Not Take Your Insurance? There Are Options...

It is not unusual nowadays that a patient may want to see a specific medical specialist who unfortunately does NOT participate with their  health insurance plan . This doctor is what is known in insurance parlance as a "non-par provider." In this situation, there are two options. 1) The patient pays the medical bill (self-pay) and forwards the receipt to the insurance company who hopefully will reimburse the patient. 2) The patient can request a "Letter of Medical Necessi…

11/05/2011 1

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How To Persuade a Specialist to see a Patient Quickly!

With the advent of SmartPhones like the iPhone, communication between not only physicians but also patient-physician has become much easier. To illustrate how such technology has eased communication in order for a patient to be seen quickly by a specialist was recently demonstrated when I received a phone call at home around 9:30PM from the Emergency Room regarding a facial fracture. ER: Dr. Chang, we have a patient here who seems to have a facial fracture on CT. Overall, however, he does …

12/26/2009 0

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