Posted by noa on July 3, 2000, at 11:40:32
In reply to Re: Pdoc dropping insurance and pts., posted by ksvt on July 2, 2000, at 21:49:30
I think psychiatrists are under seige by the managed care industry. It does not allow them to practice real medicine as they used to. There is less and less reimbursement and more pressure to take more and more patients and see them for less time.
Unfortunately, there is a trend in which many psychdocs are not working with insurance anymore. Which leaves the less resourced of us with fewer docs on plans, which means even more difficulty getting appointment time.
I can't tell if your doc as an individual is doing anything of major concern ethically. Perhaps to ensure continuity, stick with your doc for a while. (As I understand it, he was asking you to pay $50, ie, the total fee according to what the insurance was paying him. Would your insurance then reimburse you a percentage of that as out-of-network services? )
However, you could start shopping around to see if there is someone who is on your plan who knows meds and who you like.
You might want to check out the following website, run by the Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers:
www.nomanagedcare.org
poster:noa
thread:38975
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000630/msgs/39140.html