What motivates you? What motivates you to do well at your job? I think we have strong dissincentives for Doctors to provide excellent service based on healthy outcomes, and have strongly incentivised doctors to run their offices like puppy mills. More more more more. I am tired of paying for a visit to the doctor's office and not paying for a diagnosis and outcome. If you are pregnant, the first thing they have you do is sign a paper saying you agree to pay the fee. they also have a second fee for a surgical delivery. This is paying for a result and I can understand the reasoning behind it. Paying the same amount for every visit every time regardless of the reason for a visit doesn't seem at all reaonable!!
I want to pay a fee if I get an accurate diagnosis, a different fee if there is further testing needed and a different fee if the problem cannot be diagnosed or I am referred to a specialist. For instance, right now it is $95 for a few minutes in the office regardless of what happens. I only want to pay that fee for a yearly wellness check, or a complete diagnosis like "you have strep throat, here is your prescription." I want to pay a reduced fee if follow up is necessary. For instance, if blood tests are needed I want to pay 1/2 the amount, have the doctor interpret the results and pay the other half. If they have no clue or have to refer me on then I think that should be a significantly reduced cost. If the care can be on going in the office I want to pay like $20 a visit if it is going to take a few visits or $10 a visit if it is going to take more than 5 visits.
We have had quite a few visits to the doctor's office without the satisfaction of learning anything except that medical bills can mount up without any recourse or satisfaction. The problem doesn't isn't necessarily with my doctor, just with the billing system. If the doctor stinks and the billing stinks - we would bein much worse shape, but it is still exceptionally frustrating to gett a bill for $850 dollars without getting a diagnosis, without understanding what has gone wrong, and without any resolution at all. That is our house payment and utilities for a month, all for advice that could be summed up with, in the words of Alexandre Dumas, "all of God's wisdom is contained in these two words "wait and Hope"."
