Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
Is it even legal for a doctors office to refuse to treat folks without insurance? I don't see how they can do that!!
Ok...let me back up. Had a really rough weekend pain wise. Had a huge flare up starting at 3am Sat. I had an appt with the pain clinic this morning at 8:30 which I was really dreading because of the way the doctor treats me. So I get there, pay my $50 and sit in an exam room. A nurse comes in to check my vitals and informs me that Dr. Stork is no longer a treating physician at the clinic. She told me in confidence that he was fired because he was spending too much time with ea. patient and therefore was always running late. Because he was so slow he wasn't able to see enough patients therefore he was not generating enough money. She said he wasn't even making enough to pay the office workers salaries. Well, obviously that didn't break my heart any. I'm thinking this might turn out to be a good day after all. Then the replacement doctor comes in, Dr. Hutcheson. I explained about the flare up that started early Sat. morning and I have been unable to sleep because it seems just as I really get to sleep it feels like someone is jerking me awake. It actually startles me and I jump and mumble a "oh" because it scares me. He said "hmmm, that sounds like a psych problem." He then tells me that its the clinic protocol to not treat patients if they do not have insurance. I was shocked. How could he be telling me this? I have been going there for almost a year! I asked why and he said they have found that it is too expensive for folks to pay the doctor bill, costs for random drug urinalysis and medication. (Keep in mind that I have never had an outstanding bill there. I have ALWAYS paid them). I told him that too and then he said "it has been our experience that the patients without insurance are the ones that take the meds and sell them on the street". By then I'm pissed!! I said "well I would hope that I have been coming here long enough that you would know me better than that. I need my prescriptions...they couldn't pay me enough to sell them my meds!"
So he said he would give me 2 months to either get insurance or they wouldn't be able to treat me any longer. I asked what are people like me supposed to do then? My PC cant or wont write monthly prescriptions for narcotics. He just shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know.
How can they do this??? How can they just turn you out and wash their hands of you? I have never given them a reason, I have come to every appointment, I have paid up front for every appt. Never been a problem patient. I just don't get it. It cant be legal...can it??
Ok...let me back up. Had a really rough weekend pain wise. Had a huge flare up starting at 3am Sat. I had an appt with the pain clinic this morning at 8:30 which I was really dreading because of the way the doctor treats me. So I get there, pay my $50 and sit in an exam room. A nurse comes in to check my vitals and informs me that Dr. Stork is no longer a treating physician at the clinic. She told me in confidence that he was fired because he was spending too much time with ea. patient and therefore was always running late. Because he was so slow he wasn't able to see enough patients therefore he was not generating enough money. She said he wasn't even making enough to pay the office workers salaries. Well, obviously that didn't break my heart any. I'm thinking this might turn out to be a good day after all. Then the replacement doctor comes in, Dr. Hutcheson. I explained about the flare up that started early Sat. morning and I have been unable to sleep because it seems just as I really get to sleep it feels like someone is jerking me awake. It actually startles me and I jump and mumble a "oh" because it scares me. He said "hmmm, that sounds like a psych problem." He then tells me that its the clinic protocol to not treat patients if they do not have insurance. I was shocked. How could he be telling me this? I have been going there for almost a year! I asked why and he said they have found that it is too expensive for folks to pay the doctor bill, costs for random drug urinalysis and medication. (Keep in mind that I have never had an outstanding bill there. I have ALWAYS paid them). I told him that too and then he said "it has been our experience that the patients without insurance are the ones that take the meds and sell them on the street". By then I'm pissed!! I said "well I would hope that I have been coming here long enough that you would know me better than that. I need my prescriptions...they couldn't pay me enough to sell them my meds!"
So he said he would give me 2 months to either get insurance or they wouldn't be able to treat me any longer. I asked what are people like me supposed to do then? My PC cant or wont write monthly prescriptions for narcotics. He just shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know.
How can they do this??? How can they just turn you out and wash their hands of you? I have never given them a reason, I have come to every appointment, I have paid up front for every appt. Never been a problem patient. I just don't get it. It cant be legal...can it??
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I did the dumbest thing today. I charged my earbuds, unplugged the block and put the block in my little bag instead of the earbuds. I wasn't happy about that when I got to the gym. What a dummy!
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Years ago, I won a mirrored armoire from my job. It's in my bedroom but I rarely stand in front of it. Yesterday, I had to have a dexascan done so I had to change into a gown. There was a full length mirror in the changing room. I'm aware that I gained 5 to 7 pounds over the last year from cheating on Keto but I didn't know what it looked like. It was a reality check.
http://www.physiciansnews.com/law/202.html
If you wish to remain w/ this particular clinic, my suggestion is to talk with their Accounts Manager. This person will have access to your past payment record with them, and would be able to evaluate your specific history and let you know if they make exceptions etc.
When I lost all insurance for a couple years, I knew it was coming and tried to figure out what to do.
I had been seeing my PCP (who does now write my controlled substance RXs) for eight years. The front desk directed me to the Billing manager, and she did two things for me:
First she informed me they gave all full cash patients (who paid in full w/ cash or check at time of service) a 25% discount, because it saved them time/money to not have to deal w/ an insurance company.
Second, she offered to talk to my doc, saying that each health issue discussed during an exam increased the cost of the appointment- not time per se but complexity of case. She offered to ask him if he would simply bill all my visits as one item exams. It turned out he was happy to.
I was also seeing a Psychotherapist, and discussed her no insurance policy directly w/ her because she owned her practice. Had only been going there about 6 months, and had a $50 copay. She said I needed to continue therapy and offered to see me for just my copay amount if paid upfront each visit. These days I have insurance, but no psych coverage and she charges me half her usual fee, so I pay $125 a visit.
So I do think some places are more flexible, comfortable and compassionate about dealing w/ full cash patients.
Pain Centers are fairly tightly scrutinized because they are magnets for non ill drug-seekers. The one I went to treated everyone like they were probably a junky and then balked at me when I said I was not interested in pain meds, was looking for alternative treatments. I finally got through to the doc that owned the clinic and after a while he remembered his Hippocratic oath,
Am so sorry you are having this issue. Hope you are able to find a way to continue your treatment. Maybe you PCP might have suggestions about other Pain Clinic options for you.
Hugs
If the clinic/office accepts federal funding, they can be penalized and banned from federal funding programs for this discrimination.
Best wishes, and I would try talking with the accounts manager first.
To appease them you could get a chincey little online coverage that claims to pay you back. If their policy is "has to have insurance", play their game. If you follow those rules, then they don't have anything to go off of. Do a little research here.
If not, then it appears the doctor does not want to prescribe meds.
To answer your question about where to go. I wish I knew. I gave up for the same reasons several years ago. The hassle of the pain management doctors office was more than I could handle when I was raising our boys with autism. I had enough BS to deal with and enough doctors to chase down just for them. I wasn't about to fight a stupid pain doctor over a treatment plan.
I wish you luck. I know everything looks bleak right now. I do know this much, you'll figure it out. You have to.
Whether they can simply stop treating an existing patient who continues to need treatment is the question. The article seems to indicate that they can, with sufficient notice, but case law changes almost daily so the seven year lag from the article to now is a concern.