Anyone who holds a license to practice healthcare and bills insurance feels exactly the same way that you do – and then some – so let’s talk about it.
Every day we answer questions about a patient’s health insurance in terms of what is covered so that they can feel confident about the costs associated with their care. The answers we provide are the answers given to us directly from the insurance company. Despite those decisions being made by the insurance company, as a provider I know that my staff has been met with anger and frustration about the cost of care even though they had absolutely nothing to do with a patient’s choice of plan or the insurance company’s policies.
We get it. We wish the insurance company would make life easier for us too. We also wish our patients wouldn’t have to make decisions about their healthcare choices based upon their insurance plan or guidelines. Those decisions should be made between the patient and their healthcare providers, not a third party.
Alas, this is the environment we experience in healthcare today in the United States. The fact is that healthcare hasn’t been based on keeping people healthy for a very long time. It is focused upon treating sick people as symptoms arise.
That being said, it is important to know that in most cases your doctors and their staff are just as frustrated as you are. We are in this together, and our desire is to see that you are able to take control and be actively engaged with your care. I cannot speak for every practice out there, but HFC makes treatment recommendations based upon what we feel will get and KEEP YOU WELL. These are the same recommendations we would make for our family, and recommendations we ourselves follow. We are not interested in hiding your symptoms, and pride ourselves on how many patients come to see us feeling fantastic instead of dropping in when they are sick/injured.