« An Interesting Observation of the Health Care Industry »

Funny story for you.

The Wiz is on the phone right now with the receptionist from the Neurosurgeon's office, she's on him to come back and get the results of a few tests - and he has to "come into the office", he can't set up a conference call with the doctor to get the results.  He's got to drive 3 hours for the dr to tell him he's fine.  It's "policy" that the patient has to be FACE to FACE with the doctor.

Now this brings me to an interesting question about the healthcare industry, technology, and billing practices.  Is it possible that doctors can't "bill" for patient visits unless the patient is actually sitting in the doctor's office?  Is it possible that a "conference call" doesn't count as a billable service?  Is it possible that there is so little adoption of technology, and so little regard for people's time, and such a high self-opinion of the folks in the mdedical community, that they can simply just make policies that suit themselves?

Wouldn't it be neat, if instead of having to drive for 3 hours in rush hour traffic to get medical results, that you could fire up IM, and plug in your trusty web cam, and get your results from the comfort of your home?

That's just crazy talk.

technorati tags:Canadian Healthcare