Peggy Lee Kent said : “Hey, there is a rumor going around you are leaving us. I almost lost it and called the office to see….I hope that stays a rumor for many many years.”
Peg it is a Stupid Rumor – obviously spread by the Managed Care Mavens who are having a difficult time competing against my low cost cash business model.
The fact that I have been traveling on the Summer Judo Circuit a few weekends each month since May, and with the DOT Construction lag blockading easy access, not withstanding, the Chestatee Emergent Medical Care clinic is well and functioning, and I am there working a majority of the time. I am in the first year of a NEW 7 year lease on the property, and HAVE NO INTENTION of leaving my practice, despite the Managed Care competition coming in at Hwy 400.
I saw a woman recently who has insurance, who obtained an appointment 3 days after calling, to one of the new clinics that ‘accepted’ her insurance, was charged well over $300 for her office visit, and one simple procedure (a Strep Swab), of which her insurance only paid half, leaving her stuck and financially responsible for the other half – which she paid, only to have her treatment be inadequate to the problem, and they wanting to make another appointment for 3 days hence, and charge her another $300 to remedy their first attempt at trial and error, which she declined, and she came to me for a $60 OV (a Strep test would have only been $30 – but we together decided that it would only be a bother), was given an injection, and treated with different orals, and recovered, all for less than she out of pocketed at her “insurance accepting” facility.
I do not see the recent 2 ‘urgent care’ Managed Care entries into Dawsonville as competition for a host of reasons : ie. because we serve a different demographic, my hours are more available, since we do not take appointments, because there are NO hidden costs, that the expenses at my clinic are negotiable, between the doctor and patient, and we do not treat folk like numbers, or cash cows.