Time Is Money But Patients Don’t Get Any For Theirs……………….
By Bill Rusteberg
You need to see your doctor. It takes days and weeks to see one (they are really busy these days).
You arrive on time. “Please take a seat, the doctor will be right with you” says the nice receptionist, Miss Sunrise.
You wait. The waiting room is full. Your appointment was set for 10:00 days, weeks ago. Coughing wheezing humanoids sit silently waiting for their 10:00 appointment too.
Time slips by. 10:30…………10:45…………11:15………….Still no doctor.
Then your name is called. “Mr. Bill, come this way!” You’re led down a hallway and told to stand on a scale. Then you’re taken to a small windowless room and your blood pressure is taken. Then Nurse Midnight starts asking questions, starting with “What brings you in today?”
She pounds your answers in her coffee stained computer as you tell your sad story. “Is that all? I’ll go get the doctor, he’ll be right in” lies the nurse as she bolts to the door and closes it. You are now in a windowless room with tile floors and anatomy posters, you bide time by memorizing it…………then you start counting the tiles on the floor.
Minutes tick by………..it’s now 12:00…….more minutes go by then at 12:30 a knock on the door as its opening and in comes GOD, the doctor with his prescription pad at the ready. “What brings you in today Mr. Bill?” he says. He already knows.
He has your diagnosis before he even entered the room but you’re not supposed to know that. He had reviewed your chart and spoke with Nurse Midnight who opined “Naw, nothing wrong with him but a damn cold!” He has to earn his keep and time is worth money. He pulls his stethoscope and listens ………”breathe deeply” he says.
“Ahhh……..you have a cold, a little congestion, slight fever. I’m giving you a prescription. If the symptoms don’t get better call back for an appointment and I’ll see you in a couple of months” he says.
You saw the doctor for a total of 6 minutes. He charged for 45 minutes, turbocharging a 6 minute visit by 325%. He must have counted the time you spent waiting.
Medicare Rates:
CPT 99212 – $59.45
CPT 99213 – $95.19
CPT 99214 – $135.61
CPT 99215 – $192.39
