By the time I hit the 7th grade, I was pretty much listening to the small brown radio in my room every night. So when Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are A’Changin” made the top 40, I was all about it. Of course, I had no idea what it all meant, but I knew it was a song I liked and so did lots of others. Bob Dylan wasn’t known for his great voice but rather for his folk songs with a message and that song still has a message that is heard whenever we think the times need changing.
When it comes to healthcare, it’s clearly true that the times are changing and they have needed to change for quite a while. It’s hard to find a doctor who’s been around a while who isn’t frustrated with the way we are treating patients. I can’t think of any other professions where we schedule appointments 3 months down the road and then when they show up we make them wait again in the reception area! (It used to be called the waiting room until someone thought it needed a more politically correct name)
We see patients but pay more attention to which box we should be checking so we can get paid the maximum amount for the office visit. If the patient needed a procedure done (skin cancer removed, for example) it would have to wait until next time because the doctor can’t get paid for an office visit and a procedure at the same visit. (no kidding, what genius thought that was a good idea?)
When the time comes for the bill, the patient has no idea of the cost because that will be determined by the insurance company after a complicated code is figured out by the office staff and it is sent in for approval. It’s a crazy (and that’s the kindest word I can use) system that is NOT designed to strengthen the patient-doctor bond.
So we at QuikSurg are recalling the words of Bob Dylan because we believe the times ARE changing and we are changing them.
I have watched as patients hear about our service, our prices and our quality and I see how we are making them feel… they love the concept and they feel respected. It’s not new, it’s just something that needed changin’.