Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Hey, Medicare geezers, when was the last time your doctor saw you naked?

 The S.O. and I were chatting the other day, talking about doctor appointments and the annual "wellness" visit with one's primary care physician, and we started wondering just when was the last time either of us had an actual full-blown annual physical. In my case, it was probably in Atlanta. Might be the same for the S.O. In any case, it was before passage of the Affordable Care Act. 

One of the provisions of the ACA is that Medicare will pick up 100 percent of the tab for an annual wellness visit with your primary care physician. No co-pay like there always was (and still is) with an actual physical exam. And, yes, young folk, Medicare has co-pays just like every other insurance plan in the U.S. The stuff it covers (and there's a lot it simply doesn't cover, just like . . .) Medicare reimburses providers 80 percent of what they (Medicare) has decided is a reasonable rate. The patient is on the hook for the other 20 percent, although there are providers who are happy to just get the 80 percent -- they treat it like full payment and never bill the patient for the rest. Those providers are rare.

Anyway, the purpose of the wellness visit is supposedly to just chat with your PCP about your health, raise any concerns you may have, and decide if "further research is needed." This is actually the visit that had right wingers foaming at the mouth because it was originally framed as the moment when your doctor would ask you about care directives, the infamous living will. It got redefined as a time to talk with your doctor without getting naked. An office visit where the doctor and you would talk about your health in general and decisions could be made about what to do next. You know, do you need to actually take your clothes off for a thorough exam? Or maybe get a referral to a specialist? It was quite explicitly not meant to be an actual annual physical exam. 

Except, of course, it gets treated like one. You make an appointment for an 'annual' with your PCP and by default it becomes the wellness visit. Or, as I tend to refer to it, the "yes I'm still breathing" chat. You get your temperature and blood pressure checked, the nurse or technician reviews your record (any new medications? Been to any other doctors since the last time you were in?), and that's about it. Your doctor comes in, asks if you have any concerns, reminds you (if you're a woman) you're overdue for a mammogram, and life moves on. The guy I see will usually get out the stethoscope and listen to me breathe (confirming, I guess, that I'm not a revenant), he'll ask a few ADL-related questions* (e.g., can I still tie my own shoelaces), we'll make small talk about infectious disease (he went to Africa as part of a team responding to one of the Ebola outbreaks a number of years ago, I worked on the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases at the CDC), and we go our respective ways. No feet in the stirrups and an ice cold metal implement being inserted into a very personal space, no quick manual boob exam, no doing a quick scan of exposed skin for odd looking growths. None of the stuff that used to be a routine part of an "annual."

I see this as typical of the Law of Unintended Consequences. The intent of the wellness visit provision was to improve elderly person's health by giving them an opportunity to talk with their doctors. It was meant to be a complement to other routine care, like an actual annual physical. It was not supposed to replace it. But inevitably it did -- a wellness visit takes a lot less time than a full-blown physical, which means more patients can be scheduled in a physician's day, which in turn means more money and reduced expense for the provider. It may seem kind of minor, but when patients keep their clothes on you don't have to worry about providing gowns for them to change into, there's no time being wasted while waiting for patients to undress, there are no supplies like gloves or lube being used, cleaning the exam room between patients is a lot faster and easier. It adds up. 

It also makes perfect sense that in the profit driven model that is the American health care system that the wellness visit would morph into the primary visit. Next step, as we've already seen during the pandemic, is going totally to telemedicine. Health care delivered via telephone and Zoom meetings. We're all really close to being able to list WebMD as our PCP. 

Which, in an odd way, is rather comforting. Back when the annual was truly an annual, I swear every year found me with a new comorbidity. Since it became the 'are you still breathing' visit, no new pre-existing conditions have emerged. I am apparently a heck of a lot healthier now than I was ten years ago. Ignorance can be bliss.

 *ADL - activities of daily life. Questions about ADLs are meant to determine if you're still capable of living independently or do they need to start getting a bed ready for you at the local nursing home.

5 comments:

  1. I have a wonderful doctor, a nurse practitioner actually, in Regina. She actually reads the information I give the nurse before hand. I keep her posted by email on the wellness stuff, send her my blood tests, tell her what meds I am on, what if anything my doctors here say should I visit one. I try my best to make her admit she had to smile at something I wrote but she never does. She doesn't give advice per se, She just agrees or disagrees with my information and conclusions.
    The medical insurance companies in USA have always had death panels so what is the problem? When the Trumpanzees take over, death panels will have a whole new meaning, I fear. Are you close enough to the border to make a run for it when they come for you?

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  2. Wouldn't be a run. More like a cruise. From where we live, the border between us and Canada looks very, very wet.

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  3. my dr is not only my dr he's a sorta kinfolk..first time he had to do breast exams we both giggled and couldn't look at each other in the eye. I told him I check the girls all the time so I was cool. PLus have mammogram every year..but nekkid? no fucking way.

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  4. I am not a big fan of Western Medicine... prefer my Eastern Medical Docs but Insurance refuses to pay for them so it's all out of pocket. Even tho' it's highly effective and has been around 2,600 Years, they still like to refer to it as experimental, go figure... of coarse there isn't much $$$ to be made off Well people and no dependencies upon Rx now is there?

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  5. I have kept this post well since Jan. It really hit home and wasn't sure how to respond but wanted to. Still don't except for a few observations.

    I have been fortunate at 72 not to have had much interaction with the medical establishment and what little there has been has been disgusting. They don't believe me when I say I have no prescriptions. They won't touch you let alone use a stethoscope because they don't
    have one.

    Pretty much diagnose myself and so far it's worked. An issue has come up and don't know if I can get it under control. The last thing I want to do is see these people. They will send me for test after test like they did once before that weren't needed because they refused to listen to me and look at my history that was very hard to get.

    Going to try to wait till I get back to Mexico because they actually care.

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My space, my rules: play nice and keep it on topic.