My comment above had more that the limit of 3000 characters so I need to post the rest of it in this, a second comment.
As a side note I am a member of KCRW and now rarely listen to KPBS as I consider KPBS to be one of the worst public radio stations in the country and with your reporting of this story you more than lived up to that very low standard. I might add that The San Diego Union Tribune is one of the worst major city newspapers in the country so the pair of you are a great match. A note to Gloria Penner; Bob Kittle is an incompetent, pompous, arrogant, ignorant ass and having him in or anywhere near your studio does you and yours a gross disservice. If he is the best you can do for your Editor's Roundtable then you deserve the miserable reputation that you have. I'm sure you do not see this the same way I do because you are too busy kissing the asses of the power brokers above you and too busy getting your asses kissed by the sycophants below you. You have so much potential but that potential is mercilessly unrealized and routinely squandered by your lack of professionalism and your conservative narrow minded approach to community service. You have an outstanding facility that is inadequately and very poorly used and it is no surprise that your boring and unimaginative pledge drives fail is such pitiful way. You could lead the way in San Diego but instead you choose to go along with a minimum of effort and to not make any waves that might rock your boat. There is one word that best describes San Diego, it's media, newspaper, radio, TV, it's culture, It's art and music community, and that word is mediocre. The one thing SD has going for it is the weather. That's the only reason I stay. As you continue to ignore the reality of the world around you I wish you luck in your severely insular environment.
You completely omitted the other side of this story. My family doctor changed to concierge service and he went from 3000 patients down to less than 600. What happens to the other 2400 patients that are left without a family doctor? Multiply that figure by the number of doctors changing to concierge service and what do you have? A crisis in available caregivers is what you have. If I wanted to continue with him it would have been an extra $150 per month for me and an additional $150 per month for my wife. That would be in addition to the regular fees. I'm sorry but I can't afford another $300 a month for a doctor. My doctor tried to justify his action in several ways but the bottom line is that it is all about money. None of his justifications added up to any significant additional benefit for me and my wife. The doctor stressed that now he could provide more preventive care but unfortunately that would not be preventive care for me or my wife because we were thrown under the bus to satisfy his greed.
$150 per month for a year multiplied by the 600 patient load equals over $1,000,000. That's $1,000,000 before he ever sees a patient.Of course the concierge company, in this case MD-VIP gets their share for blowing up the doctor's ego and proselytizing him into their scheme. MD-VIP target doctors that they see as the best and most successful and give them a sales pitch that is too attractive to resist and frames it in such a way as to ignore, minimalize and rationalize the negative aspects of the program. In my opinion it violates the primary hippocratic oath, "I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone... But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts." I was his patient and I was harmed by his action.
In my attempts to get another doctor, my firsteffort was met with the reply, "I'm sorry but we are not taking any new patients." The second was met with, "I'm sorry but we don't take your insurance, (Blue Cross???)." The third attempt was met with this reply, "I'm sorry but we don take any patients over 65, (I'm 69)." It has been almost a year now and I still don't have a new doctor.
That's my experience with concierge service so needless to say I was less than satisfied by your glowing but conceptually flawed and less than objective reporting.
More Primary Care Doctors Switching to Concierge Care
My comment above had more that the limit of 3000 characters so I need to post the rest of it in this, a second comment.
As a side note I am a member of KCRW and now rarely listen to KPBS as I consider KPBS to be one of the worst public radio stations in the country and with your reporting of this story you more than lived up to that very low standard. I might add that The San Diego Union Tribune is one of the worst major city newspapers in the country so the pair of you are a great match. A note to Gloria Penner; Bob Kittle is an incompetent, pompous, arrogant, ignorant ass and having him in or anywhere near your studio does you and yours a gross disservice. If he is the best you can do for your Editor's Roundtable then you deserve the miserable reputation that you have. I'm sure you do not see this the same way I do because you are too busy kissing the asses of the power brokers above you and too busy getting your asses kissed by the sycophants below you. You have so much potential but that potential is mercilessly unrealized and routinely squandered by your lack of professionalism and your conservative narrow minded approach to community service. You have an outstanding facility that is inadequately and very poorly used and it is no surprise that your boring and unimaginative pledge drives fail is such pitiful way. You could lead the way in San Diego but instead you choose to go along with a minimum of effort and to not make any waves that might rock your boat. There is one word that best describes San Diego, it's media, newspaper, radio, TV, it's culture, It's art and music community, and that word is mediocre. The one thing SD has going for it is the weather. That's the only reason I stay. As you continue to ignore the reality of the world around you I wish you luck in your severely insular environment.
June 19, 2009 at 9:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
More Primary Care Doctors Switching to Concierge Care
You completely omitted the other side of this story. My family doctor changed to concierge service and he went from 3000 patients down to less than 600. What happens to the other 2400 patients that are left without a family doctor? Multiply that figure by the number of doctors changing to concierge service and what do you have? A crisis in available caregivers is what you have. If I wanted to continue with him it would have been an extra $150 per month for me and an additional $150 per month for my wife. That would be in addition to the regular fees. I'm sorry but I can't afford another $300 a month for a doctor. My doctor tried to justify his action in several ways but the bottom line is that it is all about money. None of his justifications added up to any significant additional benefit for me and my wife. The doctor stressed that now he could provide more preventive care but unfortunately that would not be preventive care for me or my wife because we were thrown under the bus to satisfy his greed.
$150 per month for a year multiplied by the 600 patient load equals over $1,000,000. That's $1,000,000 before he ever sees a patient.Of course the concierge company, in this case MD-VIP gets their share for blowing up the doctor's ego and proselytizing him into their scheme. MD-VIP target doctors that they see as the best and most successful and give them a sales pitch that is too attractive to resist and frames it in such a way as to ignore, minimalize and rationalize the negative aspects of the program. In my opinion it violates the primary hippocratic oath, "I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone... But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts." I was his patient and I was harmed by his action.
In my attempts to get another doctor, my firsteffort was met with the reply, "I'm sorry but we are not taking any new patients." The second was met with, "I'm sorry but we don't take your insurance, (Blue Cross???)." The third attempt was met with this reply, "I'm sorry but we don take any patients over 65, (I'm 69)." It has been almost a year now and I still don't have a new doctor.
That's my experience with concierge service so needless to say I was less than satisfied by your glowing but conceptually flawed and less than objective reporting.
June 19, 2009 at 9:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )