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Make the Most of Your Visit to the Doctor
Published: 04/28/2010 by Ryan Carter
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In the good old days, you went to see your doctor, he examined you, asked questions, and then he made a diagnosis. Next he treated you, and maybe gave you a prescription. You walked to the front desk and paid your bill, which was mostly based on how much time your physician just spent with you. Sounds reasonable, right? Isn’t that how you pay your accountant or attorney?
Well in 1966 the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code was created, and that has changed everything. These CPT codes are used by your physician to describe the medical service he has provided you. Today your medical provider has to deal with over 7,000 CPT codes. There is also a set of codes known as the Internal Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) codes. These codes describe your signs, symptoms, injuries and diseases. There are more than 125,000 of these codes for a health care provider to know.
So you might be asking yourself, what does all this have to do with making the most of my visit with my doctor? Well, let me tell you. The days of trading money for time with your doctor are mostly gone. In an era of increasing medical costs, most physicians are seeing a reduction in compensation for the same services. Doctors are also faced with increasing costs in supplies, medications, labor, medical equipment, computer systems, electronic medical records, malpractice insurance and real estate. This means that your physician needs to see more patients per hour than he or she did before to make the same amount of money.
Many physicians today will tell you that they may spend at least as much time doing paperwork related to your visit as they do face to face with you. The CPT and ICD-9 codes are a part of this. Imagine how much time a doctor could spend just looking up codes that classify medical problems and treatments for each visit. Then the doctor charts the visit, calls in prescriptions, coordinates care with other physicians, calls in orders for the hospital, reviews x-rays, orders lab tests, reviews medical documents, etc. You can see that this is a lot to accomplish in the short amount of time you have scheduled with your health care provider.
Many physicians today schedule based on 15 minute appointments. This doesn’t give you as a patient much time, so you need to be prepared and focused. Here are seven ideas for you to make the most out of your time with the doctor.
1. The receptionist is your friend. Make sure you explain exactly why you need to see the doctor. Receptionists usually determine how much time each patient gets to spend with the physician, somake sure they understand what it is that you need.
2. When you arrive, make sure your address, contact information, pharmacy of choice, and insurance information are current. This could save hours on the phone with billing issues.
3. Make a list of problems and questions. Make a list of things you want to discuss with your doctor. Pains, aches, changes, concerns, reactions to medications, allergies, and factors that make your problems better or worse. You have less than 15 minutes to remember all these things. A list will make remembering easier.
4. Make a list of medications. Keep a current list of all medications, herbs, vitamins and over the counter medications that you are taking. Take two copies of this list to the appointment with you so you can leave a copy with your physician. This list is also a good place to write why you take each medication (ie. high blood pressure, lipids, anxiety, etc.)
5. Keep the social chat short. You have limited time to get your medical needs addressed. Each minute you spend talking about the football game reduces the time allowed for your medical needs. Do you really want to pay your doctor to hear about your fishing trip?
6. Be an active participant. Make sure you understand what your doctor is telling you. Ask questions to confirm your understanding. Make sure your physician is speaking to you in vocabulary you comprehend. Ask the doctor to speak in lay terms about your condition.
7. Take notes. You are now a student again. What topic is more important than your health? Take notes on what your physician is saying. Make sure you write down terms, medical conditions, and prescriptions that are unfamiliar, so that you can further research these things when you get home.
