Yeah, interesting. I visit urgent care facilities from time to time, but I also have a PCP that I'll go to for more serious things. I've generally had good experiences, and it just doesn't make too much sense to me to go to my PCP when all I need is a guy to write me a prescription.
I think a line from the article is telling: "Van Vleck agrees: 'When I see a kid for a sore throat, I get to go through their chart. If they have a little bit of scoliosis I might check their spine. I will check their immunization record. We go over the record, and we try to go over what's going on besides the sore throat, or besides the ear infection.'"
Translation: I add on a bunch of services that the patient hasn't requested, and then I charge them for those services.
You got that right. The AMA and APA are picking up where the unionnn goons leave off in attacking free enterprise.
Is that so? You mean you regularly get charged for two office visits when you've only had one?
The Van Vleck quote is about continuity of care--treating a patient instead of an illness. Family medicine. Opportunity to screen a patient for other problems, like, why does this patient catch so many colds?
These clinics are good mostly for minor acuity, which is great. I'm glad they exist.
But if your doc charges by the question--I'd sure like to see how he gets paid for that with the rules the way they are. Bills are not coded that way.