The Consumer Deserves More and has Options!

I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated when I think about what our healthcare system has become. Or I should say, how some of our health care providers are behaving within a system they have chosen to stay in.

The overall experience of many individuals who choose to use their insurance to get health care is one of great dissatisfaction. Too often do consumers (clients, patients) complain they had to wait an hour to be seen for less than seven minutes. What’s that about? And they also complain about how the clinician they saw didn’t even look at them nor listen to them! How is that possible? And why does it seem to be occurring so often?

Unfortunately this complaint is most often heard from individuals who utilize their insurance for their doctor visits. But why is that? Most consumers I’ve spoken with, that use their insurance, believe most health care providers just care about making money. Are they correct? And is there anything wrong with making a living doing what you love? There certainly is if the recipient of your work does not feel valued.

It is my belief that how I treat my patient, customer, client, consumer, is a clear reflection of how much I love doing what I do and the reason why I do what I do. I’ve read and heard many commentaries about why patients complain, that make me shake my head in disbelief. One commentary I recently read, and I paraphrase, said complaints in health care occur so frequently now because people expect to have the same experience they would at a restaurant or any other retail establishment. That the standard patients have for their providers are the same that consumers for food or financial services have, and “it’s unfair for the doctor.”

Really? Unfair? What’s unfair? That the patient is also the consumer of healthcare? My client has the right to have high standards for what they receive and how they are treated. It’s a great reflection of their self-worth and how they feel about themselves. It’s spiritually healthy!!

As a health care provider, I apologize to anyone who has ever had a negative experience with a healthcare provider. Perhaps the reason why some people have had negative experiences is because the provider they have seen is unhappy with the system in which they choose to work in. Perhaps the provider, desiring to make a living doing what he loves has realized that “doing it” the way he loves is impossible if he is to make any type of living, and has succumbed to “doing it” the way the insurance mandates; see 4 patients an hour. 

Seeing four patients an hour is unacceptable and in my opinion potentially dangerous. Do the math, four patients an hour equals 15 minutes per patient, and that factors in the amount of time it takes the patient to enter the office and the amount of time the provider needs to chart. In actuality, an individual receives about 7-10 minutes of focused time.

In doing it the way insurance mandates, everyone pays yet doesn’t get what they need. The patient pays for it because he isn’t getting the care he deserves, and stays sick or gets sicker. The provider pays for it because he isn’t giving the care he desires and is himself becoming unhealthy with the stress of keeping the high volume pace expected in order to be financially successful.

Consumers have options. They can decide to not complain, but that won’t help anyone. Complaints are blessings. They give us an opportunity to change things and improve upon them. Consumers can decide to speak up directly to their provider and hope for a change. They can find another provider on their insurance panel or an out of network provider that bills insurance and pay a higher copay as well as having the high probability they will have the same negative experience. 

Or an individual can opt to see a provider that does not take insurance, but will provide them with personalized treatment, individualized care. A health care provider with the freedom to take the time to create with the patient a powerful partnership focused on the patient’s health and wellbeing.

Providers not bound to insurance madness/mandates do exist and offer an “old school medical practice” experience to the consumer.

It’s all about the choices we make!

Jacqueline Bredehoft is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, located in Newport Beach, California, who is nationally board certified to care for the mental health and psychiatric needs of the family. She is also a life coach with an expertise in ADHD. 

Her private practice does not bill for insurance and she is therefore free to provide you with the exceptional care you deserve in the way you deserve.

Contact her for your initial consultation 

714-497-3307

jacqueline@lifeline2wellness.com

jacquelinebredehoft.com