JoB
JTB
a doctor labeled me drug seeking over 20 years ago because i sought help managing my illness so i could return to work. She was a rheumatologist who “didn’t believe in” fibromyalgia.
At the time i was labeled as drug seeking,
i was not taking a single prescription medication of any kind…
nor did i until i landed in the hospital for emergency gall bladder surgery. suddenly the clinic where i could get medical care through my insurance altered it’s position on the psychological nature of my illness and started offering treatment
imagine that;->
that changed my care at that clinic, but it did not change the erroneous designation on my insurance files… which still rears it’s head with every new physician i see 20+ years later.
the medical database the insurance industry keeps on you is looked at by your insurance company
and even though you have no access to it, the information it contains can be shared without your permission with the clinic where you get your medical care.
i would like to see a more level playing field for patients where they and their doctors not only had access to the information contained in that data base but the ability to challenge any erroneous information it contained.
aside from all that coding..
the insurance database contains the results of every medical test any insurance company of any kind has ever paid for..
whether those results were fully disclosed to you or not.
that information alone would be invaluable in evaluating long term patients with chronic illness…
as for keeping how you deal with your insurance and with the medical/billing staff separate from how you communicate with your physician…
I don’t see how you can since all three factors work together to determine your medical care. without a full understanding of how those three interact to limit your options, i don’t see how you can have any productive communication with your physician.