Listen
Print
Comment
As I explained in a recent blog post about Concierge medicine in Las Vegas, I was looking into a concierge plan here in Las Vegas, and I came across MDVIP. I was at first very impressed with the company.
The representative I spoke to was very well informed, and not at all pushy. Not only did he do a good job explaining the benefits of the plan, he offered to set me up on face-to-face meetings with doctors in the plan, so I could find one I was comfortable with.
The plan itself was relatively low priced compared to other concierge plans I looked at. And the price tag of $1,500 would include my teenage son. I thought this seemed fair.
I searched Google to see if I could find any complaints about MDVIP, but most of what I found were either doctors debating the value of concierge medicine as a whole, and some patients complaining that their doctor had switch to an MDVIP plan, and now he wanted $1,500 to see them.
So I went forward with the face-to-face with one of their doctors, which went very well. You can see details of that meeting on my previous post. During that initial session, I told the doctor that my hearing had been very poor for the past couple months. With a quick look he discovered that I had some impacted soft wax.
He recommended I fill my ear with mineral oil with a dropper for the next week, and come back for an appointment to get my ear cleansed. When I was leaving, I scheduled the appointment with the nurse. I mentioned that I may not have the time to sign up for the MDVIP plan before I come back, and wanted to know if I could just get this done with my regular insurance. She said that wasn’t a problem, and asked what my insurance was. After confirming that my carrier does approve ear cleanings, my appointment was scheduled, and I was on my way.
So I began putting mineral oil in my ear at night. Each day my hearing got worse and worse, presumably from the amount of junk now in my ear. By the time my appointment came two weeks later, the hearing in my right ear was gone. It was if I was wearing noise cancelation headphones on one ear.
I went to the doctors office around the time of my appointment and checked in. I waited in a very busy waiting room for 10 minutes before the nurse at the desk asked me to come up. She asked if I had signed up for MDVIP yet. I told her that I had not had the chance to talk to them, or review the contract yet, but it was on my list of things to do after the holidays. She confirmed that I intended to sign up for the plan, and I agreed that it was my intention to do so.
A few minutes later she came back with some bad news. Because I had not paid my $1,500 yet, I would not be able to get the treatment that I came in for. I told her that I understood that they wanted me to sign up for MD-VIP, and I had every intention of doing so, but for today, I really need to have this stuff taken out of my ear as scheduled. The nurse told me that was impossible, but she did have an MD-VIP rep on the line holding for me to go ahed and pay by phone now.
This threw me for a loop. They had decided that it was more important to call MDVIP to get my $1,500, than to treat me. And I was expected to pay $1,500 over the phone, without looking over the agreement, before I could be treated. Keep in mind that I do have about as good of insurance as money can buy, it’s not like I’m looking for free health care. But I was being treated like I was trying to trick the doctor and MDVP into treating my one and only ailment, without paying their fee.
At this point I felt like I was being hard sold to the point of MDVIP being a scam. I told the nurse that I had no intention of paying money over the phone, with no contract, just so that I can see a doctor. I reminded her of what I was told when I made the appointment. This meant nothing to her.
It appeared that there was nothing more I could do. I was being told to either pay $1,500, on top of my insurance or co-pay, or not get the treatment. At this point I was getting pretty pissed. My ear was stuffed to the point of pain, and now I was being shaken down by a service that is supposed to make my life easier. So I decided to push back.
I told the nurse that this was truly unacceptable, and at this point it’s doubtful that I will be signing up for either MDVIP, or re-visiting Dr. Mall every again. If they would not treat me, then I would just have to seek out a another doctor, even if that meant going to an emergency room.
I was making a bit of a scene in the office, so I was starting to finally not be ignored. She said that it was possible that another doctor there, Dr. Kaplan, could see me, but he was running nearly two hours behind schedule, so it would be a while. A two hour additional wait seemed awful, but better than having to go an emergency room, so I asked her to confirm that he could actually see me, and I would wait.
While I was waiting, I decided to call MDVIP to see if they felt this was a good way to handle prospects. I had been told that Dr. Mall would love nothing more than to help me, but it would violate his contract with MDVIP. So, I figured I would see if they would let Dr. Mall make an exception. I asked the nurse for the number. Now keep in mind that she had just told me that she had them on the line. But now that she knww I’m calling to complain, she can’t find the number.
No problem, I have an iPhone! I look up the number on the Web and make the call. I sit on hold for a short time and finally get through to a rep with a bit of an accent. I explain my situation, and ask for his help. Surprisingly he understood my issue without me explaining it twice. Not surprisingly, he was not willing to do anything but take my credit card over the phone.
I decided to play the only card I had, other than saying I would not sign up if I could not get my treatment. I let him know that I had already written a post about my experience with MDVIP so far, and that it was now ranking very well for the term “las vegas concierge medicine’. I let him know that I was clearly not happy with the plan now, and I could either go back and write that I did not get my treatment, or write how MDVIP made an exception for my well being. This tactic seemed to fall flat. It’s been my experience that people that wear headsets at the company don’t really care about the company itself.
I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold. The rep came back and told me that his supervisor had agreed with him. Shocking. I reminded him that I didn’t ask him to relay my story to a supervisor, but that I actually wanted to speak to a supervisor. He repeated his position, so I let him know that I was asking for the last time to speak to a supervisor, and then I would be hanging up if I didn’t. He then transfered me.
The supervisor was nice enough, but didn’t seem to offer up any solutions. I let her know about the previous post, and to my surprise, she already seemed to know who I was, and said that she had read my post. So I asked her why she wouldn’t make an exception for someone who was clearly planing on joining the network. She said that she had no problem with me seeing Dr. Mall, but that it was his decision. This pissed me off a bit, because now I’m hearing the two blame each other. I will say that my gut told me to believe MDVIP more than the doctors’ staff. There was one nurse in the back of the doctors office that seemed like a bit of a dragon lady about the whole thing, and she seemed to be the one stopping me from being treated.
The conversation with MDVIP didn’t progress into anything constructive. I hung up when I was being summoned back into the doctors office. It seems that making a scene did the trick. They were now anxious to get rid of me. I was brought into a room where Dr. Kaplan joined me. I had never met Dr. Kaplan before, and he seemed quite nice compared to the other people I dealt with that day. I would almost consider having him as a doctor, if not for the 2 hour behind schedule thing.
In the end, I got my ear treated. Which by the way felt like someone sandblasting my ear drum, but that’s unavoidable.
One last thing that did amaze me is that when I got into the room with the doctor, one of the nurses I was dealing with came in to let me know that my insurance approved everything, but there was a $20 co-pay. I said okay, and she just stood there. “Soooo, can we take care of that now?” she asked. Keep in mind that I’m sitting in a room with a doctor. Most doctors just have you take care of the co-pay on your way out, or maybe when you check in, but she really wanted my $20 right there and then, like I was going to run off on them or something. I handed over my credit card and mentioned that they are all about the money. She didn’t like that.
Looking back at everything, I have to consider who is at fault for my having to spend 2 hours in the doctors office for something that should have taken 15 minutes. I certainly share some part of the responsibility for this, I should have double checked on the MDVIP thing before going back. MDVIP surely could have handled things better. It would have been nice for them to go out of their way to make sure I got treated. I feel now that once they get their money, they are out of the picture, no matter what issues I run into with the doctor.
I would have to say that the lion’s share of blame for the situation falls on to the office of Dr. Michael Mall. I really do understand the idea of concierge, or boutique medicine. It’s to have fewer patients, but have them pay well. From what I understand about MDVIP’s plan, they get $500 of my fee, and the doctor gets $1,000. Since Dr. Mall can treat up to 600 patients on the MDVIP plan, that gives him an income of $600,000 yearly. Of course he needs to over the office fees and staff, but that would mostly be covered by the insurance billings and co-pays on your visit. After all, that’s how most doctors make their entire living. So assuming that Dr. Mall’s office would break even with typical patient charges, he should be able to pocket the $600k. And to top it off, the work load should be significantly less. And on top of that, MDVIP is a marketing machine for Dr. Mall himself, referring patients like me who likely would never had heard of him before. These plans make sense for the right doctor. A great resource to check out the doctors stand point on this is My Concierge Doc.
But I don’t feel Dr. Mall’s office is accustomed to dealing with the affluent. Judging from the waiting room, it’s not their standard patient. How Dr. Mall has a separate waiting room, it’s maned by the same staff. This staff seems more accustomed to dealing with people who, I guess, are likely to run off on their $20 co-pay. In the end it doesn’t look like the place for people like me. And judging from that staff at Dr. Michael Mall’s office, I’m not welcomed.
I spoke briefly with a person who handles PR for MDVIP. She of course defends MDVIP and thinks the problem was just a miscommunication. I can agree with that. The fact is, I was not yet a MDVIP member, so why should they have gone out of their way to help me? It was Dr. Mall’s office who told me to come back in.
So I decided to re-visit my search for a doctor. This time I’m going to remain plan-agnostic and see which doctor I like best, and then move forward. Keeping in mind that the doctor is the most important issue, but the staff may be the people I deal with most. I’m going to expand my focus to several concierge plans and see if I can visit a few doctors. This is a bit of a pain in the ass and time consuming, but so are most important things in life. I’ll likely be looking more into other plans, so I’ll make sure to follow up and link to new posts as I move forward.
MDVIP appears to be a legitimate company, although they are based in Florida, and many readers know how I feel about companies based in Florida. If not you can read that in my post about trashy Florida people. I asked a couple of questions that I’m waiting to get answered. The main question I asked was, if I pay for the MDVIP service, and I run into a bad doctor, can I transfer my fee to a new doctor? I’m not 100% convinced I would have had a successful visit with Dr. Michael Mall’s staff even if I was a MDVIP member. So I’m curious if I would have had the option of leaving. I’ll update this post when/if I get that answer.
But I’m curious if anyone else has had any negative experiences. What do you think of MDVIP? They are in 26 different states, and supposedly have over 100,000 members, so there must be some interesting opinions out there one way or another.
Tagged with: concierge medicine, las vegas
Share TweetOther Stories:
Phil Tynan of Morgan Stanley Las Vegas
Top 5 reasons to attend a cosmetology school
Other Pages ...
- Coenzyme Q10 as a Symptomatic Treatment in Parkinson's Disease
- ACTUAL: Efficacy and Safety of Irbesartan/Hydrochlorothiazide Combination
- Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Plus Nephroureterectomy for Locally Advanced Upper Tract Transitional Cell Cancer
- Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Post Thoracotomy Pain; A Pilot Study
- Physaria obcordata Rollins
Chris Bishop
Long post! Sounds like the office staff were the rude ones. I would have not paid the copay.
Beth
These plans all seem suspicious to me anyhow. Why should I have to pay to be able to see my doctor at the scheduled time. If my doctor made me wait 2 hours, I would walk out and find a new one.
I would suggest not going with anything like MDVIP and just find a good doctor.
joann
Your negative blog comments refers to “Concierge Medicine in Las Vegas” which is an actual medical practice and website for Doctor Ed Soumi who is a great internist and very attentive physician. I don not want your readers to confuse his practice with that of Dr. Mall or MDVIP. Dr. Soumi is not connected with Dr. Mall or MDVIP in any way.
Thank you
Ed Shull
Joann – Thanks for the comment. For the sake of anyone confused, it appears that Dr. Soumi has chosen to name his practice “Concierge Medicine in Las Vegas”. When I comment on concierge medicine in Las Vegas, I’m not referring to Dr. Soumi’s practice. I have never met Dr. Soumi, or heard of him until today.
Harvey D. Findley
My docter,Jeffery Schyberg,Internal Medicine, is going MDVIP in March 2009.My decision,so far, is to switch doctors. What is your advice?
filthylucre
I guess it would depend on how much you like your doctor. If you like him enough to pay $1,500 to keep him, then sure. Personally I was not impressed with MDVIP's service. I would look for another doctor and see how that goes before plunking down that much cash. And I would honestly look for alternatives to MDVIP.
Conciergeless
I fell for the MDVIP concept and the first year it was very good. I had been seeing this very good doctor and diagnostician for several years before he went on MDVIP, so I signed up even though I could ill afford to. Appts. on time, goodies in the little waiting room refrigerator, access to a doctor by cell phone after hours and on weekends, med samples, etc, etc. The second year, there were fewer goodies in the refrigerator, 15 minute waits, not always a same day appointment, longer wait for calls to be returned during business hours, less staff and a shorter physical. The third year I saw less concierge medicine, although I still had access to my doctor who had diagnosed several medical problems that other doctors had missed in prior years. I still came up with the 1500 to stay with Dr.X. Then came a letter from the doctor that stated that my normal copay of $15 for my BCBS insurance had turned into $50 since BCBS does not approve of concierge medicine, even though the insurance was being billed to the practice naming another non-concierge doctor. Ya think something better could have been done?
conciergeless
Continued from above: Needless to say, I told my doctor of the fact that I could not afford to pay the insurance plus the large copay plus the MDVIP payments and he was very sympathetic and understanding yet he did not offer me a "scholarship" or reduced rate as they state on their MDVIP web page. Within 2 weeks after the first payment to MDVIP was not received, and BEFORE I told them I was having to drop out, I was cut off from my online medical records. I have been relegated to a non-MDVIP physician whom I have never even met. I have called for refills on my regular meds 5 days ago and I have still not heard from them nor has the pharmacist. All I could do was get an appointment 2 weeks from now so I will go without my meds for 2 weeks. I feel like I am being punished for dropping out of MDVIP. My 2 college children were also dropped from the program and have to find another doctor and one of them has an ongoing medical problem which has to be monitored. I guess if you have the money, they have the time. Welcome to Peonville.
Jeff Schyberg
Dear Harvey, Over the years of care I have given you I hope I have done my best job. I can no longer provide that level of care to 2500 pts. I wish you would stay with me because I know you would enjoy this new model. If not I will always wish you the best with your health
Jeff Schyberg
Muni
I looked at the website of Dr.Soumi's, as far as the fee goes, he has a monthly fee of about $249 (perhaps the annual fee of $2490?, wow?, this is not covered by the insurance, out of pocket membership fee?).
barb
I love Dr. Mall. I have gone to him for 12 years. You are really misleading the public with your comments. As a paying member of the Vip program, I think I would be upset to find out I was turned away for the day for someone who has not signed up yet. As for Dr. malls 600K a year? You forgot about mal practice insurance. in nv it is high. So you really think the 45 dollars a visit he gets with the copay is going to pay for the building, staff, etc. get real. he allows 30 minutes for each client. more than that for a physical. his nurses are great, friendly and helpful.
you get more help with honey.
Roger B
So let's get this straight. You wanted the concierge doctor to treat you while you considered joining the practice and then are surprised that they wanted their money? Why don't you go to your local car dealership and tell them you want to try one of their new cars for the weekend while you review the sales contract? See how far gets you.
filthylucre
Barb, I'm happy you like Dr. Mall. I liked him too, but still had a bad experience. And yes, I think the $600k per year would cover his staff and office expenses, especially with the fact that those are shared with another doctor, who is presumably paying an equal part.
filthylucre
Roger, let's indeed get this straight. You can do so by first reading the whole post before making an ass of yourself. I was told by Dr. Mall's staff that I would not need to be a member for my second appointment. Furthermore, I did not ask for free service, they accepted my insurance and I was willing to do the co-pay.
And you car analogy is as stupid as the rest of your argument. I have in fact taken extended test drives in vehicles. The fact that you don't know they do this is a little baffling.
Eric
Well, I have an MDVIP doctor, and it turns out that doctor (I won't be gender specific) is actually busier nowadays than before the doctor joined MDVIP (and that came from the doctor owns words in a moment of unguarded candor). Why? Hospital visits! Prior to MDVIP this doctor did not make hospital visits to the patients. Now that MDVIP says hospital visits for doctor's patients is a part of the medical practice guidelines, MORE time is being take away from the doctor's office practice and is spent with travel time and hospital visits.
For myself, given the economy situation with my own finances, I will let my MDVIP membership expire.
filthylucre
Eric, very interesting point. Thanks for commenting.
Serena
I personally think that Dr. Mall should have seen you that day as a courtsey. It would have shown his compasion. I cant believe his office staff asked for your copay while you were in the room, I would have been embarrased. to asked. I wouldnt have asked. If you would have called at a later date and asked to be scheduled for an appointment. Then I would have gently pushed you toward MDVIP, but I wouldnt have gone as far as getting MDVIP on the phone. I would have talked to you myself. If it was an emergency then theres no doubt that you should have been seen.
Serena
You were in pain, MDVIP or not. He is a doctor. Now I wouldnt say that MDVIP is a bad program. It is good. It is all about preventative medicine. You also have to have a doctor that you can connect with. He just wasnt the doctor for you, thats all. Not all MDVIP doctors have 600 patients. Yes you can take in account that the doctors do recieve money from the insurance companies; depending on the insurance, doctors get paid between 25.00 to 35.00 dollars a patient. Some patients do have copays, between 10.00 and 35.00. Please consider that a doctors office, even with a small staff has alot of bills.
Serena
The MDVIP doc also has to pay for your MDVIP Physical testings through the various companies, Quest, Lab Corp, or CPL for your labs, if the doctor doesnt have an xray machine, they have to pay for the CXR. It cost money to do a ekg, spirometry, hearing test, and stress test. You also have the phone company, for a commerical phone bill your looking at alot of money, believe it or not. Its not like a house phone. Depending on what medical manager system the doctor operates on, that also cost alot of money. You have to take in consideration of rent and utilities, medical supplies, office supplies, the cost of updating the doctors credentials, possibly a billing service, an accountant, equipment rental (some machines have to be leased, depending on the cost) there is so much more you have to take in account. Not all doctors get 600k a year, believe or not. And I know for a fact that many of them, the oustanding ones, do it because they want to be able to spend that extra time with the patient, they want to treat that patient because they love medicine. It really is a good program and I am sorry that you didnt have a good expierence. Its not all about that money.
calvin
damn good point, you know what your talking about. are you a doctor, if not you should be
filthylucre
Serena – Thank you, I agree. Whatever the miscommunication, I was there as scheduled, in need of help.
Karen
My Mother is in the MDVIP program from the beginning with Dr. Mall who has been our family physician for over 20 years. We love the service for all the time and testing that has been done for my mom. I live in Texas and she is starting to have some issues with her Memory. Dr. Mall always take the time to call me after the appointments and give me a recap of what is going on so that I am on the same page as my mom. I usually try to be there for the quarterly appointments but like the fact that he will call me and take my calls any time of dayif there is an issue. My mom has excellent insurance but this program has been great for us especially with the distance involved.
You have to remember that with this program you get a lot of testing that most likely would not be run by a regular doctor and they have found some things that we were able to deal with earlier before they got bad.
I am sorry that you had a bad expereince with MDVIP and hope that you have luck finding a doctor that works for you. For me the peace of mind is worth anything extra that it costs.
lisapwrigley
As a doc, I can tell you that if I cut my practice down to 600 patients (as MDVIP docs do), there is no way the insurance and copays would cover my expenses. We have a 3000 pt panel and see 30 pts a day to cover our overhead ($200,000) and make $140,000 take home. Not defending the doctors office or MDVIP, just wanted to point out that the $600,000 in MDVIP fee is probably not just going straight to doc.
Larry
I have been to Dr. Mall Twice and he has followed me through two surgeries, all without being signed up yet for MVIP He has been great and through…I am signing up as I have never found a Dr. who talkes the time and cares about you as he does
STEVE
THIS IS NO SPECIFIC TO DR. MALL BUT GENERIC TO THE MEDVIP program as noted from literature given to me by a neighbor who had it "mailed to the home address" rather than discussed with the physician the family has used for 20+ years.
MEDVIP is entering into a contract with me based on the laws of another state – Florida. what do i know about Florida law? absolutely nothing, so that my exposure is maximum to things i have no knowledge of and if necessary have to hire an expert in Florida law – read LAWYER- to pursue any issues. STRIKE ONE
MEDVIP states quite clearly that the $1500 fee must be paid or "contracted for" upfront, and that included in this contract is an annual physical exam. how wonderful! once this "physical" takes place in a given contract year no part of the $1500 fee can be refunded. prior to the "physical" prorated refunds can be granted. now guess how soon after you "sign the contract" will your wonderfull doctor give you this "physical?" correct ASAP so that you will not have any possibility of any refund. STRIKE TWO
STEVE
MEDVIP states that you might be switched to another doctor for under various circumstances. like suppose he drops the program, moves 200 miles away or mercifully drops dead? what equivalent doctor will you be granted access to? what about your medical records? what if you move away and all the "doctors with 600 patients" are filled up? remember lyou signed a contract with an intermediary representative based on Florida law and hopefully not incorporated in the Bahamas! not the doctor. STRIKE THREE
STEVE
Basic "game" is that the doctor has become a "salesman" for a group of reservation clerks located in Florida. who will note your "needs" – read your doctor doesn't have time for in depth learning and diagnotics – as your doctor passes your information to them, and then arrange for your grand tour of the medical profession locations which can do the diagnostics. of course you are responsible for all those costs, travel, expert analysis, etc. etc. this is all accomplished because your doctor bought into a "commision sales pitch" wherein he will most probably split the $1500 fee with MEDVIP. now you might compare this with the current practice of having your EKG or CATSCAN transmitted to India via phone so it can be interpreted by a "medical expert" located in Bombay or Calcutta. STRIKE FOUR
STEVE
note that the current political "gift" from our Washington genius think tank does not do anything but – create a 'DOCTOR FIX" annual payment to fill the Medicare abyss due to the low payments to doctors, maul the insurance industry, generate an ungodly debt load on the enconomy now and for the future as far as one can see, while never addressing the real issues of "third party" interference between the doctor and patient nor reducing the impact of tort abuse by LAWYERS. all these issues are to be magically overcome by the creation of the great health care bill that will be "historical" and go down n the history books as the legacy of the current president. it must be done now to collect the income, salvage his presitige and yield benefits in about four years or so to a few and take them away at a later date. STRIKE FIVE
STEVE
THIS IS A PLAN TO CIRCUMVENT THE ANTICIPATED DISASTER OF THE HEALTH CARE BILL AND ENHANCE THE INCOME OF A BUNCH OF RETIRED DOCTORS IN FLORIDA WHO WILL JUST BE LOLLING ARROUND ON THE SUNNY BEACH AND MAKING AN OCCAISIONAL PHONE CALL TO A FORMER ASSOCIATE. HEY FIVE STRIKES AND YOUR OUT – YOU GOT A BONUS OF TWO EXTRA STRIKES!
Robert
This is just an "affluent" rant by an elitist patient. I have been with my con cierge doctor in Houston for six months now and it is the best thing I have ever done. As I mentioned I live in Houston where we have the largest medical center in the country. I used to go to UT Medical center and got herded around like cattle until of course it was time to visit the pay counter. Dont not choose a concierge based on the one persons rant.
Linda Johnson
Yes, I have had a bad experience also. I had a doctor for twenty years and suddenly, when he turned 70, he decided to become "VIP." Well, I am not dumb and told him he should have saved for retirement. My husband and I immediately transferred to other physicians with whom we are very satisfied.
Think carefully before signing up for this type of doctor.
Joanna
I am a Minnesotan (used to wonderful health care network up north) living in Florida now and have courted a relationship with a good primary care Physician for 12 years. Last year he went MDVIP. Well, I freaked, as all these years of courting a personal skilled Doctor was out the window, unless I paid the 1500.00. Well, I charged it on my Visa….hmmmm…. Ok, well, I needed a trip to the ER for a cut finger. I was really a bit cocky about the injury as I was going to be able to present my little blue and white MDVIP card and I would have my brow pressed with cold cloths while I sipped a Margurita. Uh huh…they looked at my card and said "what's this ?" Oh , my MDVIP card…"Never heard of it…" Oh , wait…I whipped out my Disk and proudly presented my entire health record …..buy this time the ER was ignoring my finger and consulting with a Mental Health Doctor. Discouraged to say the least , I finally had a band aid applied to my injury and sent on my way. Back in the real world I am heartsick and need to find a new Doctor. I am on a really fixed income and……….
Michelle
Serena, You are exactly right. Having all of that rent, medical equiment and supplies, testing on site, contracts with lab's, continued education for physicians and nurse's, upgraded computer system's, phone's, fax's, pagers, professional licensure as well as malpractice insurance is an incredible amount of money!!! Posting that any primary care phyisican is making 600K only seeing 600 patient's is unbelievably nieve and irresponsible!!!!!! MDVIP is not a perfect system, but it has it's great advantage's and to generalize it as a money hungry machine is doing a disservice to reader's of this blog. I am a MDVIP member in Illinios and only choose that because my physician of 15 years moved to the program. I couldn't be happier, and love that he now has flexibity to take more time with me if he needs it. When he know's it will be a complex visit, he will often allow over 1 hour just for me….where will you EVER find that????
Michelle
Joanna, I am sorry about your injury, but I do feel you miunderstand how the program works. I am a nurse, I'm also a patient of a MDVIP physician in Illinois. The Disc you carry is supposed to be used in ER situation's that require knowing your past medical history like prior surgeries, allergies, current medicine's, chronic illness, etc. As an ER nurse myself I can't begin to tell you how vital all that info is when someone comes in alone and confused, or unconscience. If they have that card….it would help them out sooooo much!!!!
If your injury occured during office hours it is possible you could have had it evaluated, and most likely treated by your MDVIP physician. The fact that the ER staff wasn't familiar with the program doesn't warrant you leaving excellant care, unless of course you have other issue's with this doctor.
Best of luck to you!!!! Michelle
kareterra
My doctor in Houston joined the MDVIP gimmick thing. What do I think of it? Let's see … $1500 per year per family member PLUS my insurance copay and the payment from the insurance company for WHAT?!?! to not be rushed? I think it has more to do with a way to shake off the medicare, medicaid and low income patients who can't afford the up front money year after year. I think they should all be ashamed of themselves. The MDVIP people AND the Dr's who want to take the easy way out and just scrape the cream from the crop.
joseph smith
MDVIP program allows the doctor plenty of time to address all your problems rather than being rushed in and out of the doctor's office as the doc tries to stay on schedule, seeing his 30 patients a day. You get what you pay for. There is no question that patients who are enrolled in MDVIP program will get more prompt and better care/service than those who are in traditional practice where the doc is just trying to get thru the day. Don't blame the doctor for choosing to practice good medicine and don't blame those patients who put value in their health and are willing to pay for it.
JustPassingBy
Even though I am not a fan of the terrible American Health Care Service and the mostly crappy doctors in it, I still feel that you made an awful ass of yourself. You must be aware that MDVIP is a BUSINESS. Of course they are concerned about the money it is crucial they are paid up front. They didn't know you, they are not running a charity! To make an exception for you is to cheat others. Yours was not a medical emergency, as mine was once when I was admitted in screaming agony with a kidney stone and the hospital refused to treat me until they had verified I could pay the bill. Don't diss the whole service because you tried to get away with something and failed, you are just making an even bigger ass of yourself. Others have been highly satisfied to have a doctor on call. Just let's hope they have decent doctors, because with only one or two exceptions I haven't found one yet!
Ed Shull
I see. I made an ass of myself because you were more mistreated than I. If you read the post, I simply did as I was told to do by the doctors office, and was then denied treatment when I returned because of their own internal misunderstanding of the program. So I had to go to another doctor. I’m not sure how that constitutes trying to “get away with something”. I paid for the visit in full.
But I do think you’re an ass.
JustPassingBy
All I'm saying Mr Shull is "fair's fair". The AHCService (or System) is notorious for its abysmal patient care. My next door neighbor had to hire her own nurse to go into hospital with her when she had an operation just to make sure she got the ordinary care she should have been entitled to. My friend had to get up out of bed suffering from pneumonia in the middle of winter, wrapped in blankets and supported on either side, to go see the doctor for an antibiotic because he refused to prescribe over the telephone! Perhaps that's why the BEST doctors are leaving to join MDVIP, but it IS a business, NO FREE LUNCHES. If you want concierge service you have to pay for it. Otherwise vote to get the mess fixed.
Donna Matlack
Confused! My doctor of 25 years just inform me that he is becoming part of the MDVIP network. I am frantic don't know what to do. $1500.00 plus insurance premiums and co-pays is going to make me insurance poor. I really like my Doctor but is it worth it. Plus I was told by the sales rep. that premiums go up every five years. What to do…..