Comments on: My experience with MD-VIP and Dr. Michael Mall

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:14:03 +0000

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

By: lisapwrigley

lisapwrigley — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:47:33 +0000

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.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:27:47 +0000

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.

By: filthylucre

filthylucre — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:09:10 +0000

Serena – Thank you, I agree. Whatever the miscommunication, I was there as scheduled, in need of help.

By: calvin

calvin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:33:11 +0000

damn good point, you know what your talking about. are you a doctor, if not you should be

By: Serena

Serena — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:31:22 +0000

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.

By: Serena

Serena — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:31:00 +0000

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.

By: Serena

Serena — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:30:16 +0000

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.

By: filthylucre

filthylucre — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:19:36 +0000

Eric, very interesting point. Thanks for commenting.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:56:20 +0000

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.