FAA Medical Nonoperational

Now everyone remember that your Oct 15 Quarterly tax payment is due...gotta fund this c_ap.....
 
On another note, I was supposed to go to Oklahoma on the 28th to begin my basic AME seminar training...trip already bought and paid for, and if this nonsense doesn't end, it's money down the toilet...:mad:
 
Last edited:
mnewb1 said:
On another note, I was supposed to go to Oklahoma on the 28th to begin my basic AME seminar training...trip already bought and paid for, and if this nonsense doesn't end, it's money down the toilet...:mad:
Click to expand...

Oh come on, you could just spend some vacation time in the tourist mecca of Oklahoma City!
 
steingar said:
Oh come on, you could just spend some vacation time in the tourist mecca of Oklahoma City!
Click to expand...
Have a steak dinner that would put a $100 hamburger to shame. I'm pretty sure we're not helping.... :no:

Edit - seriously, even if non-refundable, you should be able to rebook the unused ticket at a later date. I was able to do this with Delta when I had to scrub a California trip last year. Three months later Delta applied the purchase price of the unused ticket to the rebooking.
 
Last edited:
problem is, not only do I lose money already spent, but being away from my practice for a week means foregoing income...a reasonable trade-off to obtain my AME, but not for a steak....I have a solo practice, when I don't work, I don't eat.

sorry Papa Foxtrot, but I didn't see the second half of your response until I penned the above...certainly you are right, and if these clowns don't get it together, I will pursue this course....though I relish the opportunity to rant right now.
 
Last edited:
mnewb1 said:
problem is, not only do I lose money already spent, but being away from my practice for a week means foregoing income...a reasonable trade-off to obtain my AME, but not for a steak....I have a solo practice, when I don't work, I don't eat.
Click to expand...
See my edit above - I type pretty slow. You should have a year to rebook an unused flight. At least that's true with Delta and they have a pretty crappy customer service reputation...
 
mnewb1 said:
problem is, not only do I lose money already spent, but being away from my practice for a week means foregoing income...a reasonable trade-off to obtain my AME, but not for a steak....I have a solo practice, when I don't work, I don't eat.
Click to expand...

What? I had heard once that if you guys need a little extra cash you just amputate limbs unnecessarily?! Not true? :dunno: :yikes: :D
 
LDJones said:
What? I had heard once that if you guys need a little extra cash you just amputate limbs unnecessarily?! Not true? :dunno: :yikes: :D
Click to expand...

not a surgeon, can't comment... and I don't have a Ferrari that needs a tune-up either...
 
no, just a humble family doctor trying to save lives and cheat death with advice for good clean livin' that is difficult to get folks to heed.
 
mnewb1 said:
no, just a humble family doctor trying to save lives and cheat death with advice for good clean livin' that is difficult to get folks to heed.
Click to expand...

How'ya making out with that cheat death thing. Any real success, or are we all still facing the reaper? Still haven't heard of anyone getting out alive. :D
 
doin' my best, brother, doin' my best :)
 
LDJones said:
What? I had heard once that if you guys need a little extra cash you just amputate limbs unnecessarily?! Not true? :dunno: :yikes: :D
Click to expand...

"Doctor walks into the exam room and asks the patient, "Well, I got bad news, and I have horrible news. Which do you want first?"

"Give me the worst of it doc..."

"I'm sorry to say, you only have six months to live."

After recovering from the shock he asks, "what was the bad news?"

"Here's my bill."

"But doc, I don't have that amount of money! I can't pay that!"

"Okay," says the doc, "I'll give you another six months."

--Henny Youngman.
 
mnewb1 said:
no, just a humble family doctor trying to save lives and cheat death with advice for good clean livin' that is difficult to get folks to heed.
Click to expand...
Hey, TOUGH CROWD. The board-ons need to know that I pulled the plug when I saw what is coming down the road. I cancelled my 126 insurance contracts and got my staff jobs.

There is no job as hard these days as being a doc. I used to lie awake at night thinking if something happened (I was an internist and an anesthesiologist, I guess I still am), that it would wipe out my kid's college funds and I'd have no retirement.

As the attorneys say, "don't take it personally, doctor :hairraise:" So when it became apparent that I was going to take home what I made after Dec 1 rather than October 1, I said, "enough". I will not work in the gulag for an attorney. No sir. This is not Siberia- yet.

I feel for the docs who are just turning 50. It's terrifying. We got ZERO tort reform out of the affordable care act.

"No sir, Mr. President, I am not re-enlisting. No sir."

The response of the peanut gallery to mnewb1 is disheartening. When I went to OKC to become an "advanced" AME, that week cost me a net of $15,000 as salaries went out, and nothing came in. When I went for HIMS designation, same thing.

Hey you want another AME don't you guys? Or do we just keep quitting?
 
Last edited:
bbchien said:
Hey, TOUGH CROWD. The board-ons need to know that I pulled the plug when I saw what is coming down the road. I cancelled my 126 insurance contracts and got my staff jobs.

There is no job a hard these days as being a doc. I used to lie awake at night thinking if something happened (I was an internist and an anesthesiologist, I guess I still am), that it would wipe out my kid's college funds and I'd have no retirement.

As the attorneys say, "don't take it personally, doctor :hairraise:" So when it became apparent that I was going to take home what I made after Dec 1 rather than October 1, I said, "enough". I will not work in the gulag for an attorney. No sir. This is not Siberia- yet.

I feel for the docs who are just turning 50. It's terrifying. We got ZERO tort reform out of the affordable care act.

"No sir, Mr. President, I am not re-enlisting. No sir."

The response of the peanut gallery to mnewb1 is disheartening. When I went to OKC to become an "advanced" AME, that week cost me a net of $15,000 as salaries went out, and nothing came in. When I went for HIMS designation, same thing.

Hey you want another AME don't you guys? Or do we just keep quitting?
Click to expand...


Everyone bemoans and criticizes the FAA medical system. Maybe they would like it to become like the rest of the world where you go to a government employed doctor and they don't care about deferrals or helping anyone retain or get a medical back.

Being a Doctor in today's US is scary, good luck to you guys, you're gonna need it.
 
RotorAndWing said:
Everyone bemoans and criticizes the FAA medical system. Maybe they would like it to become like the rest of the world where you go to a government employed doctor and they don't care about deferrals or helping anyone retain or get a medical back.

Being a Doctor in today's US is scary, good luck to you guys, you're gonna need it.
Click to expand...
Nah. We're quittin'. :dunno:
 
bbchien said:
nah. Under o-care it's a nurse.
Click to expand...

Half the time, that's enough. How much is spent every winter in ER room costs because the homeless needed to keep warm? How much is spent on drug seekers because we have a "war on drugs"? How much is spent on hypochondriacs and scared mothers every time their child gets a cold?
 
Henning said:
Half the time, that's enough. How much is spent every winter in ER room costs because the homeless needed to keep warm? How much is spent on drug seekers because we have a "war on drugs"? How much is spent on hypochondriacs and scared mothers every time their child gets a cold?
Click to expand...

I would suggest what we need for the very real problems you illustrate is an army of social workers.
 
mnewb1 said:
I would suggest what we need for the very real problems you illustrate is an army of social workers.
Click to expand...

social workers make things worse. Some people can't be helped then those people vote and everyone else goes Galt. Enjoy the gulch Doc.
 
bbchien said:
Hey, TOUGH CROWD. The board-ons need to know that I pulled the plug when I saw what is coming down the road. I cancelled my 126 insurance contracts and got my staff jobs.

There is no job as hard these days as being a doc. I used to lie awake at night thinking if something happened (I was an internist and an anesthesiologist, I guess I still am), that it would wipe out my kid's college funds and I'd have no retirement.

As the attorneys say, "don't take it personally, doctor :hairraise:" So when it became apparent that I was going to take home what I made after Dec 1 rather than October 1, I said, "enough". I will not work in the gulag for an attorney. No sir. This is not Siberia- yet.

I feel for the docs who are just turning 50. It's terrifying. We got ZERO tort reform out of the affordable care act.

"No sir, Mr. President, I am not re-enlisting. No sir."

The response of the peanut gallery to mnewb1 is disheartening. When I went to OKC to become an "advanced" AME, that week cost me a net of $15,000 as salaries went out, and nothing came in. When I went for HIMS designation, same thing.

Hey you want another AME don't you guys? Or do we just keep quitting?
Click to expand...

I personally know four doctors as friends IRL. Two of them have left medicine altogether. The third writes NDAs for a pharma company, but won't go anywhere near patients. All three of the above docs left clinical practice because their malpractice insurance companies made more money on their work than they did, when all was said and done.

The fourth doc gave up her practice for more idealistic reasons. Last I heard she was stomping through the jungles somewhere in South America doing research about medicinal plants. I don't know who is sponsoring her stomping, but I doubt it's Big Pharma.

What's interesting (and sad) about this is that I only have four friends who are doctors, and none of them are practicing medicine. In fact, two of them have new professions that aren't even remotely related to medicine.

When you think about how much time, effort, and money it takes to become a doctor, and how closely doctors identify with their professions, it's pretty sobering that so many of them are contemplating leaving the profession or have done so already.

It's really a shame. I know of only two or three other professions whose members are so overwhelmingly motivated by the desire to serve humanity, and none that require so great an investment of time, effort, and money. It's sad that after investing so much so they may heal others, so many doctors can't even make a decent living.

-Rich
 
ClimbnSink said:
social workers make things worse. Some people can't be helped then those people vote and everyone else goes Galt. Enjoy the gulch Doc.
Click to expand...

You may be right, Greg. Problem is, the powers that be want to tie my reimbursement to whether said "fine Gentry" get their act together and get healthier. I agree, aint gonna happen. This is why, I'm not taking the bait of higher reimbursement rates for accepting new medicaid patients...penny wise, pound foolish. If it ever comes down to a mandate to take these folks, then I will either switch to an all cash practice or leave medicine all together.
 
It's going to get worse, much worse. Here's a single data point for you.

My daughter is brilliant. Near genius with an IQ and work ethic that is unbelievable. She started college at 14 and is graduating with a chem-eng and physics degree at 20. She's also a top ranked univ gymnast.

Since she was ~13 we've been discussing her long term goals, and how she could both make a lot of money, and help a lot of people. As an advanced athlete, she's had her share of injuries, and the like. We spoke about med school but she wanted to do 'more' than just med school, so I introduced her to a couple of the MD/PhD programs around the country, and she got in touch with several. As you might imagine, they were all interested in having her come there when her undergrad work was finished. This was about the time O-care was signed into law, and I had a very frank discussion with her about the future of clinical medicine. I told her how I thought it was going to shake out, and how the research field was going to go in the US.

After we looked into it carefully, she's completely off of clinical medicine. She's now doing internships with companies that work at molecular/atomic engineering level, and some genetic research stuff that is beyond me. It might one day make it's way into medicine, but it might also play out in crops, or fuels, or metallurgy, other fields. The country just lost one of the brightest prospects in the field of clinical medicine, and yes I know how that sounds. If anyone had met my kid, you would know it's not just bragging.
 
docmirror said:
It's going to get worse, much worse. Here's a single data point for you.

My daughter is brilliant. Near genius with an IQ and work ethic that is unbelievable. She started college at 14 and is graduating with a chem-eng and physics degree at 20. She's also a top ranked univ gymnast.

Since she was ~13 we've been discussing her long term goals, and how she could both make a lot of money, and help a lot of people. As an advanced athlete, she's had her share of injuries, and the like. We spoke about med school but she wanted to do 'more' than just med school, so I introduced her to a couple of the MD/PhD programs around the country, and she got in touch with several. As you might imagine, they were all interested in having her come there when her undergrad work was finished. This was about the time O-care was signed into law, and I had a very frank discussion with her about the future of clinical medicine. I told her how I thought it was going to shake out, and how the research field was going to go in the US.

After we looked into it carefully, she's completely off of clinical medicine. She's now doing internships with companies that work at molecular/atomic engineering level, and some genetic research stuff that is beyond me. It might one day make it's way into medicine, but it might also play out in crops, or fuels, or metallurgy, other fields. The country just lost one of the brightest prospects in the field of clinical medicine, and yes I know how that sounds. If anyone had met my kid, you would know it's not just bragging.
Click to expand...

Good for her in general. I did gymnastics until I graduated high school, I wasn't advanced enough to participate at my D1 school though. Tough sport.
 
Z06_Mir said:
Good for her in general. I did gymnastics until I graduated high school, I wasn't advanced enough to participate at my D1 school though. Tough sport.
"You will be successful if you focus on three things: Your family, your religion, & the Green Bay Packers"
Click to expand...
What's a cheesehead doing in Arizona?
 
bbchien said:
Which half?
Click to expand...

Cold and flu season (basically all anybody does is take temp/vitals, listen for pneumonia and sends you home for chicken soup if no major factors are indicated, way too much ER resource dedicated to this), changing dressings, pulling stitches, monitoring ongoing treatments that have been stabilized. Stuff like that which again, uses up a lot of ER resource which is billed at 10+ times clinic costs and even greater than visiting home healthcare costs. Europe and Australia have great success with the 'house call' model, it's very efficient sending only those who actually need hospital care to the hospital. Not everything is emergent requiring an MD to deal with.
 
Henning said:
Cold and flu season (basically all anybody does is take temp/vitals, listen for pneumonia and sends you home for chicken soup if no major factors are indicated, way too much ER resource dedicated to this), changing dressings, pulling stitches, monitoring ongoing treatments that have been stabilized. Stuff like that which again, uses up a lot of ER resource which is billed at 10+ times clinic costs and even greater than visiting home healthcare costs. Europe and Australia have great success with the 'house call' model, it's very efficient sending only those who actually need hospital care to the hospital. Not everything is emergent requiring an MD to deal with.
Click to expand...
House calls are ridiculously inefficient. The provider spends too much nonproductive time in transit.
 
Gary F said:
House calls are ridiculously inefficient. The provider spends too much nonproductive time in transit.
Click to expand...

Not true, my ex's dad did his paperwork between calls while underway. By the time he was done, we were at the next location, sometimes we were there before.
 
Henning said:
Not true, my ex's dad did his paperwork between calls while underway. By the time he was done, we were at the next location, sometimes we were there before.
Click to expand...
How many patients can a physician evaluate when stuck in a traffic jam? I don't get your logic. House calls are a patient convenience not an advance in efficiency. I work with home health nurses and they do a great job.
 
Gary F said:
How many patients can a physician evaluate when stuck in a traffic jam? I don't get your logic. House calls are a patient convenience not an advance in efficiency. I work with home health nurses and they do a great job.
Click to expand...

Typically 15-20 in a 4-5 hr evening. You don't normally get stuck in traffic jams when operating within a set of neighborhoods that doesn't require getting on major highways, and that is how the Locum service arranges the calls. There is also outside benefit to everybody and that is not having to take off work to go see the doc for routine stuff, and no wasted time in waiting rooms. As for the practitioner, next to no overhead.

BTW, the other great advantage that nationalized programs have for the practitioners is that you aren't paying more for malpractice insurance than you take home.
 
What about all the single moms answering the phones at doctors offices whose going to give them a cushy job eh?:rolleyes2:
Henning said:
Typically 15-20 in a 4-5 hr evening. You don't normally get stuck in traffic jams when operating within a set of neighborhoods that doesn't require getting on major highways, and that is how the Locum service arranges the calls. There is also outside benefit to everybody and that is not having to take off work to go see the doc for routine stuff, and no wasted time in waiting rooms. As for the practitioner, next to no overhead.

BTW, the other great advantage that nationalized programs have for the practitioners is that you aren't paying more for malpractice insurance than you take home.
Click to expand...
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top