Don’t Get Sick After 5 PM

Don’t Get Sick After 5:00 P.M. Any Day of The Week: Your Doc May Be A 9- to- 5 Guy Soon!

Don’t be surprised if one day you find your primary care doctor working for a large corporation that has taken over the helm at your community or regional hospital. Struggling to keep their private practices financially solvent and their family lives intact, many docs--especially the new generation coming out of medical schools with huge debt-- are opting for a steady paycheck and predictable schedules. Hospitals benefit from this new business model as well, as they push to fill beds and at the same time meet the growing demand for specialties in their emergency rooms. Keeping docs on staff is good for business as they are a reliable source for new patients.

The new crop of Docs, like ordinary folk, just want to have more fun and spend more quality time with family, and not have to worry about whether they’ll be able to meet payroll any given week.  Growing frustration over Medicare cuts adds fuel to the fire, as well as patients’ inability to meet their co-pay obligations.  From the doc’s point of view earning $250,000 a year, getting home in time for dinner, relaxing and being able to take vacations without a hassle makes it all worthwhile.

For now—and we don’t know how long this will last—we have the old-school work ethic of the 50-something or 60-something Docs to meet our healthcare needs. For them, 9-to-5 is just the title to a once popular movie.

Frustration and anger over our current medical system continues.  But there are solutions to many of your concerns.

Universal Wellness Insurance, a form of long-term healthcare insurance, provides a boutique-style, concierge oriented approach to wellness. It is an outgrowth of Universal Design that puts more control over your environment and your health, all without time constraints.

So talk to the Doc as much as you want and know that he or she will be there when you need them. All of our wellness services and programs are personalized and address your ever-changing and discerning lifestyle and wellness needs, which defines who we are and provides a strong foundation for building trusting relationships.

Andy Berger

Andy Berger is the president of Senior Wellness Specialists, a lifestyle and healthcare services company offering Universal Design and Senior Concierge services for all stages of life. 

More Time Spent Talking with Your Doctor Keeps You Healthy and Out of the Hospital

Does your physician give you more than the customary 8-10 minutes to figure out what’s wrong with you?  And in that time-frame can the doctor make an accurate diagnosis and prognosis? Most successful practices have around 7,000 patients and for reasons of efficiency can’t devote any more time than that to a patient. And sometimes this adherence to “time is money” mentality can lead to trouble.

A daughter brings in her 93 year-old frail Mom to see her primary care physician for a persistent cough and congestion in her chest. Doctor listens to her chest, takes her temperature, blood pressure, orders an X-ray and draws some blood. Lab results won’t be back for a few days. Meantime, the X-ray shows the lungs are clear, no presence of pneumonia.  Doctor figures it’s just a bad cold, at worst a slight infection, prescribes a Z-Pac for Mom and instructs both mother and daughter to return for a follow-up in a week or so.

Two days pass and Mom’s condition worsens, she becomes comatose and is ambulanced to the local hospital. Turns out had the doctor spent more time reviewing her medical history and talking with daughter and Mom, he would have discovered Mom had been treated by another physician five years back for an infectious disease called Mercer. He would have also learned that the symptoms Mom displayed at her recent office visit were strikingly similar to those associated with Mercer. If not properly diagnosed, Mercer can be deadly.

That delay, that improper diagnosis lands Mom in the hospital for 10 days. There she receives treatment and is subsequently transported to a rehabilitation center, where she appears confused and is hostile towards employees. The on-staff doctor there sedates the mother. After about 18 hours the daughter gets a call to come and pick up the mother, as the rehab center doesn’t work with aggressive patients. Again, had someone taken the time to check on Mom’s history they would have found she suffers from a form of dementia, which would explain the mood swings.

Nowhere to turn, Mom is once again hospitalized.  And so begins anew the vicious cycle of frustration and anger over a medical system that doesn’t appear to be working optimally.  But there are solutions.

Universal Wellness Insurance, a form of long-term healthcare insurance, provides a boutique-style, concierge oriented approach to wellness. It is an outgrowth of Universal Design that puts more control over your environment and your health, all without time constraints.  So talk to the doc as much as you want. All of our wellness services and programs are personalized and address your ever-changing and discerning lifestyle and wellness needs, which defines who we are and provides a strong foundation for building trusting relationships.

Andy Berger

Andy Berger is the president of Senior Wellness Specialists, a lifestyle and healthcare services company offering Universal Design and Senior Concierge services for all stages of life.