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Kaffie Sledge

Posted on Thu, Apr. 24, 2008

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We must D.A.T.E. our docs

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I don't think I can be accused of speaking out of school if I say medical benefits are not what they used to be.

Premiums and co-pays -- like gas prices -- continue to rise. And consumers are caught up. But consumers aren't the only ones in insurance company choke holds; doctors are choking, too.

Shannon Brownlee recently spoke at a health and medical news conference, the Gnat Line News Briefing, for journalists. This is an annual gathering in Cordele, Ga., presented by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Brownlee talked about medical care and treatment and how consumers don't always get what they think they're paying for.

Brownlee is Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. She writes and speaks about issues surrounding health-care policy and the pharmaceutical industry.

In her book, "Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer," she writes about what insurance companies are putting doctors through. They no longer can practice medicine the way they had been taught. They also are buried in paperwork and are forced to hire more office help to deal with the increasingly confusing welter of rules and roadblocks insurers throw up before they will pay.

Brownlee writes: "The primary care doctors, the pediatricians, general internists, and family practitioners, weren't permitted to send a patient to a specialist as they saw fit. Now, they had to get permission from the insurance company -- from some clerk who sometimes had nothing more than a high school education. They had to refer their patients to specialists who appeared on a list of insurance companies' 'in-network' doctors..."

I thought of Brownlee's presentations as I sat in a hospital waiting area and read the April/May issue of Health Monitor magazine. One of the articles I found informative was one in which Dr. Davis Liu suggested that patients maximize their time with their doctors -- which is typically about 20 minutes -- by making the visit a D.A.T.E.

D stands for diagnosis. When discussing your condition, ask your doctor for the correct medical terminology instead of the layman's wording. You may want to research your ailment on the Internet.

A is for additional testing, x-rays or procedures. Unless the problem is minor or easily resolved, ask your doctor whether you need additional tests or input from a specialist.

T is for treatment. Make sure you know the treatment plan. Note changes in medication or dosing instructions, and ask whether you can take other measures to help prevent a relapse.

E stands for examination or evaluation. Find out whether you need to return for a follow-up visit, and ask what symptoms you should watch for in the meantime.

To be better advocates, patients need to be better informed.

For more D.A.T.E. and other health information, see www.healthmonitor.com.

Brownlee's Web site is www.overtreated.com.