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"Since governments taken over regulation of healthcare."

Nov 28, 2010
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I am thinking of getting a blood pressure monitor. So I checked Consumer Reports and then went to Amazon to look at a promising model. This comment caught my eye:

I found it necessary to monitor my blood pressure at home when my doctor was getting excessively High test results because they're in too much of a hurry to let me catch my breath before testing in the office. Sadly this is the norm since governments taken over regulation of healthcare. Every doctor I've been to has not allowed me time to catch my breath after struggling to walk into the office wearing a mask. ... They are supposed to take resting blood pressure not a patient gasping for breath. If it was just one doctor I would fire them and get another but every single doctor does it.​

Now I sympathize with the commenter, but why does he blame this on government regulation of healthcare?

Is he right, or is this just the ongoing creep of right wing nuttiness into ordinary folks' judgments?
 
I would like to know what doctor's office immediately takes your blood pressure as soon as you walk into the office? I don't think I have ever been to a doctor where I did not have to wait at least a few minutes before they call your name.
 
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I am thinking of getting a blood pressure monitor. So I checked Consumer Reports and then went to Amazon to look at a promising model. This comment caught my eye:

I found it necessary to monitor my blood pressure at home when my doctor was getting excessively High test results because they're in too much of a hurry to let me catch my breath before testing in the office. Sadly this is the norm since governments taken over regulation of healthcare. Every doctor I've been to has not allowed me time to catch my breath after struggling to walk into the office wearing a mask. ... They are supposed to take resting blood pressure not a patient gasping for breath. If it was just one doctor I would fire them and get another but every single doctor does it.​

Now I sympathize with the commenter, but why does he blame this on government regulation of healthcare?

Is he right, or is this just the ongoing creep of right wing nuttiness into ordinary folks' judgments?
This is due to the practice jamming as many patients as possible into a day and that's been true for many years. And every doctor doesn't do it.
 
I am a PTA in skilled nursing facilities. The Medicare reimbursements changed in the fall of 2019 and I went from seeing skilled rehab patients for an average of 72 minutes a day to more like 30. Lately I have been scheduled to see 12-18 patients a day.

The scheme changed from a system where patients had to have a certain number of minutes for facilities to get full reimbursement to one now where the minutes of treatment aren’t nearly as important and there is an emphasis on assembling groups of 4-6 patients for treatment to make up for lost time. From what I can tell CMS had a consulting firm devise the new scheme; ostensibly it was meant to prevent waste and abuse but it is fraught with perverse incentives. I haven’t looked too deeply into it but I believe the changes have origins in the ACA.
 
Now I sympathize with the commenter, but why does he blame this on government regulation of healthcare? Is he right, or is this just the ongoing creep of right wing nuttiness into ordinary folks' judgments?

Some reality combined with a bit of blood pressure cuff salesmanship I suspect,... Medicare reimbursements are generally so low anymore that a physician can only spend an average of 10 minutes with a patient during the normal office visit... That being said, in my experience weight, height and blood pressure measurements are typically collected by a nurse or intern prior the doctor entering the examination room and it's always been done without excessive haste...
 
The real question, why is walking somewhere with a mask on causing him to be short of breath? Im in a hospital daily. Wear a mask from my car to where im going, and am never short of breath. And im not exactly in peak physical shape.
 
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My wife has this issue. Whenever she asks to have her blood pressure taken again at the end of the appointment the PA just points to the ‘Thanks, Obama’ sign they have prominently displayed above the door.
 
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My wife has this issue. Whenever she asks to have her blood pressure taken again at the end of the appointment the PA just points to the ‘Thanks, Obama’ sign they have prominently displayed above the door.
Pic of sign in doctor's office?
 
I am a PTA in skilled nursing facilities. The Medicare reimbursements changed in the fall of 2019 and I went from seeing skilled rehab patients for an average of 72 minutes a day to more like 30. Lately I have been scheduled to see 12-18 patients a day.

The scheme changed from a system where patients had to have a certain number of minutes for facilities to get full reimbursement to one now where the minutes of treatment aren’t nearly as important and there is an emphasis on assembling groups of 4-6 patients for treatment to make up for lost time. From what I can tell CMS had a consulting firm devise the new scheme; ostensibly it was meant to prevent waste and abuse but it is fraught with perverse incentives. I haven’t looked too deeply into it but I believe the changes have origins in the ACA.
Interesting.
 
Interesting.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the government is a better actor in HC vs private industry or publicly held corporations, Medicare is the best payer for patients and clinicians in my realm, but the whole system is screwed up, the for profit systems are damn near evil and the so called nonprofit systems don’t seem very aptly named. Every change that comes along seems to make things worse.
 
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