When I was a child I remember going to see our physician and like most individuals the physicians spent as much time as needed with their patients discussing their pertinent medical issues and how to assist in the healing process. I have been practicing medicine for nearly 40 years, from medical researcher to clinician practicing Anesthesiology both in the academic arena and in private practice. I hold medical licenses in multiple state and in the State of Israel. It was my responsibility to take care of all my patients anesthetic needs until they were safely in the post anesthetic care unit or in the intensive care unit.
Over the years I have seen a marked change in the way my colleagues had to switch from being scientists and physicians to unfortunately overstressed time prohibited medical practitioners that spend 10 minutes with their patients only to write prescriptions.
I never was on the other side as a patient until 2016 when I was suffered an almost catastrophic illness that put me in the Intensive Care Unit in a Coma and suffered 2 cardiac events that required resuscitation efforts. Those that took care of me said it was a miracle that I survived.
I became a physician patient myself and after long talks with my colleagues I now see what so many patients are complaining about. That their physician only spends a couple of minutes with them, they seen not to be listening, they hand out prescriptions with many side effects that sadly they do not even know about. Why is this?
I can tell you. It is because of the poor financial reimbursement from the insurance companies. Each medical diagnosis has an individual code which only allows a small amount of money for reimbursement. Thus my beloved colleagues whom want to be scientists and clinicians cannot literally afford these old ways because of the poor reimbursement from the insurance companies.
Sadly they are pushed by the hospitals they are employees for or because of the insurance reimbursement. They have to see so many patients in a day that the art of medicine has fallen by the waist side.
Many of our prospective patients and those that are established patients have questioned why we do not take insurance and why we are considered out of network.
Here is the answer:
The human physiology and wellness is so complex that 10 minutes and a prescription does not find the root cause of patients medical issues. It takes hours after very in depth questioning along with elaborate laboratory exhaustive testing to elucidate the root causes of a patients illness. It takes even more time to explain to a non medical professional why they are ill and what caused it.
For that reason our practice does not take insurance because we do not want to be limited by diagnosis codes and time limits when so many patients are looking to wellness and longevity medicine.
These patients want an alternative and we provide that to our patients by spending time with them, finding their root cause(s) of their diseases and treat them with more natural methods along with traditional medicine when needed.