Primary scare
Wednesday, January 14 2009
I went to see my PCP yesterday, as part of my plan to spend more time with primary docs and less time with specialists.
I will say this for my gastroenterologist: he doesn’t see a lot of contagious diseases, and the contagions he does see aren’t airborne. In contrast, pretty much every seat in the PCP waiting room was taken up by folks with flu-like symptoms. It was a little scary – all the coughing and moaning and snuffling. I’ve never been so glad to have had my flu shot (in December).
I got the referrals I needed, but discovered a twist: the referrals agent would only refer me to specific doctors, instead of the necessary specialty. This throws a kink into my plan to pick my doctors using various comparison tools. I don’t know if this is simply policy for the practice, or some larger rule or law that restricts referrals. In any case, I think I can get new referrals online, if need be, so it’s not a big deal. Still, I doubt many other patients would do any research under these circumstances – so there, Pauline Chen.
