'Annual' Physical

I can't believe how long it takes for an adult to get an appt for a physical.  I am suspicious that it is because reimbursements for physicals are so low.  Since I no long need to go for the annual female exam and am rarely sick enough to go to a doctor I hadn't been to a doctor in a very long time.  That's something you can get away with when your younger but not at my age (58).

I had made a appointment once before and the doctors office ended up canceling it.  I made another one today and the appointment is for Feb 11, 2015.  I may go to one of the those little supermarket clinics just to get what they call an assessment.  It's BP, blood glucose, and lipids check.  They are staffed by Nurse Practitioners so I am not sure they could do much if something does turn up.

The insurance companies push the annual physicals, which I understand, it reduces the risk of a big bill later on.  It's next to impossible to actually get one though.

Wow, really!? That's nuts! In Canada, my parents (50s-60s) are able to get physicals with our family doctors probably within a month or two. When they asked my parents to do blood work, they got it in within a couple of weeks. The only things that took more than a month or two were specialist appointments (cardiology, kidneys) unless it was an emergency.

We're from a smaller city though. I haven't had to make any human appointments since I moved away but my manager has had a few appointments in the time we've been working together, a physical, an ultrsound, bloodwork, and a liver specialist that have all happened relatively quickly (I've been working with her for a month now). She's also been able to get the convenience of going to the doctor's office just above our workplace so I imagine it isn't insanely difficult here either.

I think though that the medical profession on both sides of the border do set certain days aside for physicals. The longest I've ever waited was 4 months for a specialist.

If you go the the supermarket route, get your thyroid levels checked as well. You are of that age (as am I).

Wow!  Honestly; I haven't had a "regular" physical in a while and since I've had a few kids in the last few years I'm sticking with my OBGYN for that.  But I've never had to wait that long for physicals.  Maybe a month.  I usually try to schedule things 6 weeks out anyway.  I think part of the problem with general/family docs is that they save appointment slots for sick visits.  They might have cancellation lists.  We always kept them where I worked (a specialist and a testing facility).

Now dental things I've had to wait longer.  Even for the Pediatric dentist I had to wait 3-4 months I think to get my DD in for her first visit.  I know in the area just south of me there is a doctor shortage as well.  Or so my old office manager (the doctor's wife) said. 

Other than when I was in the military the gyn visits were the only routine checks I got.  I think they knew a lot of women did that because I always had blood drawn which was for complete bloodwork.  I only went to a regular doctor when I was sick enough for a doctor visit which is very rarely and a couple of times to get stitches removed.  I know after 3 years for billing purposes someone is considered a new patient.  Most of the time they could bill me as a new patient again because it had been more than 3 years.

I no longer need the gyn visits so now it's been quite some time since I have been to a doctor and that is not a good thing as people get older.  I think most of the medical system is still geared to taking care of people who are sick rather than to prevention at least for adults.  The pediatric system is geared to prevention.

We don't have that problem here. My doctor is always reminding me that I "haven't had the bloodwork yet this year". I am expected to have blood drawn annually to check for diabetes, cholesterol issues, etc. And I am expected to see my doctor every six months for a BP check, too, since I'm on BP meds (BP checks don't cost me anything; I just go in, have my BP checked and leave again). They just called me last week to remind me that I haven't had bloodwork done yet.

If I don't check in with my GYN by April, they call me and say, "Pam, we're setting up your appt for such-and-such. Call me if you can't keep it." I had a total hysterectomy when I was 24, but even so, I see my GYN annually. I only have a PAP every other year now, but I still go in for an exam. And then a mammo. Every year.

My doctors are real bears about appts. So is my dentist. (I hate the dentist, so I'll use every excuse I can think of to get out of the appts. And then I won't re-schedule. So they got tricky. Now if I haven't been in for six months, the dentist will set up an appt for me with Rick when he goes in. Rick will come home, tell me when my appt is....and then I'd better get in there. It's not fair; they've ganged up on me.)

Which reminds me....I need to call for my eye appt. Got the postcard in the mail and forgot about it.

Denice said:

 
Other than when I was in the military the gyn visits were the only routine checks I got.  I think they knew a lot of women did that because I always had blood drawn which was for complete bloodwork.  I only went to a regular doctor when I was sick enough for a doctor visit which is very rarely and a couple of times to get stitches removed.  I know after 3 years for billing purposes someone is considered a new patient.  Most of the time they could bill me as a new patient again because it had been more than 3 years.

I no longer need the gyn visits so now it's been quite some time since I have been to a doctor and that is not a good thing as people get older.  I think most of the medical system is still geared to taking care of people who are sick rather than to prevention at least for adults.  The pediatric system is geared to prevention.

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The pediatric system really is.  And from what I understand many are better about wait times and things at office visits!  The one I use for my kids isn't the greatest on that; but it's a single doctor practice so I think that affects it.  We were just there today.  My son (2) was bitten/stung by something Sunday evening on his cheek.  It went from a red welt to almost giving him the look of a red shiner to this morning having his bottom eye lid SUPER swollen. The bite wasn't even on his eye; it was well below.  I called the pediatrican's at 11 this morning and they got him a 1:40 appointment.  I could have brought him right in; but I'd just sat my kids down to eat.  Wait times in the office really vary.  The ped herself brought us back today.  Other times we've been there for a couple hours.  It just depends on their day I guess.  But my doctor's....15 minutes is great!  My OBGYN; nothing near that short!  But it's different; there are lots of unexpecteds that come up and I can deal with that.  I had 2 appts affected because the doctor had to go deliver a baby.  

Come to think of it; even the hospital caters to getting kids in and out fast.  When DD had her surgery last winter we were the first of the day.  We were home by the time she was normally getting up and having breakfast.  

My mother's primary doc is good about prevention.  But she is also in her late 50s now and he really seems to want to stay on top of things before they become issues so he's good about watching things like her cholesterol, blood sugar, bp, etc.  She says she is tired of going all the time; but I know she'd rather do this than have issues.