Mental Health Care

[elainegrey]

I am considering not seeing my current psychiatrist again, as well as contacting the health care company.

Dear [health insurance]:

It has come to my attention that you are auditing the records of the psychiatrist who is managing my medications, Dr M. I am aware because he called me one evening this week to ask me my weight, height, blood pressure, and waist size, data he has never enquired about in the past. Discovering that i do not know my blood pressure or waist size, he decided to make something up and that was the end of the call.

This reinforces my belief that he is not a particularly capable professional.

Why do I continue to see him? Because your organization has very few options for me. When i was looking for care in late 2012, the first professional I saw was not particularly a good fit. I had used your filter to find someone with experience in cognitive therapy, and it took several calls to people who were no longer taking patients or no longer with [health insurance] before finding someone who would see me. That professional did not use cognitive therapy. As my depression continued, that professional did recommend attending to my medication, and so I turned again to [health insurance] to find a prescriber.

This time, i called over five providers from your list to find them not taking [health insurance] or not taking patients. I then contacted you for help, and your organization found this provider for me.

While i am happy to discover you are auditing your providers to determine if they are competent and keeping the records they should, I hope you will work with skilled providers to bring them on to your program. At this time, my spouse is seeing a provider outside of the network and we are paying out of pocket. It is more important to us that my spouse see someone well recommended by other professionals than it is to find someone in plan. In discussion with my HR colleague, i discover i am not the only staff member in our office to have complaints about the providers offered by [health insurance].

Sincerely,

me

Comments

[wordweaverlynn]

I am horrified by the doctor. Good for you to writing to your insurance provider.

[elainegrey]

"Make something up," shudder.

[weofodthignen]

Yes, good letter. I hope you can find someone who can help you more, but the expense is presumably enormous.

Is this the same insurer that required you to wear a Fitbit and in general pried into your exercise and eating habits? I'd be inclined to say they should not be requiring specialist medical providers to ascertain your BP and waist size, let alone demanding they report them, but I may well have more of an issue with that than you do.

What a system we have.

M

[elainegrey]

Thanks --Christine has provided a very power closing for me.

No, the insurer doesn't pry: that's the "wellness program." *eyeroll* There wasn't a fitbit requirement: just a walking goal. All of it is corporate cost cutting: the assumption that if they get you "healthy" the insurance premiums will be lower and you'll take fewer sick days. The whole healthcare is a benefit provided by an employer hits my issue button so hard that the wellness program only gets residual disgust.

I don't see why he would need my waist size, height, and weight, but it does seem reasonable that a prescriber of medicine should know my blood pressure.

[firecat]

WTF? Sheesh!

[amaebi]

I am wishing you better options, shortly. Or quicker.