This person who you know Beth that works for Davita works in land of OZ, Here in great state of Pa davita works somewhat different.
Although I live in the land of Oz (Kansas), my friend works for DaVita in another state, so he doesn’t “work in the land of OZ” (ha!). However, his clinic has a different manager than PA clinics and I suspect his clinic is under a different regional office. I don’t know how DaVita divides up the country but do know that it’s in regions.
Like I said I just want to see my doctor if it once a month so be it ,but this going to hear the same lab report (THE SAME LAB REPORT) by three people looks like insurance fraud and medicare fraud
I don’t know how clinics bill commercial insurers for clinic visits, but it might be per visit. However, if you read about Medicare reimbursement in our Medicare FAQs posted on this site, you will see that Medicare billing by dialysis clinics isn’t based on the number of times the patient is seen by staff at a clinic visit. It’s based on the number of HD treatments performed (Method I) or they get a monthly fee for all support services provided no matter how many times the patient calls or visits the clinic (Method II). Medicare pays physicians a set amount monthly to see home patients unless the patient is hospitalized and the nephrologist sees the patient in the hospital.
I agree that corporate and clinic personnel need to understand that home dialysis patients have more active lives than many in-center HD patients. When staff are setting up home program protocols, it would make good customer service sense if they take the time to understand other demands that home patients may have. I would hope that they would try to accommodate their patients’ needs so dialysis interferes as little as possible with the rest of their patients’ lives.
What have you done so far as asking your clinic to accommodate your desire to come once a month and how the clinic reacted to your request?
– Have you explained to the clinic staff the difficulty of getting to clinic visits more than once a month?
– Have you asked your nurse if you could draw your own blood and send it to their designated lab?
– Have you asked the dietitian if you can get your lab report by mail or fax and set a time to go over it on the phone with him/her so you can learn if you need to make any changes in your medications or diet?
– Have you asked the social worker if you can set an appointment to talk with him/her by phone instead of in the clinic?