New Patient Forms

Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Sleep for 7 hours. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy. Play more games. Read more books than you did the previous year. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6. Dream more while you are awake. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. Drink plenty of water. Smile and laugh more. Don’t waste your precious energy or time on gossip. Forget issues of the past. They’ll just ruin your present happiness. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone, so don’t even try. Don’t take yourself so seriously. You don’t have to win every argument. Just agree to disagree. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don’t compare your partner with others either. What other people think of you is none of your business. No one is in charge of your happiness except you. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. Call your family often. Your inner most is always happy. So be happy. Each day give something good to others.

I had an appointment for my annual checkup at a new gynecologist’s office.I arrived early to fill out forms. After handing the clipboard to the receptionist, I had a chance to admire the reception area’s decor. The chairs were contemporary but comfortable. In the middle of the waiting area was a huge built-in wall waterfall.photo from houzz.comAs soon as I noticed the waterfall, I had an urge to pee. I decided to wait until I was taken back to the exam room because there’s always waiting time until the doctor appears. As I walked around the waiting area, I noticed little signs in strategic places that mentioned the doctor’s specialty…female incontinence.Since I was a new patient, the gynecologist had a few questions to ask me before my exam. As we were walking to the exam room, I remarked on how well the waiting area was decorated.She asked me what I liked the most about it. I said, “Whoever did your decorating is a marketing genius. I’ve had to pee ever since I saw and heard the waterfall!”

OK, I have a pertinent and timely answer.I had an annual physical about four weeks ago, April 25th. I had a small skin tag and the doctor wanted to send me for a consult with a specialist dermatologist. He recommended two he knew, I picked the one nearest my work.Somehow, magically in the back office, his people clearly talked to her people, because a few days later I got a call from the dermatologist’s office telling me I had an appointment for May 12th. That did not work because I was out of town, so they offered me 3:00 PM on May 30th. They sent me several automated email reminders.Yesterday, I left work at 2:30 and got to the dermatologist’s office at 2:55, but it took me almost five minutes to find a parking space. When I got in the office, they scanned my OHIP card and got me to fill in a new-patient form, which took about 2 minutes.I didn’t even have time to sit down when a nurse arrived to take me to an examination room. I sat down, and within two minutes the dermatologist arrived. She examined the skin tag for about 30 seconds, and said “This is completely benign, there is no medical reason to worry about it. I can remove it if you want, it will take about 15 minutes and cost $150.I said “Hmm, OK, that’s interesting.”Then she said “What about your nose?”, to which I replied “What about it?”She whips out a little magnifier with LEDs around it, looks at my nose, and says “You have two small spots of actinic keratosis on the side of your nose. Very common in fair-skinned people who are out in the sun. Nothing to worry about, but they can eventually become cancerous. Best to address them now. Because this is a medical procedure, it’s covered by OHIP. Book a 15 minute appointment on your way out. I’ll send a letter off to your family doctor.”And with that she left.I was back down at my car by 3:15. Cost to me was zero. I’ll go back and have the kerotoses removed, also at zero cost. I’ll feel better, and the medical system just saved spending $100K+ twenty years down the road when I might have gotten skin cancer.With the sole exception of having more parking spaces, it’s hard to imagine how this could have been better.Now to actually answer the question:Re: Say I have a cyst. Do I have to wait for it to turn into a malignant tumor to get timely treatment?I did in fact essentially have a cyst (it was skin tag, but same dif). It would not have turned into a malignant tumor for 20+ years. But it will still be dealt with in under thirty days, at no cost to me at all. That seems pretty damn timely to me.

I know this is difficult to understand for an american. But in many countries in western Europe when you need healthcare you just go and see a doctor and then rather than greeting your sick frame with thick wadges of paper and forms to fill out that mostly try to prevent the doctor from experiencing any form of liability the doctor will just say, “What can I do for you?”I think your question though really is - how do I get healthcare coverage. The answer is in many countries in western Europe, assuming you are legally immigrated in to the country (and in some cases when you aren’t) you already have healthcare coverage. Asking for how you “get coverage” is a bit like asking - how can you get permission to walk down the street, enter a public park or go to the library. The state pays doctors salaries and the doctors are just there.Its notable that this year alone in the US I spent roughly 100 hours of my personal time just getting coverage ( filing eligibility forms etc., getting all those hospitals to talk to each other without screwing it up, ensuring no gap in coverage as I move between health plans, etc.). I lived in the UK for 10 years and in the entire time I was there I don’t think I spent even 30 minutes of my life worrying about healthcare coverage - despite needing everything from ER visits to specialist care.Some places will require you register with a local general practitioner (GP), in which case you need to call round the various GP surgeries and pick one that you a) like and b) can take on new patients. I know that this sounds like signing on for high end concierge care here in the US, but it turns out that when you get rid of all that paperwork and build a system that actually tries to save as many lives as possible you can afford to deal with people that way (oh and it costs way less - the UK system is roughly 1/3rd - yes I said that correctly - one third the cost of the US system per capita - that is the full actual cost not a subsidized cost).In the UK anyway a lot of your care is directed by your GP so that’s the thing you’d need to sort out. I can tell you that having a GP who is an effective quarterback for your care - well that’s way better than myself trying to string together a team of providers as I was sometimes forced to do here in the US.As to your question as to whether some countries are better than others. This is definitely true. France is ranked the highest, but to be honest I’ve had pretty good care in several countries in europe - and all of the countries in western Europe beat the US easily on most important metrics of national healthcare (e.g. life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality). There are variations even within the countries, but in general due to national institutions that try to set standards, the standard is more uniform than here in the US.For more information on various universal healthcare systems check out the excellent question:How much does healthcare cost the individual in countries with a universal healthcare system? Would you change it for the "American system"?some quotes from the responses found there:“Would I change to an American system? Not a chance. Never in my life!”“The impossible question is why—in the face of all of the evidence—a substantial number of US citizens still embrace a system that can only be adequately described as “f***ed up”.”“Again, not a chance I'd want the US system.”“Changing here to the American system? No one is that stupid.”“I wouldn’t swap the UK system for the US one in a million years. You are being ripped off guys, wake up and do something about it.”“Why would I change it? It is way beyond stupid.”

I was about 16 when this happened, and I refused to go to any doctor for 2 years fearing something bad would happen. This doctor was so unprofessional that my story might sound fake or exaggerated but i PROMISE you, it’s not.I had pretty bad depression, but I didn’t want to take medication for it so I always informed my doctors that I didn’t need it and I was fine on my own. This year, I got into a pretty bad relationship that made it harder for me to deal with depression. I self-harmed often and tried to commit suicide once. I told my mom I needed to go to the doctors and get a prescription because i couldn’t handle it anymore. Well, my mom had just changed jobs and therefore, had an insurance change, which means I had to get a completely new set of doctors. She took me to a doctors office in the ghetto city (I guess that was the only office her new insurance would cover, because we lived in a wealthy city and even the surrounding cities were fairly affluent).When we got there, the nurse took my vitals, measured me, weighed me, all that stuff and then had me wait in one of the rooms. I had to go to the bathroom and on my way there, I overheard the doctor scold the nurse for taking my vitals, etc. The nurse argued that it was procedure for every new patient, but the doctor said it specifically wasn’t necessary for me. I didn’t think it was weird at the time. When I got back to the room and the doctor walked in, the FIRST thing she said wasn’t hello, it wasn’t acknowledging me at all, it was telling my mom that if i was “too much for my mom to handle, she could always provide my mom with a brochure about giving me up to the state.” WTF?? the next thing the doctor did was ask a series of questions about depression off of a paper script. halfway through the paper, she stops and tells me that “i shouldn’t be depressed because i have a mom, i have a roof over my head, i have clean clothes, etc.“ the thing is, she doesn’t say it empathetically but she says it as if i’m ungrateful instead of depressed… anyways… when she sees that i answered “yes” to suicide attempt, she blames my mom for not taking me to the emergency room. My mom explained to her that she did call the 24-hour nurses hotline and they told her what to do and when i was showing signs that i was fine, they said it’s up to her whether she wants to take me to the ER or not but to keep monitoring me. This doctor told my mom that the nurses hotline “doesn’t exist” and kept trying to say that she’ll report my mom to CPS. I was literally there, i heard my mom on the phone with the nurses hotline the whole time. Even after this doctor visit i looked it up and YUP ITS STILL THERE. anyways!!! the doctor starts doing a check up on me and i tell her that i got my ear cartilage pierced TWO DAYS AGO and it’s sensitive. she looks at it, sees that it’s red, and says it’s infected. it’s not infected, it’s brand new lol. she then GRABS MY EAR AND TWISTS IT SEVERAL TIMES. i was screaming and crying and all she did was keep saying “does it hurt? how bout now? still hurt?” by then i was in tears. later on, she goes through the questionnaire again and sees that i marked “yes” to sexually active. she asked if it was one person or multiple people. i said just my boyfriend of two years. she tells me that he “probably doesn’t love me and is only using me for sex” and at this point i realize why am i letting this woman berate me all this time? she knows i’m here for depression but all she has done is make me feel worse than anyone ever has. i walked out and waited outside for 30 minutes before my mom walked out. to this day, i still don’t know what happened after i left. two weeks later though, we got a letter in the mail from that doctor’s office saying i needed to finish my appointment or else they would report to the police that my mom never took me to the ER that one time.BTW, not sure if anyone’s wondering but the doctor works out of a Molina office in Colton, CA. old black lady. don’t know her name.

Medicaid patients would never be expected to pay their own bills. That defeats the purpose of providing this program as a resource to the aid of those who are below the poverty level. Legally, if you signed paperwork to the effect that you agree to pay whatever your insurance won't, there may be an issue.The larger question aside, technically, the professionally can set his fees at whatever level the market will allow. His time spent to complete your form would have been otherwise spent productively. The fact that he is the gatekeeper to your disability benefits should amount to some value with which you are able to accept rewarding him (or her).The doctor’s office needs to find a billable reason to submit (or re-submit) the claim as part of your medical treatment to Medicaid. It is absolutely a normal responsibility of their billing office to find a way to get insurance to reimburse. The failure is theirs, and turning the bill over to you would be ridiculous.If they accept Medicaid to begin with, they have to deal with the government’s complex processes to get paid. Generally, when a claim is denied a new reason to justify the doctor patient interaction will be necessary. I would guess “encounter for administrative reason” was sent. It is often too vague to justify payment. They may need to include the diagnosis behind your medical disability. If they have seen you before, and medical claims have bern accepted on those visits, then a resubmission for timely follow-up on those conditions could be justifued as reason for payment. The fact is, Medicaid is in a huge free-fall and payments are coming much more slowly since the new year. $800 billion is planned to be cut and possibly $600 billion on top of that. When we call their phone line for assistance, wait times are over two hours, if any one even answers. Expect less offices to accept new Medicaid, and many will be dismissing their Medicaid clients. If the office closes due to poor financial decisions, they can be of no service to anyone.Sister, things are rough all over.

I’ll give you three examples from my own life. Your mileage may vary.First story: A long time ago I was in Boston wearing a suit (probably for a job interview). I was just out of college or about to graduate. One of my friends was with me and noticed the Federal Reserve Bank within walking distance. So we went in and acted like we belonged there. We went up to a random floor and walked around. That was all we had the courage to do. But I suppose we could have found a conference room, sat down, and others could have joined us. Who knows what mayhem would have resulted? We will never know. Nobody even noticed us nevermind challenged us. I’m sure these days it’s different.Second story: I was attending a concert by a Christian band Newsboys on their “Love Liberty Disco” tour where the concerts were in an inflatable dome set up in a parking lot. (It was actually pretty cool.)Looking for the “entrance” to buy tickets we (about 5 or 6 of us) walked around and found ourselves in some lunch area. Then we noticed the band’s bass player eating fried chicken. Oops. We were back stage.Being adventurous, we didn’t leave but instead doubled down. We said little and kept walking until we were in front of the dome by the entrance (but inside the ticket gate). We saw a group forming and joined them. Turns out they were radio station contest winners; we followed them into the dome and saw the crew setting up.Realizing that we’d be found out staying with the contest winners, we broke off and milled around the stage area. Then we began to worry and headed outside. On the way we heard “hey you! What are you doing?” We were busted. But it was the stage manager and he was short a few roadies. He said instead of standing around he needed help. A couple of us (not me) went and helped set up the stage.When that was done we fessed up. The stage manager escorted us to the ticket gate and we paid (from the inside) for our general admission tickets. Then we were the first to get in officially. It pays to stay cool, quiet, and to help when asked.Third story: A friend of mine was deathly ill in the hospital and was recovering from a traumatic injury. After he finally got out of ICU (40 days there) and stabilized, I wanted to take him out of his room, outside to breath the fresh air, to visit the ICU nurses, and maybe to the cafeteria. He had some equipment to keep with him but it was portable and battery operated if I could find a wheelchair.The resident finally came by and, after I pleaded, told me the patient was good to take a little trip if I could get the wheelchair. It’s a hospital, right? You’d think they were just sitting around but not so.I had been at this hospital for months visiting every day and learned some things. Like where the supply room was and how to fill out a requisition. I filled one out, signed for myself, went down to supply and got a brand new collapsible wheelchair assigned to my friend. I looked like I knew what I was doing and the supply person never blinked or questioned me.The nurses were amazed and laughing when I brought it up. We kept that wheelchair until my friend left the hospital. Nobody questioned who ordered it. In case you are going to ask: No, I have no idea if they charged for it.Most people will assume you belong somewhere if you simply look like you know what you’re doing.

Don’t think so. As long as there is proof of funding coming from the NED. The umbrella movement will morph into different guises. The NED will not rest and will harp on issues that is inherent in the Beijing backed government.One of the long standing problems in HK is that the government isn’t addressing the needs of the masses and catering only to the rich. The housing problem is a good example.Young people have no means of being able to afford housing in HK and may have to move into cities like Shenzhen or Guangzhou. This can be addressed by the HSR system being built to connect mainland China to HK. The HSR has got structural problems. These needs to be quickly addressed. At this time, these are still being ironed out.There is good and bad to this travel principle. Even though the travel time is short, between 15mins to 30 mins. The people of HK will have to learn to assimilate with mainlanders when they live there. This includes speaking Mandarin, which for the younger generation isn’t a big problem as they have been taught this in school, along with the ability to read and write in simplified Chinese instead of the traditional script used in HK.It is up to individual HKers to adapt to these demands.In one way, Beijing is forcing the masses to move across to the mainland to live while at the same time forcing them to assimilate. This is not a bad thing but in the eyes of the older generation of HKers, it is nothing more than a method to force a change through economic means.The NED will find it hard to fund the umbrella movement if all the young decides to assimilate into the mainland.The NED’s agenda is to disrupt the existing government with calls for democracy, which to the mainland Chinese is just a futile attempt to peddle a long disproven form of government that doesn’t bring economic benefit.India, which is the world’s most open form of democracy is mired with economic woes. Authoritarian democracy as practised by the American system only creates a ruling class of capitalist while marginalising the middle class.Only socialist democracies are the most successful as can be seen by the Scandinavian model but his goes against the grain on what the NED believes in.