Streamline the system

My main topic is unnecessary office visits.

I have an appointment this morning at 10 and there is absolutely no reason it couldn't be done by phone. This is a follow up to post surgical radiation treatment for prostate cancer. I finished treatment on April 20 and now I have to go back for.....what ?

There have been no more scans or tests and they say it's too early to do another PSA. They usually wait till about 3 months after the final treatment, so why am I going back ?
It's about an hour from my house and even though they get you in pretty much on time, I'm still looking at a 30 minute total visit and then another hour to get back home.
It will go something like this :

Dr : How's it going, everything alright ?
Me : Yeah, I'm great, no side effects, everything's working normal and I feel fine"
Dr : Glad to hear it and we'll set you up for a PSA around July and then you go back to see your Urologist. Have a nice day.

Now yeah, it could be a bit more but that's the gist, so why can't we do this by phone ? They can still charge me and it would be easier for me not to have to take 2 1/2 hours out of my day for a 5 minute conversation.

This is ridiculous. 80 mile round trip, no tests, no scans, no procedures at all, just a short chat and out the door.

Sounds like they are milking the system to me.

a reply to: DAVID64

Did you ask if the consultation could be done by phone?

If you don't ask, how can they tell?


Another possibility might be "Liability", also known as "CYA".


You are post-op and post-radiation for prostate cancer, by your OP. The doctor could open a whole world of malpractice Liability if he/she was not able to testify that an actual, physical, consultation was performed following your procedures, to insure that "standard of care" was provided.


If your Dr was only interested in "milking the system", they would have suggested that just a phone, or virtual meeting, was really all that was needed, since such virtual meetings require less time and cost to the practice, and more can be scheduled per office hours. Hence, more profit.