How Many Patients Do You Have? Who cares!

How many patients do you have? I’m not sure what you mean. How many patients do I see on average each day? About twelve. No. How many patients do you have? Let’s see: Last week I saw about sixty patients altogether. Five of them were new patients. No, no. How many patients do you have on your panel? My panel? I don’t know what you mean by that. I don’t work as an employer in a fully prepaid system where patients are specifically assigned to me. I’m down to only two capitated HMOs, insurance plans that pay me a certain amount (not much) each month for each patient on my list. Some people on the list are patients I’ve had for years, while others have never heard of me, since the plan randomly assigns those who don’t choose for themselves. I have about 260 people on one of those lists and about 75 on the other. Is that what you’re asking? No. Let me put it this way: How many people out there could potentially call you for an appointment at any given point in time? Gee, I don’t really know that either. Given that I accept most insurances and that I’m open to new patients, I don’t think there’s any way I could possibly come up with a number. Well, how many patients do you feel you can reasonably take care of?  About ten to fifteen a day, or about sixty a week. Approximately the number I’m currently seeing. Maybe a little more. So how many patients are on your panel? Talk about useless conversationsR...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs