Great for Colorado. Here in Florida if you have a laceration requiring sutures--or just about anything similar--urgent care will refuse to treat you and will divert you to the local ER. When I asked for the cash price for a service, they CALLED SECURITY and considered me some kind of threat. No kidding. The willingness of urgent care facilities to follow advice here varies enormously by state and institution. Most urgent care facilities here are extremely limited, too.
By "advice here" I meant the advice contained in this article. My experience with the dominant hospital corps here in Florida (chiefly HCA and Ascension Sacred Heart) has been very different from what you report. They operate satellite urgent care facilities whose purpose seems to be to funnel you right into their ERs.
Good points, Sara. Thank you for the comments! It's certainly important to be cautious with *any* hospital-owned facility or clinic. And yes, it's common to get the stink eye when you ask for cash prices. We go against the grain when we press them to justify their practices. Calling security for asking for cash prices is nuts!
I think it was because I was polite but persistent.
That doesn't always work. I have been dumped by doctors for being "non-compliant" (i.e., too much trouble and taking up more than my 4.8 minutes of their priceless time). I have complex problems and expect to get my money's worth.
One specialist who had a chip on her shoulder from the moment she walked into examining room eventually revealed that she was threatened by the fact that I have a stronger background in neuroscience than she does when I corrected a factual (ignorant) error she made. She became hostile and rushed through the interview. Later a staff member told me that she declined to have (dumped) me as a patient.
I spent 20 years in academic medicine and don't tolerate that kind of arrogant nonsense. I'm also much older than most of my docs.
I think we make a mistake in assuming that the majority of docs can rise above their own programming to always be an unquestioned authority and respect the expertise and experience of others. That is not my typical experience at all.
Great for Colorado. Here in Florida if you have a laceration requiring sutures--or just about anything similar--urgent care will refuse to treat you and will divert you to the local ER. When I asked for the cash price for a service, they CALLED SECURITY and considered me some kind of threat. No kidding. The willingness of urgent care facilities to follow advice here varies enormously by state and institution. Most urgent care facilities here are extremely limited, too.
By "advice here" I meant the advice contained in this article. My experience with the dominant hospital corps here in Florida (chiefly HCA and Ascension Sacred Heart) has been very different from what you report. They operate satellite urgent care facilities whose purpose seems to be to funnel you right into their ERs.
Good points, Sara. Thank you for the comments! It's certainly important to be cautious with *any* hospital-owned facility or clinic. And yes, it's common to get the stink eye when you ask for cash prices. We go against the grain when we press them to justify their practices. Calling security for asking for cash prices is nuts!
I think it was because I was polite but persistent.
That doesn't always work. I have been dumped by doctors for being "non-compliant" (i.e., too much trouble and taking up more than my 4.8 minutes of their priceless time). I have complex problems and expect to get my money's worth.
One specialist who had a chip on her shoulder from the moment she walked into examining room eventually revealed that she was threatened by the fact that I have a stronger background in neuroscience than she does when I corrected a factual (ignorant) error she made. She became hostile and rushed through the interview. Later a staff member told me that she declined to have (dumped) me as a patient.
I spent 20 years in academic medicine and don't tolerate that kind of arrogant nonsense. I'm also much older than most of my docs.
I think we make a mistake in assuming that the majority of docs can rise above their own programming to always be an unquestioned authority and respect the expertise and experience of others. That is not my typical experience at all.