Topic: High blood Pressure

Saturday – a day of free health care outreach

July 10, 2009 |

Two events focus on free health care outreach. July 11th to be a day of dual health care outreach events for Clarksville-Montgomery County residents.

Free Kidney Disease Screening Available Saturday!

Consider these simple questions:

1. Do you have diabetes?
2. Do you have hypertension (high blood pressure)?
3. Do you have a family history of high blood pressure or diabetes?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you are at risk for kidney disease. This Saturday, July 11th, you, your family, loved ones and friends can get free medical assistance. Faith Outreach Church is hosting a free kidney screening from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The church is located at 731 Windermere Drive. While the screenings are free, pre-registration is requested. Call 615-383-3887 to pre-register.

Free Centerstone Mental Health Fair «Read the rest of this article»

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A day in the life of a primary care physician: prior authorizations, denials, & delays in treatment

June 28, 2009 |

The national debate on health reform has uncovered innumerable “health care horror stories” in which cancer patients worry more about their bills than their malignancy or where pregnant women are laid off and dropped from their insurance soon before their due date.  These stories are tragic, and unconscionable for the richest country in the world, however, as a physician, this is not my typical experience.  Instead, what I see every day is patients with private health insurance who cannot afford the copays for their medications, delays in treatment as I grovel for prior authorization with a non-physician utilization reviewer, and patients stuck with huge bills for routine services that they thought they were covered for.

In my practice, patients have a mix of private and public coverage.  While I work with some extremely impoverished patients who qualify for public insurance through Medicaid, it is the people with employee sponsored private insurance who are most at risk for roadblocks to care.  As a primary care physician, it is hard enough to fit all of the recommended screening, health education, and chronic disease management that complex patients need into a fifteen minute visit.  When the burden of battling with insurance companies is added to the equation, there is no way that I can succeed.  My patients, especially the ones with private insurance, are forced to deal with the high copays, denials of claims, and delays in care. «Read the rest of this article»

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