Full office visit co-pay charged for MyChart message

[u/arwenthenoble]

I had a question about a temporary medication I was taking and sent a message via MyChart. The message was only regarding the medication (no other health questions were asked).

I received my EOB and was charged a full $50 co-pay like when I go in person for a visit or have a full video visit. When I looked online, I see in general messaging costs listed as much lower than a visit. Does this mean my insurance doesn’t differentiate a full visit from a brief question in a message? If I had known, I would’ve scheduled an online telehealth visit instead.

I’ve had a lot of medical costs this year and another random $50 stings. I will avoid using MyChart going forward.

[u/nyc2pit]

Lol. Good luck.

Most specialists I know (including me) don't answer these messages.

[u/NavyBeanz → u/nyc2pit]

Ok well I guess I am lucky? Mine answer all the time and one literally gave me his cell phone number and texts me back like immediately. I don’t know why that’s bad? It seems like they really care about their patients 

[u/nyc2pit → u/NavyBeanz]

You must be. I'm a specialist and I can promise you I'm not answering. I have a family and interests outside of the office, and if you're going to pull me away from them the LEAST I'm gonna get is some compensation from it.

I give a few people my cell phone number. Most of them are good about it, but I have abusers of that too.

[u/NavyBeanz → u/nyc2pit]

Ok so you do give a few your cell phone number. Are these high risk or medically complex patients?

[u/nyc2pit → u/NavyBeanz]

Those I think might have a need to let me know something urgently. And that I trust.

Sometimes other docs families.

I know what your getting at though. You're not special. I have plenty of "medically complex" patients and the vast majority of them do.bot need my number. They can call.the office like everyone else.

[u/NavyBeanz → u/nyc2pit]

Ok but my urologist gave me his number. I didn’t make him. Why is your issue with me?

[u/nyc2pit → u/NavyBeanz]

No issue with you.

Plenty of issue with your comments.

Your urologist is exceptional. Make sure you treat him as such.

[u/NavyBeanz → u/nyc2pit]

I’m only commenting on my own experience and my own experience is that my specialists encourage us to use the portal and respond to it. I never knew it was a thing until this post.  

I hope my urologist is. He’s doing a procedure on me on Monday. He’s also 63 and is the son of medical missionaries. He might have gone into medicine for a different reason than you. 

[u/nyc2pit → u/NavyBeanz]

Sorry to be the one to break it to you ....

Medicine used to be a calling. And it was very well compensated so it was easy to be generous. Your urologist likely has a 8 figure net worth, paid off his loans in the first 2 years of practice, was his own boss, etc.

It's now mostly job. Loans are mid-six figures for most. Pay is good but nothing like what it was - as long as you're a specialist and not a PCP who is vastly underpaid. You work for a corporate conglomerate and your boss is an MBA who knows fuck all about medicine but can whip up those excel spreadsheets in no time.

So please excuse me while I say "fuck off" to your implication that your urologist is a hero and I'm just in it for the money. Your good vibes doesn't pay my mortgage, or put my kids through college.

[u/NavyBeanz → u/nyc2pit]

You really should redirect your anger to administration and insurance and not patients

[u/Outside_Plankton8195 → u/NavyBeanz]

It's not common practice at all to hand out personal phone numbers to patients unless it's concierge medicine. We need professional boundaries with patients. We DO and want to care about patients but you are one of the 1000s we see. I don't know what you do for living, but imagine clients reaching out to you on the weekend or during a vacation. You'd want them to respect your privacy right? That doesn't mean you don't care about them. We need the boundaries to keep providing quality care or we would burn out. And we don't give away medical advise for free after having a half million debt and sacrificing health and putting life on pause for years in medical training.

[u/NavyBeanz → u/Outside_Plankton8195]

No I was shocked he called me on a weekend after looking at the portal and then told me I could call him on the cell phone he was calling on, and would answer my texts like immediately when I did.

But he’s also 63 and one of the founders of the urology group, likely doesn’t have debt, blah blah. 

I think it USED to be this way like pre-90s before doctors had so many patients. Hell Doctors used to do house calls back in the day 

Healthcare HAS changed and I’ve been out of it for long time as a patient, then I got sick this year and came into the world of portals, and was told to communicate with the doctors with them. They responded promptly and I never questioned it because they never made it seem like a problem or something they’d charge for. If it’s not a problem for them why is it a problem for me?

My other specialist is also 50 so maybe he’s not worried about loans anymore either 

[u/nyc2pit → u/[deleted]]

Hahaha. Thanks for the laugh.

My office staff reads them. They either handle it or schedule an appt.

Never touching those time wastes.