Some doctors question quality of $179 package
For anyone who has ever seen a medical bill, an offer touting seven diagnostic tests for $179 seems too good to be true.
But it’s real. And popular.
You simply have to go to a supermarket parking lot and step into an RV where technicians use an ultrasound and electrocardiogram to check your heart, arteries and blood circulation to gauge your risk for heart disease and stroke.
All in about 30 minutes.
Phil and Sallie Breakey saw an ad in The Dispatch and had the tests done a couple of weeks ago at a Kroger parking lot in Reynoldsburg.
“We’re getting old and thought, ‘What the heck?'” said Mr. Breakey, 67. “It’s reasonably priced, so we may as well check it out.”
The screenings are done by HealthFair, a Florida-based company that operates 18 mobile units in 35 states and tests more than 100,000 people a year.
The company was in central Ohio earlier this month and will return in July.
The typical patient is female and older than 50. The company doesn’t deal with insurance companies, so patients pay the bill.
The company keeps costs down by screening high volumes of patients – 35 per day, per unit – unlike a doctor’s office that might use its ultrasound machine two to three times a day. Plus, costs stay low by not dealing with insurance companies or having buildings to maintain, said Marissa Wallner, a HealthFair spokeswoman.
The images are read by doctors who are board-certified in the states where they work, she said.
Patients receive a report with the results in two to three weeks. They also can have copies sent to as many as two doctors. If they want to see the actual images, they can pay $25 for CDs.
“We encourage people to take these results back to their physicians,” said Ray Ekbatani, the company’s marketing director.
If a technician notices anything that would require immediate action – say, a clogged artery – an ambulance is called to the mobile unit, Wallner said.
Some doctors find the traveling testing units a sham.
“It’s another perfect example of someone trying to make money by offering the unsuspecting public” something that they claim will offer peace of mind, said Dr. Peter Lafferty, a Columbus radiologist.
Lafferty said patients often bring him screening reports “done at a mall” and want him to figure it out. That means more tests and more money.
“It’s kind of fringe medicine; it’s garbage,” he said.
HealthFair is one of several traveling screening companies. There also are brick-and-mortar companies, such as Life Line Screening, which is based in Independence, Ohio, near Cleveland.
Dr. David Neiger, a Northwest Columbus family doctor, said many of his patients use Life Line Screening.
“Frankly, for a lot of my older patients, it’s not a bad deal,” he said. “Since Medicare will not pay for a (diagnostic) screening test, this is a good option for them.”
If there’s a problem, he’ll repeat the test, which is covered by Medicare.
As far as the traveling screening companies, Neiger said he’d want to make sure their equipment works properly and that the physicians reading the results are qualified.
These screening companies and retail health clinics are new to medicine, but they can do their part to make sure the health information they collect makes it back to the patient’s family doctor, said Jeff Biehl, executive director of Access HealthColumbus.
“Those are things that have value, but how do we find ways to connect that information, obviously with patient consent, so it can be used by other providers in the health-care system?” he said.
Source: THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Comments are closed.
Copyright 2015 - Pulse Practice Solutions | 615.425.2719