SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

Duke physician group says it won't treat veterans
2/24/2005 9:49 AM
By: Associated Press

(DURHAM) - A group of physicians at Duke University are threatening to stop treating military
veterans referred by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center because the VA won't pay enough.

Executives of Duke's Private Diagnostic Clinic physicians' group voted to stop treating the veterans last month
because the VA system wouldn't agree to pay them more than 100 percent of current Medicare reimbursement
rates.

PDC Executive Director Paul Newman wrote in a memo that the group wouldn't treat VA patients. The memo
says the new rule was to take effect January 15th, but it hasn't yet.

Durham VA Hospital spokesman Hal Hummell says the agency is negotiating with Duke about the reimbursement
rate for patients referred to PDC when the VA physicians can't provide needed care.

Hummell says he knows of no other situations across the country in which VA hospitals paid physicians more
than the going Medicare rate.

http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=64433&SecID=2

[srmorton]

IMO, they should treat them for free in gratitude for their service to our
country and to support the four military bases that provide millions of
dollars to the economy of our state (NC).
_________________
Susan R. Morton

[Guest]

this in an email from joe oliver, houston,tx. :

Defend Our Veterans from
Medical Terrorists

We are short of time today and time shortage is the biggest deficit
we all face at times, yet I would like to stir the coal once more on
the following issue.

GREED came to mind as I read the latest Article submitted by Reb.
(he's an east coast reb - but we let him use the name ) Who do
we find leading the charge to charge more than 100% (hmmmm is
my GED math skewed up - I thought 100% meant it's the bottom line)
- a name passed to News & Views earlier today from Duke (anon) as the
king kong of medical terrorism Theodore Pappas. ( see previous News
& Views for his bio. ) Veterans are not the only group he's pulled this
stunt with.. ( more on who else when required )

Maybe Pappas(s) is a imagringo who does not understand this is the US of A
and we do not negotiate with Terrorists.

Has there ever been a time in history when the distinction between good
and evil was ever more clear? Pappas(s) magnify's the clarity of the evil
within.

Isn't terrorism morally inferior to an ethic of care — which aims to mend
the suffering of others? Inferior to an ethic of retribution — which appears
at least to first determine the responsibility of those it harms or kills.

True to form, the actions of those at Duke responsible for this travesty
proves one thing, that TERRORISM (terrorist(s)) HAS (have) NO CONSCIENCE.

The VA needs to tell them 100% equates to 100% no matter how you try and
manipulate the figures. If they decide to discriminate against our veterans then
we need to look at their federal funding source(s) and make the appropriate
adjustment. NO NEGOTIATIONS WITH THESE MEDICAL TERRORISTS.
NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER.

We do not negotiate with terrorists.
We do not sign documents with terrorists.
We hunt them down.

If we have learned any lesson in our short history as a nation,
is that if you negotiate politically or other wise under terrorist
threat , you invite more terror.

It doesn't matter what kind of terrorism be it political or, as in this
instant, the refusal to treat those who kept our nation free, allowed
doctors to be doctors if thats what they wanted to do, not what the
state chose for their profession, and allowed them to generate an
income second to no one... but greed does funny things to many
if this stroy isn't the epitamy ..... nuff said. 100% or get lost and a
review of any federal money received to be ajusted down or
eliminated, as discrimination against our Veterans is a violation of
our laws and subjects you to immediate cancelation of any federal
funding.

When your attacked, FIGHTBACK!
and thats the way it is...

Joe Oliver, GED (bet they don't have one of those!)
News & Views (Not Politically Correct, No Speil Chicker, No GrammaTics ( Got Gramm a Tic Collar )
Not a Yes man.
Houston, TX
MicMac by Blood
There is no word for good-bye in Mi'kmaq.
There is a term that informally translated is,
"Be seeing you again". Ne'multes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

From and oldie but good guy Reb...
-------------------------------
Bout Duke..."sue me!"
Duke docs, VA talk 'fair' rates
----------------------------------------------
BY JIM SHAMP : The Herald-Sun
jshamp@heraldsun.com
Feb 24, 2005 : 10:46 pm ET

DURHAM -- A spokesman for a group of Duke University Medical Center
doctors said Thursday the specialists will keep treating military
veterans during pay negotiations with Durham's Veterans Affairs
Medical Center, despite a threatened cutoff.

The spokesman also said the Duke doctors treated the veterans for
free for 10 to 15 years, until the VA agreed to start paying them for
their services at the same scale paid by Medicare about two years
ago. Now the doctors hope to be paid more.

"We're in negotiations, going through a transition to come up with a
fair reimbursement rate that reflects our work with these patients,"
said Theodore Pappas, medical director of the Private Diagnostic
Clinic.

The PDC is an organization of nearly 1,000 Duke medical school
faculty physicians -- specialists in virtually every medical
discipline who treat patients at Duke University Hospital, Durham
Regional Hospital and at least 38 clinic sites around the state.

The Herald-Sun reported Thursday that PDC executives voted to stop
serving the veterans Jan. 15 because the VA system wouldn't pay them
more than 100 percent of current Medicare reimbursement rates.

PDC Executive Director Paul Newman said in a Jan. 7 memo to group
members that the doctors' group had failed in negotiations with
VA "regarding our desire to execute a contract at a fair market
rate." So, Newman wrote, the PDC administrative board had notified VA
hospital officials that the Medicare reimbursement rate was
unacceptable.

The memo said, in part, that "as of January 15th, 2005, physicians in
the PDC will no longer treat, except as required under applicable
law ... eligible VA beneficiaries at Duke University Hospital, Durham
Regional Hospital and any of the various clinic locations of the PDC
when the Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for payment
for such services."

But the doctors did not carry out the threatened cutoff, opting
instead to keep negotiating with the local VA officials.

Duke declined to discuss the situation on Tuesday and Wednesday.
After Thursday's story, Duke medical officials agreed to comment
publicly on the issue.

"Contracting is contracting and patient care is patient care," Pappas
said Thursday. "They're two different things. We're proud to continue
the relationship with VA, so we're always going to do that. But we
don't think the current system adequately provides for the very, very
specialized services we provide to this small subset of patients."

Pappas and VA Hospital spokesman Hal Hummell said that more than six
months of negotiations have failed to end in an agreement on how to
compensate the Duke doctors for their portion of the care provided to
about 300 VA-referred patients a year. The VA also pays hospital
charges, which are not in dispute.

The VA refers the patients to Duke when they need the specialized
gear or know-how only available at the academic medical center across
Erwin Road from the 274-bed, 52-year-old VA hospital.

Pappas, who also serves as chief of general surgery at the Durham VA,
said the sticking point involves money the doctors feel they should
be paid for providing highly specialized treatments.

Medicare isn't set up to recognize some of the unusual and even
unique kinds of treatments, he said. So the PDC and VA have
negotiated higher compensation case-by-case -- an inefficient and
cumbersome process, Pappas said.

As a result, PDC doctors hope to negotiate something more effective,
possibly a flat rate "some small level above Medicare reimbursement
rates" to reflect the specialized nature of the Duke doctors'
contribution to VA patient care. Pappas said the impact
is "minuscule," because of the small number of VA patients seen at
Duke each year. By comparison, Duke treats about a million
outpatients alone every year, he said.

PDC doctors are accustomed to accepting Medicare pay. Duke University
Hospital alone received $269 million in Medicare and $134 million in
Medicaid payments in fiscal 2004. But the VA is a different arm of
the government medical milieu.

U.S. Rep. David Price, D-4th District, said he hopes the Duke doctors
and the VA are able to reach a workable agreement.

"I learned about the memo from your story, so it's not something
that's been public knowledge," said Price, who serves on a newly
formed House subcommittee on veterans' issues and is also a Duke
professor of political science.

"We've had some staff consultations today and we've been told what
you wrote was right -- there are ongoing discussions, and fortunately
nobody has enforced an ultimatum," Price said. "My concern is that
these veterans need this special subset of care that only Duke can
provide, so we need to make sure they aren't denied care."

Pappas said he's optimistic that the negotiations between the PDC and
the VA will result in a mutually agreeable pact.

"We're happy with the process and VA's happy with the process," he
said. "Meanwhile, we're still taking care of VA patients."

[PhantomSgt]

[rparrott21]

I live in Mckinney, Texas and my family doctor, George Childress is giving free care to dependents of vets...

[Tanya]

Private Diagnostic Clinic at Duke University Medical Center Terminates CIGNA Healthcare's Contract 8\25\03

"Under the terms of the current agreement, payments to the PDC have remained substantially below the cost of providing services needed by CIGNA members and well below reimbursement levels from similar insurers," said Paul Newman, executive director of PDC. "PDC has not received a rate increase in several years. We feel it is unreasonable for CIGNA not to cover the costs of providing services needed by their members."

http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?database=topstories.db&command=viewone&id=355&op=t

Private Diagnostic Clinic

Administration
Box 3810 Med. Ctr.
Paul Newman, Executive Director
(919) 613-7652

http://www.duke.edu/deptdir/Private_Diagnostic_Clinic.html

[PhantomSgt]

[kman]

Weird. We just received a letter from a large hospital (where our kids were born) saying they will no longer accept Blue Cross patients.

Kurt

[PhantomSgt]

[srmorton]

PhantomSgt, I started to put billions, but I am not good at numbers! I
just know how much Camp Lejeune USMC Base means to us here in
Jacksonville. We love our Marines and sailors!
_________________
Susan R. Morton

[GM Strong]

These guys probably get all kinds of recognition for the services rendered free to homeless, indigent, poor and even third world foreign gratis work. But our own military ought to pay up. Right?
_________________
8th Army Korea 68-69

[Tom Poole]

IMHO, our government ought to pay what this group requires. Figure out how much that is and reduce their federal grants accordingly. Simple accounting and boo to Duke. They probably get their arms and legs all mixed up anyway.
_________________
'58 Airedale HMR(L)-261 VMO-2

[PhantomSgt]

[lonevoice]

[redneckvet]

I am from NC and had a very unpleasant experience with Duke in 1984.

My sister at age 46 was referred to Duke Medical for exploratory surgery after her annual exam. I was informed by Duke that they would not operate unless I came up with $8,000 to supplement her insurance. I had to drive 150 miles and hand deliver a check before they would do anything. She was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer and they recommended "chemo" and "radiation" to slow the growth. I was sitting with my sister one day after one of her treatments when a doctor and a group of interns entered the room. The doctor began to poke and probe my sister while telling the interns the various stages of her cancer and that it was terminal. I met the doctor in the hallway and with some very choice words and threats, informed him that he was never to use my sister as a "classroom" project while in her presence. She died two months later at her local hospital.

As executor , I selected a lawyer from her home town to help me with the estate. The lawyer informed me that Duke was notorious for going after estates. His words were " Duke will get their money, one way or the other". In the end, I was able to sell off her assets and pay Duke Medical but it left very little for her children.

IMHO, Duke is very "revenue" driven and lacks the "compassion" that one would expect from an institution of it's caliber. Being a veteran will not be enough to receive treatment, it is a case of "show me the money"..........
_________________
"Full Tour Grunt"