Gee Thanks, Urgent Care!

Kaiser gives them out too. I get a "morbid obesity" with an upside exclamation mark every time. Don't ask on the upside exclamation mark, I have no idea.

Wow, I'd say American healthcare is an upside down exclamation point. Wow.

I'm a huge fan of Teladoc for that reason. I despise going to Urgent Care and I can usually get what I need from Teladoc with much less hassle and for less money. In fact, my copay for using Teladoc is now $0. Not sure if you have that benefit available to you, but for those people who do, it's a great service.

Sounds like a massive case of CYA. They told you about it so now they are not responsible. "You were warned". Bleh. Talk about cookie cutter medicine! I'm sorry you are feeling poorly and hope you feel much better soon!

I remember one time in my early 20s, I was pregnant and had a gal bladder attack. I went to the ER and when they did the ultra sound of the gal bladder I saw them write "extremely large patient". Back in the days when they still did paper charts.

Urgent Care's job is to address needs to make you stable until you can see your PCP. They're not going to go beyond the acute reason you came there. Your lucky they did anything extra at all.

Automated print outs hardly count as something "extra." However, we clearly have differently functioning urgent care facilities as the ones near me all act as primary care locations in addition to the urgent care - so they do quite a bit more than an ER would. I.e., more than just stabilization.

This reply was to Valerie G who seems to have blocked me or deleted her comment.

I do medical billing for a chiropractor. The paperwork is required by the feds by ALL medical offices, there are penalties if the office does not hand out the after visit reports, does not ask a litany of standard questions, and does not nag people about tobacco use, weight, and a long list of other "unhealthy" behaviors. There is no exceptions. So podiatrist in Tennessee are getting penalized because their patients use tobacco, even though they legally can only suggest that a patient consult their primary doctor for cessation help. Why? Because to do more would be outside their license. Chiropractors are getting penalized for that, weight management, and blood pressure control, when they may not even agree with a patient that Tylenol may help with their back pain. Any of those are grounds to loose a Chiropratic license, as they may NOT make any prescription or what might seem to be a prescription. They may not provide nutritional counseling etc... but they must ask each patient what medications they take. They must take patients blood pressure, they must ask if patients smoke.

Heck, the list goes on, and on. The clinic I go to is at the point where EVERY member of the medical staff asks the same questions. From the nurse that takes my vitals, to the nurse who does the initial subjective symptom gathering, to the tech that draws the blood, the surgical fellow, and then the doctor. Each one asks the same list of questions that the one before did. Then at the end there is the pile of paper that tells you all about stuff that are not the issue I went in for but are nag o grams about weight, etc. But the information about what my issue was today, are 3 or less lines in medical jargon that boils down to "do what the doctor told you".

Unfortuately, it is only going to get worse as doctors are going to have more requirements pushed on them and we patients are going to get less from our doctors. Medicine in the US is not about working with people to help they be healthy. It is about making money for the pharmaceutical and insurance companies. And as long as we have a government who only cares about keeping the rich rich, there can be no change.

There are a number of regulations and bodies trying to work toward population health and patient centered care - it's just a slow going process that, sadly, is anathema to our current health care system. :(

And there are certainly ways to meet The meaningful use requirements for EHRs without the passive aggressive "you're fat" print outs.