Dr. Boachie

[LindaRacine]

I've known Dr. Boachie for years. He has been nothing but kind and gracious around me. His policies are what they are, so that he can donate a large amount of his time (and his income) to help the people of under serviced areas such as Ghana.

Working in a clinic has given me some insight into the workings. New patient coordinators are bombarded with a huge number of phone calls and emails every day. To get to the people who are best served by a surgical clinic, I assume that a number of shortcuts are taken to weed out those who aren't appropriate. (For example, in our clinic, patients with back pain, who have not been diagnosed and/or referred by a physician, are generally turned away.) In Dr. Boachie's case, since he does not accept insurance reimbursement, it makes sense to let callers know immediately, that they have that policy. In other words, there is no sense in spending a lot of time qualifying patients, if they're not able or willing to comply with the clinic policies.

I am not trying to defend these people or their policies, but am offering a possible explanation of why it happens. It would be wonderful if all the doctors, nurses, coordinators, and assistants were able to take all the time each patient needs, but the reality is that, the better the surgeon, the higher the demand for their time, and the time of their support staff.

--Linda

[jrnyc]

i agree with you, Maria...
how much more time does it take to be kind than to be rude...?
i am sure Shriners is super busy as well...yet they seem to be able to
convey information in a concerned and caring manner...
i see no excuse for abrupt and curt treatment by any doctor's staff...
uncalled for...maybe Boachie has the wrong people working for him in his
front office....
especially when people contacting his office are probably upset to begin with....
perhaps Dr Boachie is not aware of the attitude of his staff?

and i do understand why it has crossed your mind, Maria....
there are lots of poor people here in the states, people who can't afford surgery
i understand that a doctor has the right to do charity work where ever he/she
chooses, with explanation to no one....
but that doesn't mean one cannot wonder about it...

jess

[mabeckoff]

i agree with you, Maria...
how much more time does it take to be kind than to be rude...?
i am sure Shriners is super busy as well...yet they seem to be able to
convey information in a concerned and caring manner...
i see no excuse for abrupt and curt treatment by any doctor's staff...
uncalled for...maybe Boachie has the wrong people working for him in his
front office....
especially when people contacting his office are probably upset to begin with....
perhaps Dr Boachie is not aware of the attitude of his staff?

and i do understand why it has crossed your mind, Maria....
there are lots of poor people here in the states, people who can't afford surgery
i understand that a doctor has the right to do charity work where ever he/she
chooses, with explanation to no one....
but that doesn't mean one cannot wonder about it...

jess

I agree with you Jess totally.

[mariaf]

i agree with you, Maria...
how much more time does it take to be kind than to be rude...?
i am sure Shriners is super busy as well...yet they seem to be able to
convey information in a concerned and caring manner...jess

I doubt that many offices field more calls and e-mails than a place like Shriners (in particular the one in Philly, due to their reputation) - I agree with what Linda said about 'the better the surgeon, the higher the demand for their time' and yet guys like Dr. Betz always make patients feel important, never rushed, etc. And his staff likewise. Take, for instance, Janet Cerrone (the PA to the spine team in Philly) - she gets hundreds of calls and e-mails, often from distraught parents who may not even be thinking straight at the time - and without fail, I hear the same thing from parents after they talk with Janet on the phone - that she put them at ease immediately, and was extremely patient, kind and compassionate - regarless of how many other calls she had to return after talking to them.

I respect those here who admire Dr. Boachie - they are entitled to their opinion - just as I stand behind mine. It just doesn't make sense to me that there's any need to be rude or abrupt ESPECIALLY when one is so giving and compassionate outside of this country......either you are caring with your patients or you aren't.

[Karen Ocker]

You get what you pay for.

Because insurance companies pay a fixed amount for procedures many physicians have opted not to participate in order to maintain their own staff benefits/insurance. This is also true for Medicare. The reimbursements that would pay a decent amount to a surgeon have been cut to fatten CEO salaries and satisfy shareholders. Insurance companies are "for profit". The patient suffers. This means lesser trained, cheaper practitioners(nurses aides/medical assistants). It used to be a doctor's office had RNs (Dr. B's office still has RNs.)
I almost got the wrong vaccine, at my primary's office, because the MA(medical assistant) took out the wrong vaccine(I needed the one against shingles and already had the one for pneumonia). I checked the vial myself-it was the wrong one. She actually blew the mistake off! I wrote to my doctor and she was fired. Lesser trained personnel are much cheaper. Interns and residents are also cheaper.

In past years the insurance company would pay the non-participating physician a higher out-of-network fee than to the participating doctor.Lately, insurance companies have been getting more and more restrictive. This is the sad state of affairs. In my case, nine years ago, Dr. B took the out of network benefit which apparently was adequate. So don't blame the doctor.

How the information is conveyed to a prospective patient is another matter.

I have found the same with other non-scoliosis docs. I used a non-participating breast center these past years and my service was excellent and seamless. My friend went to participating doc and was running all over the place with biopsies and x-rays.

[jrnyc]

i don't think anyone is blaming doctors for whatever fees they want to take
or not take...i go to some doctors who have opted out of taking any
insurance once they have become well enough off/popular enough to afford
to do so...
if taking insurance contributes to a doctor's staff being rude and abrupt,
maybe that doctor SHOULD opt out of insurance....it seems like a rotten excuse
for a lack of manners!

jess

[rohrer01]

Aside from all this debate about Dr. B's policies, How did your visit go? You were scheduled earlier this month, right? I hope everything is okay.

[mariaf]

i don't think anyone is blaming doctors for whatever fees they want to take
or not take...i go to some doctors who have opted out of taking any
insurance once they have become well enough off/popular enough to afford
to do so...
if taking insurance contributes to a doctor's staff being rude and abrupt,
maybe that doctor SHOULD opt out of insurance....it seems like a rotten excuse
for a lack of manners!

jess

Agreed, Jess. Nobody is saying doctors shouldn't be paid, or even paid well for their expertise.

But I fail to see what it has to do with having compassion - or a lack thereof - when dealing with patients. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but one could say that the more the doctor is being paid, the more his staff might try to go out of their way to be nice.

Bottom line, as you say, is that there really is no excuse for lack of manners. It's something I hope I have taught my kids already and certainly something that someone in a position where they are dealing with serious issues should have learned a long time ago.

[loves to skate]

Agreed, Jess. Nobody is saying doctors shouldn't be paid, or even paid well for their expertise.

But I fail to see what it has to do with having compassion - or a lack thereof - when dealing with patients. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but one could say that the more the doctor is being paid, the more his staff might try to go out of their way to be nice.

Bottom line, as you say, is that there really is no excuse for lack of manners. It's something I hope I have taught my kids already and certainly something that someone in a position where they are dealing with serious issues should have learned a long time ago.

Amen to that Maria. Not everyone has the innate ability to be compassionate toward patients, but it can be taught. The hospital where I worked as a Medical Technologist had classes on just this subject. Patients are clients and we are here to serve them. Even angry patients or angry family members. There are ways to defuse most angry situations and there are ways to treat even the meekest of patients. From this class, I also learned how to apply this when I became a patient myself dealing with tired overworked nurses and aides. It is how we would like to be treated ourselves. Dr. Boachie needs to train his people or find someone who can do it for him. Maybe the people who have been the object of rudeness need to write a letter or email to him so that he knows how they are being treated by the front office. Hopefully he cares enough to do something about it.

[mariaf]

Wow, that's great that they actually trained folks in how to handle patients compassionately. I agree that, while compassion may come naturally to some, for others it can be taught, at least as far as how to speak to patients (what to say, what not to say, etc.). I wonder how common this practice of training personnel on this topic is? IMHO it should be part of the training for these types of positions all the time.

[osumike]

WOW! This became quite the hot topic eh? I haven't been on here since I got back from NY. Well my experience with DR. Boachie and his entire office staff was great. No issues at all. Whoever said he doesn't have much small talk is right, but I really got a good vibe. He seemed genuinely interested and concerned with my issues. There were even a couple other people that peeked their heads in the exam room door just to ask me about Dr. Bridwell, and about what happened out there.

Well, they measured my height at 6'6", it wasn't that long ago that I was 6'9". My thoracic curve is now at 80 degrees, lumbar 60. A year and a half ago in St. Louis I was told they were both around 66 degrees. I wasn't aware of any kyphosis, but I'm looking at the office notes that say "the thoracic kyphosis is 16*. He has a 22* T10-L2 thoracolumbar kyphosis with 43* lumbar lordosis. Coronal imbalance is 4.2 cm and sagittal malalignment is 10.3 cm." Now I've heard those terms used on this forum but never about my spine. So he said he would definitely do the surgery, and it would include fusion fron T2 or T3 to sacrum, with thorocoplasty. That's totally different than what was going to be done in St. Louis. Their plan was lumbar only.

So after the meeting with Dr. Boachie I met with a couple other people, the first one took $450 cash for the appointment, the other was the billing department. That was the interesting part. She basically came right out and said my insurance company would deny the surgery, and I'd have to fight with them. It's either that or I need to figure out how to come up with about $100,000 cash to cover Dr. Boachies fee. She said when the insurance company denies it, they'll type a letter outlining exactly what needs done to send to them and it kind of sounded like I'd be on my own from there. Being self employed, it's hard to get health insurance, let alone a great policy due to me having this pre-existing condition. The lady also told me that only about 1 in 10 people get approved for this surgery from their insurance company. Wow.

So if and when my insurance company says no, I have no idea where to go from there. I saw my family doctor the other day and his suggestion was to get an attorney and sue my insurance co. Anyone ever hear of doing that? I mean I'm running out of options here. The first four surgeons I've seen have said they either won't or can't do my surgery. Hopefully something will work out with Dr. Boachie. I really liked him.

On another subject, I decided to drive myself into the city to the hospital for my appt...are there even any traffic laws in NYC???! That was crazy! We stayed in a hotel in New Jersey and the GPS said it would take 12 minutes to get there...an hour and 45 minutes later I was signing in at Dr. B's office...Good thing we left early enough!

[jrnyc]

hi Mike
welcome home!

ahhh...NYC traffic...quite the initiation, wasn't it...NEVER assume any time frame to get from
one street to the next....whatever you expect, multiply by 20, ESPECIALLY during holiday
season!!!

glad you got a good vibe, but i expected the problem you hit to happen exactly that way,
as you once mentioned on forum that you were self employed and your insurance wasn't
the greatest....

just a warning....insurance companies have lawyers 24/7...
private patients don't....the insurance people can usually wait out we
"ordinary" people until we run out of money for legal fees! the insurance companies,
obviously, do not run out of money!!!!
i would be really careful about approaching it with a lawyer...maybe consult
with a lawyer and ask them what your chances are and how long he/she thinks
the lawsuit would take....you could give the story to the news media for
sympathy, but that someitmes works and sometimes doesn't work....

the only thing next i can think of is finding a surgeon who takes your insurance....
to go into deep debt for a surgery is risky....might not even be possible to do...

hope you find the answers...
jess

[rohrer01]

Hello, Mike. Linda Racine posted a thread on having trouble with insurance denials. It's one of the sticky threads in blue. Apparently there is a group out there that helps people with this. I think it might not hurt for you to take a look at the thread and the website posted. I'm so sorry to hear about the financial woes part of this whole ordeal. I totally understand! Now, if you were 15 years old you wouldn't have any problems at all getting help. It's just once we become adults that the help stops. Everyone feels sorry for a child with problems, but they forget that those children grow up! It's an aggrivating subject to me. Yes, I feel sorry for the kids, too, and would probably help a child myself before I would help an adult. I think it's just inborn in us to favor children. But not fair for those children that grow up and never got the help. I'm rambling because I'm tired. The whole pre-existing condition thing is very hard to get past. Insurance companies are in the money making business, so if they even think that they MIGHT lose money on a person, they don't want to insure them. It's too bad you can't get on some group policy somehow. I'm only able to have insurance because of my husband's job. I'm totally uninsurable, so I'm really surprised you found an insurance company at all, as my condition is nowhere near as bad as yours. I truly hope you can figure something out and I'm glad you found a doc willing to take you on. From what I've read about Boachie, he seems to like a real challenge rather than being afraid of one. Best wishes.

[osumike]

Just wanted to let anyone who cares know that I'm sitting in the waiting room at Dr. Dewald's office in Chicago. I made this appointment a few weeks before I set up the meeting with Dr. Boachie. I originally was going to cancel this one but figured it wouldn't hurt to get another opinion. After all, Dr. Dewald was one of the doctors that the people in St. Louis suggested I see. Its very busy here, theres alot of people in the waiting room. I got here at 10:00, my appt was for 10:30, and now its already 11:15. Well I know theres a few of you who have used Dewalds services, I'd like to hear about your experiences. Ok, the battery on my tablet is about to die so I'll update this later...Have a great day!

[rohrer01]

We care! Let us know how it goes! I've heard of a good doc in Chicago, but I haven't heard of this one, not saying he's not top-notch. I just don't know all of the good docs out there. I'm curious to see who you like better, since you really seemed to like Boachie a LOT. Take Care!