cant find a doc

[Pontiacgp]

well still not luck,i found a pain mangment doctor and i have to have a referal,i called and told them about it,she said she will get back with me,they havent got me in with a spine specialist yet,im not sure how i lost weight,it just seemed to come off by itself

[rohrer01]

If you got on disability (SSD or SSI), don't you have medicaid AND medicare? As far as I know you don't need referrals unless the provider you are trying to see doesn't accept your insurance. I made my own appointment with a specialist (not for back) when I was having trouble with another issue. I had medicaid at the time. I didn't have a problem. I did, however, ask my PCP/GP (my regular doctor) to send in a referral after the fact just to cover my bases. He did, but it wasn't necessary. You need to tell the provider what insurance/s you have and find out from their financial department if you really do need a referral. If you don't need a referral, then you can quit wasting your time waiting for one. Usually if you have medicare, you can go anywhere that accepts medicare. The same with medicaid. Make a few calls and MAKE SURE. You could be wasting valuable time. You need to be dealing with the financial departments of these doctor's offices. Some doctor's automatically assume you need a referral. That's the way it is if you have an HMO. HMO's only allow you to see doctor's within their network. Even then, I've found out that I don't need a referral IF I go within my own network. I used to waste a lot of time waiting for the referral letters to go through. Now I just make appointments within my network if I feel I need to see a specialist. My insurance has always paid.

[Pontiacgp]

yes ive got medicaid,when i find a doctors office the first thing i ask is do they accept medicaid if not i say alright thanks,there isnt a spine doctor in my area,there used to be one i went to when i was younger but they stopped taking medicaid,i live in crandall,ga zip 30711,the closest one i could find is atlanta ga which is roughly 1 hr 45 mins away,with the pain managment doctor they said sometimes they accept medicaid and id have to have a referal

[Pontiacgp]

Ok here's the update, I finally got into a spine specialist my self, apparently the doctors or nurses couldn't do their job cause there was one 20 miles from me and nobody knew and I called them myself but I get to go April 23rd and my pain is only worse and hopefully they will give me something, it sucks being homebound alot

[rohrer01]

Pontiacgp,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but spine specialists RARELY prescribe pain meds. They leave that up to the pain specialists or your primary care physician (PCP). They are interested in treating you surgically and that's about it. So, if I were you, I wouldn't wait until the 23 to try to get some pain relief. Call your PCP.

Thanks for the update. That's GREAT news that you found a spine specialist so close. Make sure that s/he specializes in scoliosis. You need specialized care.

Let us know if you can get any pain meds on board until your appointment. I find that ibuprofen or naproxen sometimes work better than a narcotic, depending on the source of your pain.

Good Luck!

[mabeckoff]

[QUOTE=rohrer01;158077]Pontiacgp,
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but spine specialists RARELY prescribe pain meds. They leave that up to the pain specialists or your primary care physician (PCP). They are interested in treating you surgically and that's about it. So, if I were you, I wouldn't wait until the 23 to try to get some pain relief. Call your PCP.

/QUOTE]

Rohrer is correct. Do not wait for the spine doctor to prescribe you pain meds. Either go to pain management or your PCP

Melissa

[Pontiacgp]

I'm still waiting to get into pain management,he does specialize on scoliosis, my pcp is only like diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure and things along that line, they can't prescribe pain medication, they told me this doctor can give me something, I went to a ortho place and they literally did nothing but gave me mobic and flexaril which mobic did nothing and flexaril just made me sleepy and the ortho doc is trying to get me into pain management which is taking awhile so when I went to my pcp I told her I found a spine doctor and she referred me, so that's were I'm standing now