Now I know this forum is truly biased, with the same MD's making comments on everything and anything, without any real substantive info. Let me set the record straight, kinda like Bill O'rielly does when MSNBC spins the Obama ticket.
When physicians, like myself, see PI patients they go through a series of treatment options, including; PT, chiro, antiinflammatories, Tramadol, meds, traction, CBT, epidurals, and so forth. If they continue to have pain for over 3-4 months duration and want some long-term treatment for their disc pathology (so they can settle a case in a reasonable time frame) the options are limited to disc decompression, formal surgery, or dealing with it.
Not everybody wants to be on 300mg of lyrica or 60mg of Oxycontin for the rest of their life. Obviously most spine issues improve with time, and most disc decompression procedures are occuring after at least 6-9months. I guess if everybody goes to Dr. Tenema's office, and receives one epidural, motrin, lidoderm patch, and a slap on the back, every one would be better. But in the real world, PI can work just fine. Patients have to be treated and if one remains ethical, PDD procedures are legit.
So stop making bogus statement, like MD's get 10K per case, etc. I have never seen this, the procedure is covered under commercial insurance/Medicare. And by state law one must submit a 62287 to commercial insurance first, before an attorney can make a pay-out.
If discocare is doing something unethical, then that is on them, but don't critique MD's, when you don't have a clue.
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