USAFdoc said:
The military does NOT have a monopoly on "paperwork overload"; there are problems in civilian medicine as well. BUT, the military is exponentialy WORSE than anything I have ever seen compared to my civilian experience. Other docs please feel free to add to the below list that shows the military IS THE LARGEST HMO in todays health care market, and all the negatives that go with that. See the next thread for the start of the list. For docs still waiting to get to their military practice, have your pens and your patience primed.
let me say some specifics on just what kind of worthless paperwork,and sometimes needed but someone else should be doing it paperwork going on.
1. MEPRS. how about being askedevery month to list how much time you spend doing EKGs,seeoing patients,exercising, deployment training,commander meetings, leave,holidays,weekend clinic etc. Basically you have to track everything you do and send it in so the SG can have his metrics.
2. Injury reports: so a guy sprains his ankle, well now you need to prepare a form 12 injury report,fill out an injury log, fill out a profile form, perhaps a sick quatrters form so he can be excused from mandatory PT,in addition to all the regular office notes, also,the mil keeps OTC meds like motrin so scripts for those meds as well,...all for just a simple ankle.
3. 4T profiles: these are all the troops with some sort of illness,pregnancy etc that keeps them from being deployable. Every month forms must be updated,filled out,signed etc, Used to be done by a specific other dept, but like about 20 other things,all are now given to the family docs to do.
4) PGUI: this is a pseudo electronic med health record. Docs mandated to use it to code patients, even though we already are paying coders to do that job and other paperwork contains the code. The system is slow and was developed for tracking statistics, not patient care. Frequent computer breakdown further add to the unnec part delay of this system. And it still must be printed out and signed to be put in a record (if you can find the patienrts record).
5)Referals: if a mil doc needs to make a referral,get ready for "hoop jumping" to the nth degree. First the doc must type in the referral and all details into the computer (about a 20 step process NOT including the 1-2 paragraphs needed of patiet hx so that it is not denied). Then it goes electronically over to the other side of the base, then faxed to TEXAS (no matter where your base is). Then they either fax it back to the home base if there is a problem, and mail a copy to the patients home address (if they have it). Then it is up to the patient to call on their own to schedule their appt with the specialist. Results coming back to the doc follow a just a convoluted path.....in the end many referrrals never happen, the military doc left holding the "litigation" bag. This is a far far far cry on the steamlined simple referral process I have as a civ doc.
, but things may change.
