I only ask questions when I want your opinions. Other things I can look up myself. A walk in clinic for teens or other age groups who think they have a malignant disease. I would not need to pay a nurse. One receptionist is all. No referral needed. A CBC machine to rule out leukemias. Small office space. Low overhead. I would just do physical exams and order necessary tests to prove that people did not have cancer. I wouldn't have to pay for expensive chemotherapy drugs. If I ever found a real cancer, I could refer the person for treatment. No night call. No one would die. I would not have to give anyone chemotherapy. The charge would be $100 which is what I charged when I was in oncology practice. It would be an out of pocket expense since third party payers probably would not pay. It's the "Doc in a Box" concept geared to oncology. What do you think ? ?
2012-07-26T02:13:16Z
My friends, I am only kidding. Not making fun of cancer patients - ever. Making fun a bit of hysterical teens. Terrific comments though. What is sad is that so many teens cry "wolf" that some with real disease 'might' not be taken seriously. Like Panda's son. There are teens who do develop cancers. Not nearly as many as think they have malignancies. Denmark is ahead of us. No surprise there JLI.
2012-07-26T02:18:47Z
For "N" Teens in the U.S. do come up with $100 quite often. $100 today is like $20 was to me in 1970. A date - dinner and a movie - comes close to $100 these days. Movies were 25 cents and popcorn 10 cents when I was a teen. But my clinic is a hoax. Just thinking. Always thinking
JLI2012-07-25T23:47:22Z
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I am not convinced that such a clinic would reach those worrieds who enter our small community on YA! Many of them seem to (understandably?) believe that it is possible to make firm diagnoses over the internet.
I think we already have what you are proposing in our health care system. Everybody (In Denmark) has a GP close to where he/she lives. And part of their job is to do physical exams and order relevant additional tests - also in the context of cancer. The primay consultation, additional tests and relevant treatment is all taxpayer financed. From time to time it is debated if people should pay a small fee for the primary consultation, but for now, the whole package is payed for through taxes.
ETA: Of course you were kidding Spree. One of our poets (Piet Hein) once wrote :"Those who only see joking in jokes and only seriousness in serious have a poor grasp of both" You have a good grasp of both :-)
I think you might just have a winner! I have a family friend who runs an all-cash store front clinic in Missoula Mt. He sees allot of college students and younger adults who are, for the most part, perfectly healthy but may have a small semi-emergent need. He does refer out to other clinics and physicians for the cases he isn't able to treat.
He charges a flat fee of $85 (more for x-rays & labs) serves mainly under/uninsured walk-ins, and is again enjoying his work. He employs just 1 office person/ assistant. He was able to take over an out of business chiropractor's office, so it was virtually turn-key.
He started this after almost going bankrupt in his previous 3 physician family medicine practice that was constantly over booked,over worked, and under compensated primarily from being forced to accept money-losing clients, so he bailed out. He is now very happy, he sees about 10-15 patients a day, and is running a now profitable practice and is even able to consider a retirement plan.
If you can find a profitable model similar to what you described, then why not give it a shot!
It would be fine for the majority, but my daughter's tendonitis, diagnosed by two different doctors, was finally diagnosed 3 weeks later as stage IV Alv. Rhabdo. I would hate for her to have slipped through the cracks, no matter how annoying she seemed, and how rare her diagnosis was. I was never the kind of mum to take my children to the doctors for 'trivial' matters, but she was really concerned that her sore hand was more than just overworked tendons (she is a violinist in a youth orchestra).
I never knew that there was such a panic attitude regarding cancer, until I came to this site, so I do understand what you are saying. And being Australian, I do know that it is much easier here to get to the doctor and pursue until you are satisfied with the answer. I'm not criticising your idea at all, just adding two cents. Its great to see someone here who can offer good advice, who comes with credentials.
No I think you're adding fuel to a fire If a clinic existed like that teens would think its necessary And that cancer is more common than it is And paranoid teens would keep going back for tests they don't need It's better to go to a normal dr I think as a first stop cos they can refer you if necessary or diagnose the smaller problems teens probably really have