It’s a rather silly system. Malpractice costs should be part of office overhead. Why not tack on a “lobby furniture” fee, as eventually that will need to be replaced, and a “receptionist fee”, because office help is so expensive, and….

Doctors Must Work With Patients, Not Against Them
One of the biggest advantages Doctors have is their incredibly high public approval. According to a poll ProCare conducted earlier this year, almost 80% of respondents had a positive view of doctors. Opponents of medical liability reform have tried to…

Info quoted from me was done without my persmission. But so be it. I have been doing this since 6/2003 with nearly a 99+% approval and acceptance from my patients. My patients recognize the costs of continuing to provide the high quality of services I seek to always provide them in the office means I need to offset costs. Malpractice and HIPAA expenses have driven costs to the breaking point. This way the patients share in the risk, they don’t get charged exhorbitant fees, it is shared in a small part among a large number of patients and ultimately only pays about 60-70% of the present Malpractice premium (because Medicare patients are exempt, due to the way the Medicare Laws are written…though in reality they have broken their contract with us because in the RBRVS the reimbursements should have been going UP not down, due to the huge increases in Malpractice premiums these past 4-5 years). The physician then has an ever increased responsibility to provide careful, detailed and quality care to their patients as those patients again as stated before are SHARING in the expense to have someone provide their healthcare. Someone they trust, someone they have confidence in and want to stay in business.

I also charge for all services that are extra services that are provided outside of that specific in office, in exam room patient encounter. E-mail medical treatment when appropriate (saves patients time and money), Forms completion and many others typically in the past the physicians gave away for free but definately all had costs associated with them.

Sincerely,
Alan T. Falkoff, M.D., D.A.B.F.P, F.A.A.F.P.

I am a patient of Dr. Falkoff and have been for 14 years. I now live 25 miles away from his office and continue to see him. Why? Precisely because of his dedication to his patients and their health. I have brought two additional family members into his care.

Dr. Alan Falkoff is a great example of what most of America is missing – a dedicated family practice physician who puts quality care above all.

And – to T. Robinson, who appears to only be taking a cheap shot – Dr. Falkoff is very up on the latest medical research and has consistently shown a high skill level in the 14 years that I have trusted him with my family’s medical care.

Mark G.