Well.........
I have had the privlege of watching a doctor from both sides of the fence. The person I am referring to is a family practitoner who is above 50 years of age.
With the cost of education and the time required to obtain the license and do the residency, most doctors will not earn any money whatsoever until the age of 29. They typically face quite a bit of debt that they carry from medical school.
For the next ten years, their income is limited. If they start their own practice, it is generally slow to build. If they work for a group, the group will limit the income of the junior members of the group.
The insurance companies rule the day with regard to how much will be paid for a given visit. That being the case, it is imperative that the doctor see between 25 and 30 patients per day. This sounds like a no-brainer, and, for some physicians, it is. It all depends on the quality of the care that the doctor wishes to provide. A doctor who is simply looking for maximizing revenue has techniques to dispatch you with great efficiency. Find the specific complaint quickly, make a determination of the required tests if necessary, write the prescription if necessary and see you later.
Not all doctors will operate this way and some will actually take the time to understand the patient better. But, it costs time and money to do this. You cannot see 25 patients per day if you provide 30 minutes for each patient.
No matter how fast you wish to operate, there will be patients who have a multitude of complex problems and they will suck up 45 minutes to one hour of the day. This is unplanned and the schedule goes all to hell when it happens.
If she can keep a pace of 25 patients per day, over the course of one year she will earn approx. $150K after expenses. Too much money? I would beg to differ with you considering the opportunity cost, the workload and the responsibility.
With regard to the failure to honor the patient's time, I agree with you wholeheartedly. However, the staff is largely responsible for this. They refuse to make a simple telephone call to inform the patients that the doctor is running behind. I absolutely frosts my ass to walk in there and wait one hour because they are too GD lazy to make a simple telephone call. My dentist's office is so poor in this regard that I won't even go there unless I have the first appointment of the day. Even with the first appointment, I am kept waiting for 15 to 20 minutes! My new tactic: Show up 20 minutes late.
Seems to be working. I get to go right in. Apparently, the staff builds this into the schedule, knowing full well that most people are late.
Now, lawyers are a completely different story. By and large, they are the laziest POS on the planet. If ANYONE has ever had a lawyer call them back the same day, I'd be amazed. Their whole goal in life is to make money for themselves. Most of them have no ethics whatsoever. All of their judgment regarding the law is a business decision designed to increase their wealth with the least expenditure of time. Truly pathetic.
