Years ago, I wrote about patient poaching – the practice of stealing another practice’s patients without the patient or other physician realizing what’s going on.
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This is high on the dirty tricks list of some practices. It’s certainly not illegal, but seems pretty unethical. Fortunately, it’s infrequent (at least where I work), but still occurs.
Recently, I encountered a particularly egregious example.
One of my patients, a nice lady in her 70s, had a syncopal event and landed in a hospital I don’t cover. A neurologist who saw her there did a brain MRI and head/neck MR angiogram, which were fine. A cardiology evaluation was also fine, so she was sent home. The neurologist there told her to follow-up with him at his office.
As my nurse says, “some people just do whatever they’re told, they don’t want to make a doctor angry.” So my patient did, and at the other doctor’s office had a four-limb electromyogram test and nerve conduction study, carotid Dopplers, transcranial Dopplers, and an EEG. He also made changes in her medications.
The first time I found out about it was when the patient scheduled an unrelated procedure, and I got a clearance request to take her off a medication in advance of it. Since I hadn’t started her on the medication (or was even aware she was on it) I refused, saying they’d have to contact the physician who prescribed it.
This got back to the patient, who was under the impression I’d been aware of all this the whole time, and she called the other neurologist to have his records sent to me.
When I got them, I was surprised to find he’d documented that I’d asked him to assume her outpatient care and do these studies for me. I have no recollection of such a conversation, and I would not have agreed to such a thing unless the patient had informed me she was transferring care to him (in which case it’s no longer my concern). Unless I was in a coma at the time this conversation occurred, I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen.
Basically, what the other doctor did was perform a walletectomy (or, in this case insurance-ectomy) on the patient under the guise (to her) that he was doing this as a favor to me.
How do you look yourself in mirror each day when you do stuff like this? Apparently, it’s easier for some doctors than it is for me.
Dr. Allan M. Block
I’ll do my best to keep it that way, too. I can’t change others, but I can do my best to take the high road.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.