• Introducing Sherpaa

Introducing Sherpaa

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend of a friend who was complaining of a few hours worth of worsening belly pain. I was worried it might be appendicitis. I forwarded the email to my personal friend Dr. X who is a well-trained and super likeable general surgeon with a beautiful office overlooking Union Square. I reiterated that this might be appendicitis. I texted him that I sent him the details. He texted back, “Send him right over.” I texted the friend of a friend and told him to go immediately to Dr. X. He did. Dr. X examined him and was also worried. Dr. X has recently been operating at a new outpatient surgical center on Park Ave. It has a CT scanner. Dr. X sent the patient to the center, told them to get a CT, and, if it’s positive, to set up an operating room for him. He could be there in a half hour. The CT was positive and a room was set up. Dr. X performed the laparascopic appendectomy without complications and the patient was sent home on oral antibiotics three hours later. Dr. X billed the insurance company $47,000. The insurance company called him the next day to ask why his bill was so small. Dr. X’s previous laparascopic appendectomies while operating at the high overhead, massive traditional institution, Y Hospital, was around $110,000, for which, Dr. X is paid $1500. The rest of that money goes toward Y Hospital’s overhead. Because of the low-overhead and business arrangement at the new Park Avenue Surgical Center, Dr. X kept 52% of $47,000.

Regardless of whether you agree with everything he says, Jay Parkinson is always interesting.

Source: jayparkinsonmd