1-800-CALL DOC - Call Doc Founder Message Archive

Call Doctor Hosts the Volunteers in Medicine-San Diego Posted 04/12/2002

Dr. Thomas Cornwell Recieves National AMA Award! Posted 03/21/2002

Call Doctor Supports Volunteers In Medicine Clinic For San Diego Posted 03/14/2002

Call Doctor Reverses Lower Level Medicare Denials (Again) Posted 03/04/2002

Dr. Brian Graham Elected Posted 02/12/2002

Cardiologist Is First In The World To Measure Cardiac Output In The Bedroom! Posted 02/07/2002

Tricare For Life Announcement Posted 10/05/2001

CALL DOCTOR HOSTS THE VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE-SAN DIEGO
The Call Doctor Medical Group is proud to announce it is supporting start-up services for the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic for San Diego County (see www.vimi.org).
Over ten years ago, Dr. Jack McConnell offered a ride to a man walking on a dirt road in Hilton Head Island. Dr. McConnell, who is credited with the discovery of Tylenol, created the first commercially-successful MRI scanner, and was one of the co-principal investigators for the Human Genome Project, found out his passenger was desperately seeking healthcare for his family, which had no health insurance. Out of that car ride came the first Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, which arranges high-quality medical care from retired physicians who volunteer their extraordinary talents for local citizens without regard to insurance status or ability to pay.
With its unique "Culture of Caring" VIM now has 17 clinics around the country, and the VIM-San Diego Steering Committee meets regularly at our offices. A Feasibility Study has been approved, Articles of Incorporation filed, 501(c)3 IRS application completed, some 60 physicians contacted by the San Diego County Medical Society have indicated willingness to staff, an initial space utilization program has been drafted by the architect, and site selection is well under way.
There are some 600,000 uninsured patients in San Diego, 91% of whom are employed. We look forward to sharing our success by helping to launch this wonderful concept in San Diego!
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Updated Posted 04/12/2002

DR. THOMAS CORNWELL RECEIVES NATIONAL AMA AWARD!/B>
Over the twenty years of our housecall history, I have had the privilege of meeting many extraordinary physicians. It takes two special characteristics to leave the conventional security of an office or hospital-based practice to make housecalls:
clinical competence and
a strong sense of duty
On March 12, Dr. Tom Cornwell, who became one of the earliest Call Doctor physicians, and only the second to practice in Chicago, was flown out to Los Angeles to the Avenue of the Stars where the American Medical Association presented him with what I believe to be their highest award: the Pride in the Profession Award. It is given to physicians selected out of a large national group of nominees who has contributed the most to create a sense of true pride in what it means to be a physician.
When I asked Dr. Cornwell about his practice of making housecalls, he said it all boils down to "getting the job done." To him, it means not only providing competent care in the patient's own environment, but ignoring all the taboos of convention and praying with his patients. Dr. Cornwell is now a highly respected public speaker on the topic of healing through prayer, about which a large body of scientific proof continues to accumulate. Congratulations to Dr. Cornwell, whose sense of duty is shared both with his patients and his God.
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Updated Posted 03/21/2002

CALL DOCTOR SUPPORTS VOLUNTEERS IN MEDICINE CLINIC FOR SAN DIEGO
Call Doctor is currently hosting support services for the exciting concept of providing free medical care for the uninsured in a primary care clinic. There are over 150,000 retired physicians and 44 million uninsured in America.
Started by Dr. Jack McConnell in Hilton Head, S.C. Volunteers in Medicine have opened up clinics in 17 U.S. cities and allows credentialled physicians, who are recently retired or who have extra time, to provide free care to those less fortunate than us.
The San Diego County Medical Society has identified over 60 interested physicians, and a Steering Committee has been formed to investigate the feasibility of opening a facility in the next 12-18 months. Visit www.vimi.org to learn more or visit the virtual clinic in Hilton Head at www.vimclinic.org. And feel free to contact us if you have resources or are a physician interested in serving the public.
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Updated Posted 03/14/2002

CALL DOCTOR REVERSES LOWER LEVEL MEDICARE DENIALS (AGAIN)
Since 1985, I have been appealing Medicare denials on behalf of our patients who require services in the home. Prior to Call Doctor, few physicians in the country made home visits, and Medicare officials had little experience in reviewing charts. In one comprehensive medical review, involving over 600 housecalls and many patients, we reversed some 92% of the claims denials by actually taking the fiscal intermediary to Administrative Law Court!
Recently, a series of 40 charts were reviewed by the lower level clerks at the fiscal intermediary’s offices in Sacramento. All but one of the charts were thought to have been billed at an incorrect level; indeed, 35 of the records were downcoded two levels to a level II home visit! Our new fiscal intermediary for Medicare improved the system immeasurably by allowing their Medical Director to attend a Fair Hearing where we presented the charts again and described our services. As a result of the meeting, no visit was downcoded to level II and 90% of the visits were restored to our original levels.
One of the reasons doctors do not make housecalls is the hassle factor of being denied payment even after you have already accepted the fact that Medicare still does not pay for the travel time and expense in getting to the patients residence. We applaud the improvement in the Medicare reimbursement system, which saves a great deal of time and expense in the appeals process, since few physicians are as well-funded as Call Doctor and have the expertise to appeal.
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Updated Posted 03/04/2002

DR. BRIAN GRAHAM ELECTED PRESIDENT
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Brian Graham was unanimously elected in January to take over responsibilities as President of the Call Doctor Medical Group. Dr. Graham has a busy housecall practice in the San Diego SouthBay area, and reserves part of each day to monitor the operations and administrative duties of our complex and growing organization. With new physicians joining all the time, the need for training and support requires continual attention, and we are fortunate to have Dr. Graham’s leadership. As a former Medical Manager with a large physician management company, Dr. Graham brings new skills to the organization.
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Updated Posted 02/12/2002

CARDIOLOGIST IS FIRST IN THE WORLD TO MEASURE CARDIAC OUTPUT IN THE BEDROOM!
For the past year, Dr. Julian Jacobs MD, JD has been providing cardiology consultations to the Call Doctor physicians in San Diego using a new technology first implemented by Cardiodynamics, a San Diego company. With this $32,000 portable machine, Dr. Jacobs has been making daily housecalls with his technician measuring the actual output and physiology of the patient’s heart. Since the Number 1 cause of death in America is heart failure, the ability to modify medications based upon direct measurements of the heart’s true function provides an invaluable tool to make decisions based upon objective measurements heretofore only available in a few intensive care units.
Now, A Phoenix-based company, Cardiobeat, takes another giant step toward supporting housecall physicians with mobile technology. Using the same cardiac impedance principles as Cardiodynamics, they have developed an inexpensive box the size of a pack of cigarettes which connects to our mobile computing system and allows for the same data to be measured from simple application of electrode tape on the patient’s chest. Not having to pay the $32,000 machine costs makes this technology potentially available to all of our physicians and those throughout the country.
Medicare pays physicians approximately $40 for this test at present and suggests that monthly payments will be paid when "medically reasonable and necessary". I remember when it cost some $3,500 for me to place a large needle through the chest wall and thread a Swan-Ganz catheter through the heart of an ICU patient to get this kind of data. To perform the test non-invasively, getting more accurate and more comprehensive measurements on patients in the privacy of their bedroom is quite exciting. Now, doctors making housecalls in San Diego actually have higher technological capabilities in your home than most physicians in the office or clinic setting!
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Update Posted 02/07/2002

TRICARE FOR LIFE ANNOUNCEMENT
Since the beginning of Call Doctor in 1985 I have never had such exciting news as the new TRICARE FOR LIFE benefits which began on 1 October, 2001! As the son of Vice Admiral Marmaduke Bayne and a retired Navy Captain myself, I have long been upset at the erosion of healthcare benefits for the men and women that won the war. TRICARE FOR LIFE provides military retirees who are also eligible for Medicare basically access to any doctor or service they need at no cost. Even mail-order prescriptions are paid for with a small $3 copay. That means all the elderly patients we used to care for in my old Department of Emergency Medicine at the Navy Hospital, San Diego can be seen at home when a significant and taxing effort is required to get to the doctor. Medicare and Tricare for Life will pay all charges. This is how it should be for "the greatest generation."
-Dr. Gresham Bayne, MD.
Update Posted 10/05/2001