When doctors make patients come in to get test results, is it ever good news?

It’s always good news for the doctor’s billing system. I get a PSA test regularly and am informed enough to know what the results mean. My doctor’s office now posts results online at eclinicalweb.com. I get an email telling me the result is in. I then go to the website and click on “Test Results” to get the result and print out the report if I want it. Easy.

Ask your doctor if his office is web enabled. If, yes, they will give you a password and you are in business. If no, you can start looking for an office that is. Things will not change until you, the customer, start demanding it. Good luck.

Yes, If it is a wanted pregnancy.

@LuckyGuy
is correct. It is all about billing for another visit.

Exactly. All doctors care about is money. Doctors really don’t care about having human interaction with people to let them know in person about test results that may affect their health for good or bad.

All the time. They make you come in to make money. My new endocrinologist made me come back to get the most normal results I have ever had for tests I have done regularly 2–4 times a year. Pisses me off. Hoping to find a new doctor.

@Rarebear It depends what tests are being run and how familiar the patient is with the tests in my opinion. This last doctor charged me for the most expensive visit there is to tell me I had all normal results. I think that is insurance fraud and he is ripping me off too, and everyone in the system. It was not a level 4 visit, or whatever they call it. I was with him for less than 5 minutes, just the time it took to pull the results up on the computer.

I had a dermatologist make me come back (I was there for a regular check up) to remove some skin thingies (no idea the medical term) totally cosmetic. She told me it would be $90, insurance doesn’t cover it. I agreed. I came back, had it done, and then paid my $90, perfectly happy to do so. They charged my insurance for the office visit and me for a copay. I think that is insurance fraud also.

I refuse to be so cynical as to believe doctors always bring in a patient to make more money. To answer your question, @jca, even if the test results are good, perhaps the doctor needs to discuss and prescribe treatment or medication required to maintain that positive status. Or maybe the test results for that particular problem are good but another problem or a potential problem was discovered. I’ve had many fine doctors in my life, and I’ve never doubted they had my best interest at heart. Sure, there must be doctors around who aren’t like that, but i haven’t knowingly encountered any.

There are times when follow up office visits are absolutely necessary – to confirm the result , to order another test, to explain the result to a new uninformed patient,. etc. But, I am a firm believer that the patient should own his/her results and should get them when they are ready.

There are guys in the PCa support groups who have post surgery PSA tests every 3 months. The docs that make them come in to get the results are losing patients.
It is 2013 and virtually everyone has the means to get their results online. If you don’t know what they mean, then make an appointment.

Sometimes lab results are outside of norms but have reasons and they want to explain them in person so you don’t freak out.
Sometimes it’s just office policy.
Insurance doesn’t pay doctors a whole lot and if you’re in an HMO there is even less incentive for the doctor to have more visits. I don’t think it’s as much about money as it is about CYA and malpractice.

I have to go in every six month for my blood tests and it’s always good news.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room Well, I have even had doctors tell me other doctors do it for money.

My MIL was trying to get her test results for run of the mill regular check up tests. They would not give them to her, made her come in. The doctor told her everything was normal during her visit. My MIL asked why she needed to come in for the results and the doctor replied, “you have medicare, don’t worry they pay for it.” My MIl dropped that doctor. She can’t drive herself to the doctor and her husband has to leave work to take her. It is a horrible inconvenience, but even if she could drive, it still would be aggravating, because it still takes her time and is absolutely pointless. There was nothing to discuss, just delivery of the results.

It does depend on the tests though, and depends whether you just saw the doctor. Many endocrinologists have you do your tests, and then a week later come in for the appointment, so you are not coming in twice. I used to do that, but also had interim bloodwork done where I just pulled the results online.

Assuming the test is negative (in a test for, say, something like cancer), then the doctor may want to deliver that good news to you in person so that you can discuss your next option or test, assuming you were seeking the reason for “Why do I feel so bad?”

Not all tests can be run at once, so the doctor will generally, I think, test for the thing that he most strongly suspects is the cause for an illness or ailment, and, that failing, will then move down his list to the “next likely culprit”. It might even be a sort of triage approach: “Well, this is the thing that’s likely to kill you quickly if we don’t treat it in time, so let’s rule it out first and go on from there.”

Here’s another example we have seen and are trying to correct.
Guys, if you are over 50 listen up!!!

It is a well known fact that your PSA will be elevated after a DRE, digital rectal exam, to inspect the prostate, or if you have ejaculated within 12 hours of having blood drawn. Look it up.

Some poor guys make the appointment for their 55, 60, 65, 70 year physical, get poked and prodded at the office. As they are putting their pant on the doc gives them the lab order for a PSA test and tells them they can go right down the hallway to have the blood drawn. A week later the doc calls them into his office to tell them the results are high, puts them on Cipro, and then schedules a retest in 6–9 weeks. The results miraculously come back low and they are relieved after 6 weeks of worrying.
Was this a case of incompetence, or fraud? I don’t know which is better. Either way we recommend they get a new doc.

My doc sends me a notice to have my blood work done weeks in advance of the exam. That way he has them in front of him if there is something to talk about we can. do it that day. One trip.

For the record, I’m salaried. I get paid exactly the same if I spend all day on the computer or if I see 20 patients.

I ALWAYS prefer to bring patients back to discuss their test results. That way they know that I’m not bringing them back only if it’s bad news. If the patient wants me to call them instead of bringing them back, knowing that it may be bad news (like a cancer diagnosis), I will honor their wishes and call them. But I don’t like doing it.

@Rarebear Good for you! It sounds to me like you are in the minority.

@Rarebear Cancer is not the same as CBC, cholesterol, iron, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and in my case TSH, etc., etc. I have those run all the time, and I can decifer the numbers just like diabetics can do their own at home, but I can’t do it at home. Except cholesterol I guess; I think that comes as a home test now. Also, new concerns are not the same as tests run over and over again. Even still, I would say a normal test result for run of the mill things, even if a new test, don’t need a doctor’s visit for follow up, unless the patient is having a real concern and additional discussion and tests need to be run. You may not get paid more, but someone is getting paid every time a visit happens, and if the patient has a copay, they are paying out and insurance is paying out.

Plus, you may not do it, but many many doctors do. They may not do it to you when you are a patient, because you are a doctor.

@JLeslie, I don’t doubt what you say. It just hasn’t been my experience.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room Just curious, do you have any ongoing problems? Do you go to the doctor regularly? I just find it hard to believe you haven’t run into a doctor who made you come in for results, when it was basically a waste of time. Or, maybe you think being told everything is nornal isn’t a waste of time.

My PCP’s nurse calls me with test results; if there is ever an issue, she will ask me to make an appointment. Doc always mentions this during my informing appointment.

My oncologist tells me he will call if there is a concern.

Since I live alone, I have given everyone permission to leave messages on my voice mail.

I can’t remember ever having felt duped, manipulated or bilked by my doctors. I do tend to do a lot of self-triaging, however.

After a breast biopsy, my surgeon did tell me over the phone that the results were positive.

@gailcalled Do you wish the positive cancer result had been given to you in person?

Nope. I had already chosen and met with the oncologist, whom I really liked, and I was already dealing with a family tragedy. So the news that I had breast cancer was “ho hum” to me. That attitude was very helpful, and it did turn out to be a “ho hum” cancer” in the long run.

Follow up visits are often good news if the doctor is looking for evidence that a cancer has returned and it hasn’t or to check a heart condition that had improved is still doing well. It’s considered good conservative treatment. Early detection is often an advantage to successful treatment.

There are many reasons your doctor may ask you to come in for test results. Most of them do not have to do with bad news. Eg one very common reason is when they want to change your medication.

PS. And no, they don’t change the medication only when things go wrong.

Just in case anybody is wondering, no this is not because my doctor wants me to come in for test results. It’s for a relative and I am curious if it’s necessarily bad news. I won’t know for a few days.

My doctor made me come in for my cholesterol results, and I’m a physician. But he also discussed with me what I was goign to do to get my cholesterol down, and we disccused some dietary modifications and decided to not use medications for now.
I rarely have to call my patients back for test results, since i work in an ER, but I always discuss results with them, especially abnormal ones. I think there have been cases of abnormal test results that somehow fail to get communicated to patients, and then things go horribly wrong when they could have been prevented. I think the result visit is part of a plan to make certain that abnormal test results are not lost to the patient, and the patient gets the proper counselling on what to do next.
When I had tests ordered by my doctor, they scheduled a visit to discuss the results right then before I left from the first visits. It is part of a safety plan to make sure nothing is overlooked.

Hey Americans. I have gone into the docs and received good news and in Canada they’re not paid the same way that they are in USA. God I love my country :)

@drhat77 I will say this, doctors who only call if there is a bad result is a horrible practice in my opinion. Somehow all results should be communicated whether normal or abnormal to make sure a bad result isn’t mistakenly overlooked. It seems to me some doctors either don’t want to take the time to communicate a nornal result, or they don’t want a patient to flip out and ask a lot of questions if a result is slightly out of normal range, but something the doctor decided is not something to worry about.

If all your tests were normal you still would have been happy to return to your doctor and pay the fee? Pay for what? So, if your cholesterol comes down with your diet, and you get it tested twice a year, you think you need to go to your doctor after each test to discuss the nornal result. Even 5 years from now, if for five years you regularly have your cholesterol tested twice a year? Or, I assume you will check your cholesterol in two months to see if any changes you made helped; you feel like you need to see the doctor for that result? Even if it is normal?

ER is different, the patient is in immediate distress, you typically get tests results immediately, the patient isn’t coming back to your office.