There was a time about three years ago that I thought I was losing my mind. I could not see the logic in providing a psychiatric service , billing for it , receiving a payment and then months later, having the payment taken back from you by the same insurance company. To me this seemed like some kind of theft of services or exploitation. But I was told that this was all perfectly legal by my legislators. I joined several online communities for doctors including Sermo and the Maryland Psychiatric Society List serve and I also became a member of the payor relations committees both for MedChi in Maryland as well as for the Maryland Psychiatric Society. What I have learned essentially over the past three years is that it is perfectly legal to work and not get paid for your work---as long as you are a physician in private practice in the United States.
Physicians are angry and we all need an outlet. That is the pupose of this new blog. We need to channel our anger and receive validation. I would like for this blog to become a sort of support group or anger management site for psychiatrists. A safe place where we can go and complain, get advice , and simply be validated. In other words, we can get a "Thanks for Sharing" confirmation at the very least. At other times we can even get advice from the wise who have similarly suffered. This blog is not meant to take the place of active participation with mentors, local medical societies or political action committees. The goal at this point is to provide what we call "ego supportive psychotherapy" and anger mangement for shrinks.
My first question on this Mad Shrinks On the Couch Blog is this: ARE YOU WITH ME? AND IF YOU ARE, WHO ARE YOU.
