I got my blood presssure medication refilled last week, along with the other cornucopia of drugs I take and my doctor's office called and told me she wanted to see me so I made an appointment to see her today.
I belong to an HMO. Here's the deal with HMO's.
1. You need a good primary care physician. Mine is a real sweetie. I just love her to death. She pretty much gives me everything that I want.
2. You need to be proactive and assertive. This helps when you are dealing with the HMO caseworker.
3. You have to have some medical knowledge (or know someone who does) about your condition. My friend Cindy is a nurse and used to work with spinal cord injured people. She knows a lot about my condition. Sonetimes she even goes with me to see my primary care physician to make sure that I am proactive and assertive. If I don't ask the right questions, she does. She also likes my primary care physician. She gave me a list of things I needed to talk to my doctor about. She even called me the night before and gave me a quiz to make sure I asked all the right stuff.
4. It really helps if you know someone in the medical profession who knows how to deal with HMO's. Once again, that's my friend Cindy. She knows all the right buttons to push.
I had a 9:30 appointment. I got there at 9:30. I saw my doctor at 9:40. I told her that I have had pain and a spasm in my lower back. She said she'd have my back x-rayed and wrote a referral for orthopedic physical therapy. She also prescribed some drugs. I said my wheelchair needed some repairs. She wrote a referral for that. I said I was overdue for some blood work. Anther lab request. She also wrote a referral for a full colon exam. Ugh! The prep for that is a bitch. We made a little small talk. She told me she got married in October. She asked about my ski and SCUBA trips. Her hubby is a diver. She just snorkles. She did some listening, poking, and prodding and off I went to resume my quest.
Off to the referral office. In and out in ten minutes. Very efficient.
Off to the pharmacy to drop off the prescriptions.
Down to the lab. Got my blood drawn. The technician was a good stick. Hit the vein first try with just a small sting.
Off to x-ray. Got my back and hip x-rayed.
Back to the pharmacy. My prescriptions were ready. One of the girls there knows me by name. I'm a good customer.
Walked out of the facility at 11:05. Got all that stuff done in a little over 90 minutes. I was impressed with the speed and the efficiency. I got to work at 11:30.
So how is work lately?
They announced a new compensation package. We had a presentation on it last week. Here is what they told us.
We pay competitively.
That means they pay what other companies pay.
Your pay is not just made up of your salary but includes all of your benefits.
That's usually what they say if there will be small pay raises or none at all.
We pay not only for performance but for critical skills and retention.
Yeah, like I'm gonna take my critical skills somewhere else at my age and get the same deal I got here. I'm not griping. I get paid a lot. I just know that at the twilight of my career they are not gonna waste money on an old fart like me. I will not see a raise the rest of my career.
Over the last three years many companies in the I/T area have given no pay raises.
Howza 'bout that? Some people at TCIDNN have not had a pay raise in the last three years.
Some of you will not get a pay raise this year.
Ta dah! I'm one of them.
Multiple managers will have to sign off on raises.
Even if your manager wants to give you a raise, another manager can veto it.
That's funny. The new compensation plan sounds almost exactly like the old compensation plan. The raises are not gonna be very large and some of us won't get any.
Same Plan Different Year.
Along with the anti-spasm medication, I got some painkillers. Think I'll take one now.
Posted by denny at April 21, 2004 08:35 PM