Medical Associates of North Georgia announced that effective March 31 it no longer would provide care to patients in assisted living facilities.
The company in a letter to patients cited "increasing liability, increasing demands placed upon us by government regulations and by health care reform; increasing demands on our physicians and our center for non face-to-face medical recommendations, orders and advice" as the reasons for the decision.
The company's staff also was being asked to "provide medical recommendations and opinions, prescriptions, authorizations, etc." by telephone to assisted living center patients without seeing them, the letter said.
Kevin Kellogg, executive director of Medical Associates, said the measure is not about cost savings, but about "patients who transition to assisted living getting the particular medical care and oversight they need in that setting."
The company sent the letter to all of its patients living in assisted living facilities
It included suggested physicians in the area, including some who make house calls, as well as a form patients could fill out to have their medical records transferred to another physician.
Local assisted living homes are also helping their residents with the change.
At Cameron Hall Assisted Living Center in Canton, about 40 residents received the letters.
"It sent a shock wave through us," Cameron Hall Administrator Nathan Brandon said of the reaction. "This population doesn't like change, and if they don't understand why, they feel like they did something wrong."
Brandon said no other medical company used by the center's residents has made such a decision, but he added he understands why Medical Associates did.
Brandon added he and his staff are helping residents understand the letter and choose new doctors.
"We'll make it work," he said. "It's just one of those waves that comes along that you aren't anticipating."
At the Terrace at Riverstone in Canton, between 25 and 30 residents received the letter, Administrator Michelle Pierce said.
Like Brandon, Ms. Pierce said it created confusion among residents. She and her staff are having success with explaining the change to the residents. Also, Medical Associates' doctors have talked about the change one-on-one with their patients.
"So far, so good," she said of the process.
For Carole Long of Ellijay, whose mother lives at the Terrace at Riverstone, the letter was a surprise.
Mrs. Long's mother is 86, recently broke her hip and has been regularly seeing Medical Associates doctors.
"She just couldn't believe it," she said of her mother's reaction, adding her own primary care physician also is with Medical Associates.
Mrs. Long said she felt the decision by Medical Associates was "unethical" and "discriminatory."
Mrs. Long said she is so disappointed, she and her husband plan to choose a different primary care physician.
"I'm extremely inconvenienced and extremely frustrated and flat-out disgusted with this practice," she added. "Because of this, we fully intend to pull out."
Post a Comment