re: I hate our healthcare system and PAs/NPs

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They're going to bill in 15 min increments. So I'd hope I'd get that.

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Not exactly. Billing is a little complicated, but you can bill based on either time or complexity and thoroughness of the ailment(s) presented. People doing 7 minute visits are billing on complexity, not time. For derm, it's easy to make a diagnosis of enough complexity with enough thoroughness to equal a 15 minute visit in just a few minutes. For a psychiatrist to delve into newly diagnosed bipolar disorder and counsel the patient may take 30 minutes. It's still just one, straightforward problem, but to do the patient justice and counsel, they will often bill for time. Fortunately, it gets reimbursed the same as if they had dealt with 3 separate problems (like an internist going over blood pressure, thyroid, and diabetes medications). So your bill at a dermatology office will rarely reflect time spent.


That said, I think it is unfortunate how few physicians take the time to teach the patient about their disease. That is one thing I always try to do before leaving the room, but a whole heck of a lot of us just say, "you have this, you need to do that and take this," unfortunately.