Archive for the ‘Emergency Room’ category

Emergency Care Clinics Vs The Emergency Room

February 10th, 2012

Do you like waiting around all day in a waiting room when you have an injury or illness? Do you have lots of extra money to just throw out the car window? These are the only reasons you should be going to an emergency room. Emergency care clinics work to give you everything you need to feel good about your experience with them.

Emergency clinics take care of most of the things that emergency rooms take care of. Emergency clinics will have you in and out of there in a fraction of the time that an emergency room will make you wait for. They will also charge you a fraction of the cost. Most people will feel way better about their experience at an emergency care clinic as well. The doctors care about you more and work harder to fix your problems so you feel satisfied upon leaving. They really work fast and friendly to get you back to your normal life. They won’t have you waiting around all day to treat you like a number and then not even completely fix your problem with the proper care.

The people at the emergency care clinics can do check-ups on and off site. They can travel to schools to do general physicals for all the kids, they help with minor breaks and sprains, they even take care of illnesses and job related injuries. You can get a doctor’s note from an emergency care clinic just the same as from your doctor or from the emergency room. The emergency room can’t leave and go on site to a school, sport or camp and give physicals. These organizations can. They can tell kids involved in the programs whether they are healthy enough to participate in activities or not.

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Job Relocation Tips for Emergency Room Doctors

February 10th, 2012

Finding the right emergency medicine jobs can mean relocating to another city or state. Set yourself up for success with your new EM job by asking all the right questions before making the big move and being prepared for moving day.

Dr. Robert W. Strauss, Jr., MD, presented a course on contract negotiation during the American College of Emergency Physicians’ annual Scientific Assembly in October. In the course syllabus, he points out key factors to consider before signing on the dotted line and committing yourself, and your family, to a major move.

-Will you be an employee or an independent contractor? If it is the latter, will it meet the Internal Revenue Service guidelines?

-For employees, can vacation time and sick days accumulate?

-What is the length of your contract, and the length of the group’s contract with the hospital? Is it automatically renewed?

-What are the terms of contract termination? There is “for-cause” and “not-for-cause” termination. Find out if you must give and will get 90-day notice of termination; is there a “cure” period; what are the “causes” and are they reasonable?

One more thing to find out about when in contract talks is if moving expenses are covered. When signing a two to three year contract, these costs might be covered, but be cautious of extravagant signing bonuses and covered moving expenses. These kinds of perks might be a red flag that it’s a bad location or bad emergency physician job.

If your moving expenses are not covered, they are at least tax deductible.

Other tips for relocating apply to any move, not just for those in emergency medicine jobs.

-Have an emergency cash fund set aside to cover any unexpected costs during the move. If nothing else, there will be lots of eating out or ordering in meals before and during your move.

-Use packing as an opportunity to lighten your load. Donate clothes to a local charity and shred old documents rather than box them up to store in your new place. When packing, consider photographing or videotaping everything and mark every box so you can easily unpack.

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Emergency Room Insurance Coverage – ER Policy Supplement Shopping Guide

January 23rd, 2012

Emergency room insurance supplements fall into two main categories. ER plans that cover accidental bodily injuries is the first category. The second form of ER plan is a Critical Illness Insurance plan that covers emergency room related expenses for sickness and disease such as life threatening cancer, heart attacks, and stroke.

To cover bodily injuries someone can shop around for a personal accident insurance plan. Other names for this type of injury plan include 24 hour accident coverage, accident health insurance policy, accident medical expense benefit, supplemental accident coverage, and personal injury insurance supplement. These association based plans aren’t actually insurance at all. They are indemnity insurance plans which act as a form of compensation insurance.

Accidental injury indemnity’s like this are guarantee issue with no health questions or underwriting. Plans are automatic acceptance up til age 65 or so and can be used with any doctor or hospital. Plans don’t have a strict network because injury type plans are for emergencies and trauma situations. Accident policy holders can use the ER supplement at any licensed hospital, doctor, or clinic. Plans usually have a $100 to $250 USD deductible. Deductible is what you pay before accident plan pays. Accident benefits are paid per injury and each claim is treated as a separate event which is a valuable benefit. Emergency room insurance policy only pays up to the predetermined policy face value.

Here’s a list of typical personal accident insurance plan benefit levels and the lowest rates I could find online so far:

Individual – $36.00 US dollars a month for a $10,000 policy value.
Individual – $29.00 a month for a $7,500.
Individual – $24.00 a month for a $5,000.

Family – $47.00 US dollars a month for a $10,000 policy face value.
Family – $41.00 a month for a $7,500.
Family – $35.00 a month for a $5,000.

Personal injury insurance plans only cover accidental bodily injuries and no medical conditions like strokes, heart attack, and cancer. To cover these health conditions health insurance agents in the know usually suggest Critical Illness supplements.

Critical Illness plans are also called cancer and stroke insurance plans. These policies pay plan holders a lump sum cash benefit to compensate individuals upon diagnoses of heart attacks, stroke, and cancer. These cancer heart health insurance policies are also indemnitys. The following prices are from a leading critical illness plan that covers these conditions up to $10,000 in compensation.

Husband and wife plan (2 people): $48.00 US dollars each month.
Individual person coverage: $25.00 US dollars each month.

» Read more: Emergency Room Insurance Coverage – ER Policy Supplement Shopping Guide