WEEK 9: Chaotic Columns

Lena T -

Hey guys!

I took a break from reading articles and started focusing on the surveys. I separated each question into columns, and I was starting to struggle with how I can use the most out of the information I collected. I decided on using the dropdown feature and color-coding the close-ended questions. The first thing I noticed is that the participants like to cross out part of my question and write long paragraphs next to the “yes/no” questions. I understand that everyone’s situation is different and one “yes/no” question cannot fully depict their lifestyle or home situation. I wonder how I can be inclusive of each and every participant but be as straight to the point as I can be. As I was doing some research the past couple of weeks, I noticed a preventive suggestion the articles all seem to share which is to avoid fizzy drinks and over-consumption of coffee. I am very curious how researchers came to that conclusion and wished to add that extra question to my survey but at that point I was already 70 surveys in. Another issue I encountered was, I failed to ask for those who did have fractures, when those fractures took place and if those fractures led them to exercise more or less.

Aside from my long, tedious week of trying to decipher handwritings, I also started EMT training a few weeks ago during the evenings. I have seen two different perspectives from an emergency medicine lens versus a private practice facility lens, I noticed that during situations where we think the patient needs to be sent to the emergency room, insurance information is not a first priority issue to worry about. However, in the private practice facility we cannot do anything if the insurance denies covering the service. For example, a patient was at such a high-risk of having another vertebral fracture after her surgery, so she needed Evenity injections to quickly gain more bone stability. After a long appeal process from both the providers and the patient’s side, the insurance still refused to cover Evenity shots but instead stated the patient needed to try 3 different treatments, one was oral medications, another being a daily injection with a small needle, or Prolia. If all 3 did not work for the patient, then the patient can file for another appeal. This process can take up to years to see progress if any and requires DEXA scans and more blood draws to notice improvements. I start to wonder what guidelines insurance companies follow to come to these conclusions.

I’ll check in soon! I am almost done with putting all the surveys in and we’ll get to the exciting part of making pamphlets!

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Comments:

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    Toby Chang
    Glad to hear your surveys are progressing well. Is there anything you could do if you were to repeat the experiment to capture more than just a binary yes/no answer, since it seems most patient's prefer that anyways?
    sofia_r
    So cool to see you are getting into emergency medicine. Have you seen cases where insurance could be an issue in a patient's treatment?
    nathan_s
    Fizzy drinks affecting bone density is very interesting. How does it work to deal with insurance, does the provider work with the patient or is it more one sided?
    lena_t
    Hi Nathan! It depends on what the service is, in some cases the patient needs to sign a consent form to allow the provider to file an appeal on their behalf. Sometimes we have to file an authorization for a service the patient wants to get down. Sometimes the patient has to get an authorization from their insurance before scheduling a consultation appointment.
    lena_t
    Hi Sofia! Yes, sometimes insurance companies can deny an XRAY until a certain amount of physical therapy sessions are completed first.
    lena_t
    Hi Toby, I have a mixture of open-ended questions for patients to fill out on the survey and there are also close-ended questions as well! I think in the future, I would like to have more open-ended questions and "check all that apply" questions because I think they worked out better!

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