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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / July 2005rheumatologist in raleigh?
do any of you know of a good rheumatologist in the raleigh, NC area? i can't believe i'm going to have to find all new docs in a month! yikes. diane I have been seeing Suzanne Zorn on Six Forks in Raleigh and I like the practice. It's a solo practice. a lot of one-one attn felt in the office. That's not such an issue for me b/c I've been dealing with RA for so long and just want the facts, thank you... no hand holding necessary. But I know it's important for many people. She is very thorough. I like that. She seems ot be very aggressive, a seemingly good trait. But not for my situation right now. As I've discussed b/f, she wants to try to get rid of every bit of inflammation. And I'm not feeling so confident we can, having lived with it for so long and tried many different things... I've only seen her twice now but I'm happy... any questions feel free to email alison alison, wow, thank you! six forks rd would be perfect. i'll be changing insurance (yet another thing to do. ack!) so will have to see if she takes whatever i change to. do you know if she prescribes remicade? i recall you talking about her and how she reminded me of my current RD in that he, too, won't settle for less than perfection, which bugs me on the one hand, but is better than negligence on the other. thanks so much. diane I am worrying over just all that myself right now. Not that we have sold the house or anything but still.... Did you see my post about the Rituxan shhhhhhh Duckie > alison, wow, thank you! six forks rd would be perfect. i'll be changing > insurance (yet another thing to do. ack!) so will have to see if she [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > diane  Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) i did see your rituxan post, duckie. fingers carefully crossed for you. i think alison's doc won't work for me, since it looks like i'll probably need to get BCBS and she doesn't participate with them. how do you pay for your remicade now? mine costs me $20, but i think those days will be over.however, BCBS will cost $110/month in NC, while i now pay about $400/month for health insurance. poor john pays $700. any nibbles on the house? mine's been on 9 days and i finally got a couple of bites. it has slowed waaaayyy down here, and now people are reducing the prices of their houses. by way down, i mean it takes 2 to 3 weeks to sell (don't hit me!). dee tee and bob really lucked out on their timing. my realtor yelled at me because of my blog, in which i discuss the air conditioner breaking down, etc. it never occurred to me that potential buyers would be reading my blog, but they are. apparently tons of people were at the open house and word got around that i'm a writer, and that's all it took to get people onto my website to learn all there ever was to know about my house. :-) duh. my realtor had a fit. have you reduced your price? painted it white? hugs, diane >i think alison's doc won't work for me, since it looks like i'll >probably need to get BCBS and she doesn't participate with them. how do >you pay for your remicade now? mine costs me $20, but i think those >days will be over.however, BCBS will cost $110/month in NC, while i now >pay about $400/month for health insurance. poor john pays $700. If you are with government BCBS you will pay 10% of the cost of your Remicade. It is cheaper at the Dr office than the hospital. I am paying about $260 for my Remicade. Full price is about $3800 but they discount and you pay 10% of the schedule. Dr office is about $60-$70 cheaper than the hospital. Yours will be a fair amount higher because you are on a lot more medication than I am (5 mg/kg of weight) Visit my website: http://www.mzuschlag.com thanks for the info, mary. yes, it will be a killer for me, as my remicade full price is over 8K, given in the hospital. but i imagine the negotiated price is considerably less. it will probablyh all come out in the wash, anyhow. how have you found BCBS otherwise (do you have standard?) diane > but i imagine >the negotiated price is considerably less. it will probablyh all come >out in the wash, anyhow. how have you found BCBS otherwise (do you have >standard?) Overall I like BCBS standard you can get better coverage with an HMO but one year with Pacific Care was enough to convince me to be very careful with them. BCBS here in Oregon does not require any prior approvals for Remicade, enbrel or Humira, my Drs love it because it is so much less paperwork. You need prior approvals for expensive surgery and hospital stays and some tests but not very much and it is simple. They mess up on the billings once in a while, the mail order pharmacy works pretty well and you can't beat the prices. I can pick almost any Dr I want and I don't have to stay within one medical group the way you must with some HMOs. My GP is here and my RD is in Eugene, that was a big issue with Pacific no Care. You might just make your catastrophic coverage with those Remicade bills then you are covered 100%. I suggest you get infusions done at a Dr office, when I said a $70 savings that was based on my 10% so I am guessing it is probably close to $700 cheaper in a Dr office, or $1000 if you consider the "full" price. In your case it might be easily double that amount. BTW the basic version of BCBS is very misleading, you need to read the complete description in the full insurance brochure. For infusion coverage they are not as cheap as the summary indicates. For example the BCBS standard coverage for infusions is 10% of the cost. However in the summary for basic it says a $30 for Dr or $40 copay for hospital treatment (sounds like a great deal), but the summary fails to mention that under basic they also charge you 30% for the cost of drugs! BCBS is more expensive but I like the "no hassle" aspects of the insurance. The Pacific worst Care I had to fight for everything. My Dr said many HMOs just wear patients down and they stopping fighting for necessary care that is how they keep costs down. I have a flexible health savings account and with the money I saved in taxes I get at least one infusion covered. It is worth checking into. My income has been declining because I have put more into flexible health savings account. -- MZ Visit my website: http://www.mzuschlag.com >i think alison's doc won't work for me, since it looks like i'll >probably need to get BCBS and she doesn't participate with them. I think you were Federal? Well this might be of help: http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp Visit my website: http://www.mzuschlag.com We had one nibble while we were gone which is more than we have had. And more people came to look which is more than it had been. So things look like they are beginning to pick up here. I did notice in CA that people are having to lower their prices which means that market is beginning to get softer while this one is firming up a tiny bit. So we wait... I am worried over the medical stuff. We have two choices which sound rather like no choice out there. HP dropped BCBS for their retirees and we had to find other arrangements here last year. Or was that the year before. Anyway, it has been great. But CA offers us Pacificare and another I have not heard good things about. MaryZ calls it PacificNocare. It seems to vary on where you actually live so we will see. Kind of hoping Stanford will take it all. I need to do a lot of calling but we can't sign up until we are actually there and then we have a month. Meanwhile, when is my Remicade scheduled for before we leave. How does one see a RD and get Remicade scheduled if you can sign up for health insurance until you move in. My infusions are six weeks apart. Often takes that long or longer to make a RD appointment. This is going to get tricky. The price has been reduced but we are not painting -- at least not yet. We reduced it under the dump across town that was marketed at our same price. Was hoping they would look here, see it was cheaper, and in far better shape. After looking at houses out there, I am so ready to move. I even found one I really liked which had been on the market a bit and the CA agent thought we could get it well below the 829K asking. That afternoon our MA agent called with the nibble. oh well. I guess that beautiful cherry kitchen with the granite counters and the stainless brand new appliances are not going to be mine. But we will find something else. This week is dead with the holiday. I am hoping the people that want to get kids settled before the school year come out of the woodwork soon. So did you pull all the stuff off your blog? Duckie > i did see your rituxan post, duckie. fingers carefully crossed for you. > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > diane Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) >But CA offers us >Pacificare and another I have not heard good things >about. MaryZ calls it PacificNocare. It seems to vary >on where you actually live so we will see. Kind of >hoping Stanford will take it all. Yikes they are the worst, I mentioned that to John. My Dr said Pacific Care was the absolute worst insurance he dealt with when it came to remicade. Sure hope you have another choice! Check out their one group medical policy. I was supposed to go to one medical group for all my care, no specialists outside the group unless the group sent me. What a nightmare! Pacificnocare. -- MZ Visit my website: http://www.mzuschlag.com she does partic. with bcbs. That's what I have... I remember looking initially and not finding her on the list on the internet. But she's there. I have had two different bcbs plans now and she's in both. Of course I'm assuming you meant bc of nc.... >she does partic. with bcbs< i will call her office and find out, alison. thanks for that heads up. otherwise i'll just be picking a rheumy off a list because i like his or her name. . . diane >I am worrying over just all that myself right now. Not >that we have sold the house or anything but still.... >Did you see my post about the Rituxan shhhhhhh I would be worried also. I know my Dr would not Rx Rituxan and Remicade and I would bet that you won't find many RDs that will until Rituxan is approved for RA and there is a protocol for Remicade/rituxan. Another issue is that if you go with Pacificare Insurance they are likely to put a fuss over the combination. Remember my first Remicade with them? The hospital canceled the first appointment because they could not reach agreement on reimbursement. They want approvals for anything that is expensive or exotic. Check that out carefully. On the positive side you will be near some big hospitals so maybe they will do it on a research basis. -- MZ Visit my website: http://www.mzuschlag.com yes, she does the remicade infusions right in the office. I don't know the specifics. We haven't gotten that far yet. I will likely try the humira first... glad I could help YIKES! just reiterating. sounds like there is a keeper in the wing, though. good luck, sweetie! kate > do any of you know of a good rheumatologist in the raleigh, NC area? i > can't believe i'm going to have to find all new docs in a month! yikes. > > diane Check out Duke University. That's where the army referred me to... they take much better care of sick family members.... > do any of you know of a good rheumatologist in the raleigh, NC area? i > can't believe i'm going to have to find all new docs in a month! yikes. > > diane My John would be very proud of that. He went to Duke as an undergraduate. And actually my father, who was born in 1912, was diagnosed by a Duke physician when he was 24 with AS. Regular PC had no idea what was wrong with him. But I think Duke would be a bit of a haul for regular care depending on what side of Raleigh their new house in on. Duckie > Check out Duke University. That's where the army referred me to... they > take much better care of sick family members.... [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >> >>diane Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) I'm in CA so driving a few hrs is nothing for us LOL. I can drive for 15 hrs and be in the same state. I do believe that good medical care is worth traveling for.... I drive 2 hrs each way to see my pain doctor who's amazing. Duke is an amazing school... hands down! |
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