We are currently accepting new patients.
Insurance
Unlike many medical offices, we will accept you as a patient, even if you don't have insurance. However, just like any other service or product you may purchase, we expect payment for services at the time the service is rendered. We also offer a discount of 25% for all clinical service charges if paid for in full at the time of service.
After each visit, we will file an insurance claim for you (if you have insurance). We participate in the following insurance plans: Blue Cross/Blue Shield of TN, Mulitplan, PHCS, and Signature. We also provide many out-of-network services to individuals who carry other insurances, but who need our unique services.
Medicare
The following is the text from a letter Dr. Haase sent to all of his Medicare recipients in December of 2006 when he made the decision to leave the Medicare system ENTIRELY. By reading it you will understand more fully why our current system is broken beyond repair, and why the Doctor-Patient relationship MUST be restored.
Important notice on MEDICARE!!! –
Please read the whole letter (maybe several times)!!!
December 28th, 2006
Dear ______________,
I have made a decision that has been very hard, and over which I have lost much sleep. It is especially difficult (and ironically necessary) because of my deep affection and concern for the complex needs of my older and sicker patients. However, I do not feel I have another option. Therefore, as of January 1st, 2007, I, David H. Haase, M.D., will no longer be participating in the Medicare program. That means that from now on when I, myself, provide services to you, I can’t bill Medicare, and you can’t submit claims to Medicare for services I’ve provided.
WHAT? SAY THAT ANOTHER WAY, PLEASE….
You may not know that it is voluntary for doctors to contract with Medicare. Once “contracted”, the doctor must comply with Medicare's numerous changing restrictions and regulations (often quite complex and confusing) and can only be paid the fixed amount that Medicare will allow. Even if the patient desires to pay the doctor's real charges, it is prohibited by Medicare.
I would love to remain your physician and provide you with medical services (as well as other services that Medicare has made it near impossible to provide under their restrictive rules), but it will now be outside of the Medicare payment system. You will be asked to pay MaxWell Clinic directly for my services as we do with our non-Medicare patients. Due to Medicare regulations, you will receive no reimbursement from Medicare or Medicare secondary (Medi-gap, Tricare-for-life, BC/BS) insurance for my services.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?
Why am I quitting the Medicare program? Medicare has so many rules and regulations that abiding by them has become extremely difficult. And by the time a physician figures out the rules, they’ve changed again.
An ongoing disagreement between physicians and Medicare involves the issue of “medical necessity.” For when Medicare uses the words “not medically necessary” what they really mean is “the system will not pay for what that will cost to provide.” Medicare doesn’t believe that it’s “medically necessary” to spend the time necessary to counsel and educate patients so that underlying causes of disease can be addressed, OR to utilize new or alternative treatments, OR to support treatment that is focused upon the whole person rather than that person’s list of diseases - so Medicare will not pay for those type of services.
If they DO pay for a bill and later decide that the treatment wasn’t necessary, I can be penalized— up to $10,000 for every service they don’t allow. Medicare has now indicated that even if a computer coding mistake is innocent and there was no intent to mislead, severe penalties may nevertheless be imposed. Once I understood how many “alternative medicine” providers have been shut down and thrown into bankruptcy by this tool of the “powers-that-be” I knew I needed to make this change for the welfare of my family and my patients.
As you know I have been and continue to be dedicated to providing the highest level of medical care that is possible. Providing health care that is Personal, Respectful, and Proactive while using ALL forms of therapy that are Wise and Work (nutrition, herbs, IV detoxification, Ondamed, Health coaching, selected medications, etc.) has been my goal, and the longer I am in practice, the more obvious it becomes to me that there is no better way to create health in the lives of the patients I serve. My older patients are more complex and deserve more time and attention than Medicare is willing to provide… to protect these individuals from multi-drug interactions and work to reverse the decline in health is a complex endeavor – one I feel called to do with excellence. Understanding this you can see that my model (the way I practice) is a poor fit to Medicare’s reductionist cookie-cutter guidelines.
For example: we can offer a treatment for Chronic Renal Insufficiency (Kidney Failure) that has been shown in the New England Journal of Medicine to HALT the ongoing decline of kidney function (for at least 3 years) and dramatically decrease the need for dialysis in a certain group of these patients. The treatment cost through our office would be about 3 to 4 thousand dollars/year (1st year, thereafter much less) for this therapy whereas the government pays $40,000.00 to $60,000.00 per YEAR (lifelong or until a transplant) for a dialysis patient. Yet, because this treatment has not yet trickled into the mainstream (can you see 60,000 reasons it might not have?) the government will pay our clinic less than the cost to provide the therapy and will raise a red flag (for additional scrutiny) for doctors like me that offer it. The same is true for root-cause therapies for heart disease, hypertension, hepatitis, Parkinson’s, etc. I need to be free to offer these things to individuals over 65 yrs of age.
If it takes two hours to sort through the multiple complex issues presented by your symptoms, diseases, medications, and multiple specialist consultations, and 30 min calling your other doctors in consultation on your case, and another hour of specific research into the most cutting edge therapies, and 30 minutes discussing options with your trusted family members, and yet another hour to put together a coordinated plan to restore and protect health, you should receive that time. That 5 hours could be what is needed to turn your health around and get you back to enjoying life again. And just as you deserve the best care, I deserve to be compensated for the time I spend applying my years of training and expertise to your unique case. Medicare short-circuits this by forcing us (by economic necessity) to compress those needed hours into 2 or 3 –twenty-minute or so appointments. That compression cannot meet the needs presented. Quality work of any kind cannot be rushed.
Many of you have asked to make your care more convenient by emailing me questions or having phone visits rather than taking your time to drive to the clinic, get checked in, have your visit and get checked out. As Medicare does not allow me to be reimbursed for these services, I have had to restrict this access, however, now I will be able to serve you more conveniently and comprehensively while at the same time be adequately reimbursed for my time and expertise.
I am dedicated to sustainable, proactive interventions… meaning we should do what works in the long-run. Medicare, like so many government institutions, is doomed for the long-run. Even before the drug benefit was added it had become a 10 TRILLION dollar un-funded liability for future generations. Due to unwise management and the desire of lawmakers to make current constituents happy at the expense of our nation’s future financial solvency we as a nation will be crushed by its burden. Much of this runaway cost is due to little to no payment or reward by Medicare or private insurers to offer preventive services that could prevent the catastrophic events (bypass, dialysis, cancer treatments). I can no longer participate in such a regressive system because I see it is doing to our nation what our lack of self-health-responsibility is doing to our individual health.
NOW WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
You have the option to continue your care with Dr. Haase or to seek your care provision elsewhere. Dr. Haase will be the only medical provider authorized to provide services for Medicare-eligible patients at the MaxWell Clinic. No other providers are accepting new Medicare patients at this time.
There will be NO change in your Medicare benefits otherwise. Your Medicare and secondary insurance benefits will continue to be in full effect for lab, x-rays, medications, hospital services and for services you receive from all doctors that are contracted with Medicare. This change only affects charges from me (Dr. Haase).
If you want to continue to be seen at the MaxWell Clinic you will need to sign a “private contract”, which the law requires. After reading the contract, I’m certain that you’ll have questions because it was written by lawyers for government purposes – I don’t like the wording of the contract, nor some of the things that must be included, but I have no say in that matter. It is what it legally needs to be. I and my staff will be happy to explain all the details.
One question I’m sure you have is, “Well, now that Medicare doesn’t pay for my care, who does?” You will be responsible for paying my fees; the contract specifies a “pay as you go” system from now on. Under Medicare’s rules any Medi-gap, Tricare-for-life, or supplemental policies you may have will also not pay anything for my services either.
You will be given a payment receipt for our services which will be useful for tax purposes, but it cannot be sent to Medicare OR your secondary insurance for reimbursement.
Needless to say, you have every right to choose another physician for your care, and I’ll understand and respect whatever decision you make.
I know there are some who will be unhappy or at the very least disappointed by this change. Feelings of anger are almost always rooted in unmet expectations. Many have expected Medicare to provide for all of their health care desires, and when this expectation is not fulfilled, a feeling of frustration and anger can develop. Please know that my intent is not to anger or disappoint anyone, but rather to assure that I do everything I can to provide the best for those under my care.
In my opinion, when a doctor decides not to contract with Medicare there are benefits for both doctors and patients. We will now be free to have a private professional relationship where your interests are at the center….not the interests of the Government. When both medical care and financial terms are set and agreed to voluntarily by the doctor and the patient only, mutual fairness is the natural result. This is the type of relationship I desire with my patients.
I and my staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
David H. Haase, MD
P.S. This decision has been nothing less than agonizing for me. Many of you are very dear to me and I don’t wish to be the cause of financial hardship, but I simply cannot offer the level of care that I feel ethically bound to provide under the current restrictions of Medicare.
