Bill. For. Service.

It has been a while since I have even thought about this thing I consider a scourge on the the current state of health care, let alone comment on it or raise my voice about it. It came to mind today in a roundabout manner in the course of my EECP treatments. I am about a third of the way through to date. My vitals are taken daily before and after each session, and for the last week my blood pressure has been trending downward. Ordinarily, this would be a good thing, however, the trend is dipping low enough to be of concern. In particular, the systolic number is at an all time low for me. My attendants even had each other check it to be certain. This phenomenon can be brought on by any number of reasons, not the least of which being the treatment itself improving the function of my heart. I am convinced that at this point my medications are over-dosed. Two of the blood pressure lowering drugs were doubled by my cardiologist at the beginning of this year in anticipation of an open heart surgery procedure to bypass several main cardiac arteries. Since I decided to not go that route and do the EECP treatment it is only logical that the dosages should return to where they were. I explained this to the nurses, adding that I was aware that no one at the center is in a position to advise on prescriptions. I also added that ordinarily these things are determined by my cardiologist, but I was considering changing him for someone more attuned to the approach I am taking. In so many words, I was honestly informed that I will not find any such cardiologist, not even the hospital group attached to the EECP center. The reason being that there is no big money attached to this method. As if I didn’t already know this. People have to demand this therapy. If they even are aware of it. The bill-for-service machine driving US heath care isn’t going anywhere any time soon. I’ll just stick with the guy who knows my history the best for now and hope he can deal with me.