I've had wonderful help from some of the docs who either work for, or are affiliated with CarolinaHealthcare.i love my internist st Mecklenburg Medical( owned by CHS). And I think Carolina Digestive rocks... love the docs and staff.
BUT
I worry about privacy. I regularly get records and bills sent to not only home, but to our names ... for our adult children. It's so disturbing. They are all in their twenties and thirties and have given Carolina Healthcare their addresses. Yet many records come to us.. the parents!
Today a letter to my 30 year-old daughter not only came to our home, but was addressed to my husband. She has been trying to update her records for 8 years!
Fortunately, in our case, there have not been traumatic results. Yet how many thousands of other NC patient records is CarolinaHealth sending to the wrong people and addresses? I cannot imagine how horrible it would be to have your personal medical information carelessly shared with other people!
Meanwhile, as this ever-expanding medical czardom takes control over more and more aspects of our healthcare, I worry about the quality of our care.
Neighbors and friends in healthcare talk about good doctors being squeezed out financially so that Carolina Healthcare can replace them with low cost employees who are not well-trained, from both the USA and developing countries. I hope it's not true.
But it occurred to me that when a physician who works for CHS sends me to another doctor, they have to stay within " the system" rather than choose the most capable specialist.
But it makes sense. Think of chain restaurants. Walmart. Airlines. Economy of scale? For the provider, yes. For the consumer? Not always.
Especially when the price is much more than financial.
Privacy. Quality. Let's hold Carolina Healthcare accountable. They have become too big. But not too big to fail.