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Medicare Regulations and Absurdities: Tidbit #1 |
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By Kara Clapp on
2/4/2008
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Recently I have taken on Medicare insurance so I can provide home visit services to those who are homebound and cannot get to a medical provider's office. While learning the terrain of "Medicare Regulations", I stumbled upon what has to the be the most ridiculous regulation known to mankind. As a Nurse Practitioner, I am licensed to diagnose, prescribe, and supervise my own medical treatment plans for patients who visit my private office. When I was a registered nurse, I was responsible for delegating nursing activities and supervising the outcomes of the activities of licensed practical nurses, student nurses, and nursing assistants. Medicare even pays me for the services I render to home bound patients. HOWEVER, as a Nurse Practitioner, I am not allowed to sign the home health agency document (called the "485") that summarizes the treatment plan for the home-bound patient, not even to direct a nursing assistant to give a patient a daily bath! Apparently only an ...
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So What's the Deal with Having Your Appointment Book Online? |
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By Kara Clapp on
9/5/2007
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Online access to my appointment book is one of the core service features of the Doctor Kara, P.C. Family Clinic. It is a direct result of my personal frustration as a patient in trying to get an appointment with my primary care provider. I doubt I am not alone in this frustration. Having to wait for an office to open to talk to a receptionist—only to find out the office is booked solid for 4 weeks—and all I needed was my annual visit to refill my Zyrtec for my spring allergies. Well, it all seemed a bit silly in my opinion.
That’s when I started looking for a software company that could custom build me a program so my appointment book could be available 24/7. I ...
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Welcome and Introduction |
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By Kara Clapp on
7/8/2007
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Hello!
Thank you for stopping by to browse and see what's new in this small corner of the world. I'm Dr. Kara Diersing Clapp and I am a Family Nurse Practitioner with a PhD--hence the "doctor" in Doctor Kara, PC. I own and operate a small family medical clinic in beautiful Sandy, Utah. I've been a registered nurse for 14 years and an APRN (advanced practice registered nurse) for 11 years (10 as a CNS and 1 as an FNP). I started this blog as a way to share my opinions and insights that are difficult to package in a professional-based website like the one I maintain for the clinic. Sometime I just like to say things in plain English and with lots of passion. I think most people who enjoy reading blogs are well aware that blogs can be full of emotions that are best placed in a blog as opposed to a website that maintains a sometimes drier business-like tone. I tend to write in a conversational style, so I hope none of you are disappointed that I choose not to pull ou ...
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Why Did I Choose to Start a Clinic of My Own? (sometimes I wonder about that too!) |
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By Kara Clapp on
7/5/2007
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I love being a nurse. I love my career--it turned out much better than I could ever imagined. Like many nurses who became nurses at a young age. I was only 17 when I entered my first nursing program. I was a person who tended to be soft-hearted and caring about others. All of us inherit different capacities and personality traits. Mine happened to be "other-oriented", so a career in nursing was a great fit for me. Over the years my curiosity about being able to offer "the best" of what I knew became the driving force to return to school for another 4 nursing degrees. A little bit of boredom with small town life in Idaho directly ...
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