Yeah... I know, I should never have led you on.. I should never have hooked up with you in the first place. I had divorced all the other ones I was ever hooked up to, a decade ago, and was living happily ever after.
Then, you came calling, and at first I said no, but then I thought, what the heck, making myself available to see clients of yours who are traumatized after being in an MVA and needing help getting over the emotional and physical shock of it all and pain problems resulting.. heck, I've been there and I know how it feels..
And you were all accommodating of me at first - I was clear about my boundaries and described how I work - one patient at a time, an hour of treatment, no programs, no testing apart from range of movement recording, no questionnaires.. just interacting verbally and non-verbally with another human nervous system, giving it a chance in a quiet space to develop a different way of handling physiological regulation and reducing its own pain output, after having shared some information about the nervous system and what it needs and wants and likes.
You said yes. You even said I could bill and be paid for an hour at the going rate.
Time passed, and we grew used to each other. I didn't see clients of yours very often, but the ones I did got better in a timely way and you seemed happy with my work and paid me well for it.
Things seemed to be working out.
Until now.
One of your agents contacted me. Let's call her Stacy. That is not her real name, but I wanted to use a name that would evoke all the qualities of an alpha female who works out hard at the gym and is upwardly mobile and authoritative, who has that chirpy, energetic, extraverted no-nonsense sort of voice. So I'll call her Stacy.
Stacy wanted to know what was going on with Lucy. OK, here's the backstory on Lucy (also not her real name, but I wanted to pick a name that evoked the sort of quiet honest thoughtful earnest individual Lucy is). She's a grade 1 teacher.
She was walking (in a crosswalk for petesake) in December (cold, snowy, but in daylight) meeting friends for lunch. In the crosswalk she was struck by a truck. Yup, a pedestrian minding her own business, hit by a truck. Fortunately the truck stopped in time. Lucy remembers being struck on her right side, holding out her right arm to try to stop the truck, and yelling at the driver. There was physical contact of Lucy by the truck.
The driver got out and apologized.
Lucy proceeded to have lunch with her friends, a few of whom were nurses. They were concerned for her. She filed a claim. The claim covered her. The adjustor assigned to Lucy was nice. Let's call her Julie. (That's not her real name, but I want to call her something that evoked boundaried and professional but still friendly concern and caring.)
Julie told Lucy that the Insurance Company would keep her file open for 6 months, which sounds reasonable...
Lucy came to see me shortly after her injury with arm and neck pain. She had low back pain too which she had had for a long time and got massage for.
I treated her and we made a followup appointment. She was leaving the province to visit family for holidays, and wouldn't be back until the new year. I saw her again in the new year. She was 80% better, she said. I worked with her again, and said, come back if there is anything more I can help you with.
Time passed, she did not make any more appointments.
About a week ago, Stacy called me about Lucy. Stacy wanted to close the file, which had been given over to her when Julie took another spot in the company. Where Julie had been people-smart, Stacy was all corporate, this-is-the-way-we-do-things smart. She wanted that file closed and she wanted a discharge note, now.
I replied, well, I want to call Lucy first and just make sure everything is OK with her.
I called Lucy and Lucy said, I feel better, but yes, I would like to make an appointment (about the low back stuff, as it turned out..).
I told Stacy that Lucy had made another appointment and that I would hold off on the discharge note until after I'd seen her. Stacy said, OK, we'll pay you for that visit but then I'm closing her file for non-compliance. I asked what non-compliance are you referring to? Stacy said, people go into programs. Lucy hasn't been in any program so she's non-compliant with treatment. I said, I don't put people in "programs" - you should be glad I save you all that money by not treating people unnecessarily. Stacy said, no, people have to be in programs or we don't cover them. I said, what about what Julie said about leaving the file open for 6 months? Stacy said, no, we don't do that. People go into programs and when they are finished the program we close their file. We never keep files open just in case. We don't work that way. We're an insurance company. Julie was new and made a mistake.
Oh. I see. I said.
Then why (I asked) did you say you would pay me for that final visit Lucy made and that you wanted a discharge note, but then you closed her file anyway, and when I submitted request for payment I couldn't access the e-pay system? I do have a billing number..
Stacy said, you do? What is it? I gave it to her. She said oh, it's under your name and not your clinic's name? I said yes, it was a small practice, not a corporation, and I and Sensible Solutions Physiotherapy were the same. She found that very odd. I could hear her brain filing this new information under That-is-not-how-we-do-things-here.
I was getting increasingly angry; Stacy could hear it in my voice, so she accused me of being rude. I wasn't rude, I was angry. Those are two completely different things, but she had decided I was rude, and tried to change the conversation to it being about that, instead of about the client and the situation.
So I told her I wanted my name removed as a "partner" of the company. She said I'd have to contact Kathy (not her real name) to do that. I said fine. And hung up.
Then I called Lucy, and asked her if she wanted copies of anything in case she wished to pursue the company further, but she declined.. she was willing to let go of the whole ordeal with the change of adjustors and all the drama. Plus, she felt fine now, including her low back which had plagued her for a long time, since way before the MVA.
I said, it looks like I won't be paid for that last visit, but it's OK, because I'm just glad to not be their "partner" and having them shove me around and shove you around and not let me have my preferred style of interaction with their clients which is more 'catch and release' - instead they seem to think I need to have you come in three times a week for useless treatment and waste all kinds of money on that and have you be treated unnecessarily and me be bored trying to treat you even when you don't need it as if the "program" were the most important thing in the world instead of your sense of wellbeing back out in the world not needing to be a "patient" of mine... I'll take the bite for the treatment you had that they won't pay for because it wasn't your fault.
Then Lucy said, no, I'll pay you for that last visit.. I can send the receipt into my work insurance - they cover PT. If my workplace didn't have good insurance I might be more willing to fight the Motor Vehicle Insurance company, but really, I just want it to be over.
Fair enough Lucy, fair enough. And thank you for being you. And Stacy, go perch on a pivot. And MV Insurance company, I divorce you as of today. Our little adventure together is over.
UPDATE: April 27
I just got off the phone with an official smoother-outer person from the insurance company who called, left a message, asked me to contact her, please (!), and begged me to return, expressed how much the company doesn't want to lose any PT partners out in the hinterland, wanted to hear the whole story. Sort of the relationship counsellor from the company side. Nice woman..
We talked. She listened more than talked. She asked me to return if I could possibly see my way clear to do so.
I agreed to be reinstated. As long as I don't have to deal with the Stacy's of the world. (Actually, I should have given her the name Rocksy.) I was told that Stacy would be chatted to/with as well.
So, the marriage is back on, insurance company. It's all good, for now at least.
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