December 30, 2024 • 41 mins
- Listen Saturday mornings at 8 as Dr. Msonthi Levine discusses medical issues and takes your calls on News Talk 560 KLVI. Dr Levine is board certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. His office is located at 3080 Milam in Beaumont, Texas. He can be reached at 409-347-3621.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome in that radio listeners Southeast Texas, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
This is Dark Levine of the Dark Laving Medical Hour,
taking your phone calls, the last edition of the new
Oh I'm sorry, last estion of the year twenty four.
We're moving into the new year next week and this
is the last edition, so very special edition. Thank you
(00:21):
for joining us today, us, I said, not me, but us.
As you know, periodically, I do have guests, not that many,
one or two, but I do have guests periodically. And
because it is the last show of twenty twenty four,
we certainly had to bring on a very special, very important,
(00:42):
very essential person that helps us out, helps you out,
helps me out, to make all of this possible, because
without this person, it would be impossible to bring this
show to you, and so we certainly had to bring
this person on so we can just chat and see
what's going on next year and maybe close out year
(01:04):
twenty twenty four and make sure we're doing the right
thing at the end of the year so we can
start doing the right thing at the beginning of the year.
Good morning, missus Levine, Good morning, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm good. I'll be better after I have coffee.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You didn't put all your stuff in it either.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, I dashed out of the house. It's like they.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Didn't have all this stuff here.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It was five o'clock and then it was all of
a sudden, seven forty four.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It takes uh, well, it takes you. It takes you
a while to get your coffee going right because you
have all these stuff you put in it, special items, flavorings, textures,
Aroma's colors, that's right now in order for you to
(01:54):
drink it. Coffee has gotten to that point, right, you know,
it's not I guess when you and I grew up
with similar ages. You know, it's just sort of maxwell
house folgers community that about it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I think that was about it. And man, now everybody's
drinking coffee. I mean, coffee is everywhere. And some people
still confuse whether or not you you know, they think
coffee is a good beverage or not. And yeah, I
see confusing studies periodically about coffee, and it's it's discouraging
(02:34):
that there is so much information out there that's contradictory.
Folks just don't know what to drink anymore. But in
my opinion, you know, coffee is can be a part
of a healthy lifestyle, can be part of a healthy beverage.
But certainly if you're adding a bunch of sweeteners and
sugars and those sorts of things every day, then that,
(02:58):
I think that's when it turns left and it's not
such necessarily good beverage because a lot of that stuff
is just sort of man made artificial things, and you
don't want to try and consume things that are as
fresh and as natural as possible. So anyway, I thought,
(03:21):
I thought you were wondering, so I just told you
about it.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Then it becomes syrup, and then.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I've just started with my whole I have the napresso
machine right, and I bought a real coffee pot that
doesn't use the little pod pod. You know, again, I'm
just as vulnerable as everybody else is out there to
information I see and just seeing more and more information
(03:49):
about that sort of system and maybe the aluminum in
the pods and it's leaking. And anyway, it got me
nerved up us because I drink I would say, I
drink coffee all day long.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
For all day long. Have you learned how to use
your maker for coffee maker?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
No? No, se that's and that's the that's the problem.
I remember the coffee makers back in the day. You
just get get some coffee grounds, get to fill with
a white filter, right, yeah, put it in the receptacle,
close that door, then put the water in the receptacle.
Press on. Man, you got coffee.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Why don't we go there when we leave here and
see if we can make a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well try, That'll be our project before the year twenty
four ends, just to figure out how to work my
new coffee machines.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
When I have a coffee machine literally twenty feet.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Away from the same one. You no, it's the same manufacturer,
but I think it's mine is more individual. It's just
a one, one time sort of coffee thing, so you
have to pres it once every time. I think yours
could make more. Yours is more complicated, so we should
be able to figure this thing out. You still just
push a button, right, But you know it's got all
(05:11):
this startup it's brand new and it's got all this
startup stuff. So anyway, that's why I'm married my wife,
so she can figure out all that stuff and I
can just go be a doctor. Phone lines are open
eight nine to six kV one hundred three three zero Kova.
It's me, it's missus Levine. It's the last program of
twenty twenty four. Man, the year went by fast. I
(05:32):
mean it flew by crazy fast. And we're looking forward
to your twenty twenty five and we always you always
come at the end of the year. Yeah, just to
sort of wrap up twenty twenty four. And I guess
we want to know what is there anything on your
(05:52):
mind to wrap up twenty twenty four, Any highlights, anything
that comes to mind at this point that you want
to mention to the audience about twenty twenty four. Any
memorable periods of time, anything that you're proud of, excited
about your Maybe you weren't so proud of, I mean anything.
(06:13):
In twenty four was a long year, three sixty three,
sixty five.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know, it was a very long year. So lots
of challenges for us in twenty twenty four, starting out
with probably in February when healthcare got hacked. I don't
know if you remember that. Yeah, so claims couldn't come in,
claims couldn't go out.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Oh man, Yeah, so you.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Don't remember how long that went on?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
How long did it go.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
On, tell the viewers a little I mean the listeners
a little bit about that. I mean, this is a
part that they don't really get to hear.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So what I'm sure they felt it because I think.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Briefly, the first part of it was.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
They couldn't get their medications at the pharmacies.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And then claims. You couldn't send out claims declaring houses.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
What is a claim?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
A claim is a piece of paper?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
That is it actually a piece of paper.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
It's actually a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay. I thought it was just sort of a It
was sort of a statement that was generated by us
that we send to the insurance company that sort of
verifies what time we spent with the patient, what we
did with the patient, that sort of thing. That that's
sort of a claim. Right. It doesn't have to be
(07:32):
a piece of paper because most of it's electronic though, right.
I guess it used to be paper. You would have
to mail it years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It used to be paper you used to mail. And
it's called a heckfood none ask me what it stands for.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, like hi, CFA or something like that. It was
an acronym. Yeah, so it is, so you would fill
it out on a piece of paper like a spreadsheet
like bubbles, right, not.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Bubbles, you would handwrite it, okay, So and.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
That is sort of your bill right for the insurance company.
Like I saw this patient, we did this and this,
and that I need to now charge the insurance company
for my services. They call that fee for service, which
again our system is trying to work on that and
(08:20):
trying to figure out a way to provide healthcare but
not be so expensive, very complicated. This is not the
time for this show. We can talk about a little bit,
but nonetheless, these claims, so.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It is electronic. There's a clearinghouse. Everyone has a clearinghouse
so that the physician's office is not mailing out claims
directly to the physicians, I mean to the insurance companies.
So there's a clearinghouse, and the clearinghouse scrubs them for
any errors that could be wrong, so that when they
(08:51):
go to the insurance company, they're payable, there's nothing wrong
with them. They don't get kicked back. So that whole
industry stopped in February of last year or.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
This year because it was the electronics system was quote
hacked and so you couldn't trust what was going on, so.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
It didn't matter about trust.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So it's kind of just shut down, yeah, and shut down, right,
So we had to go to different clearinghouse.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We had to change everything over to a different clearinghouse,
sign contracts, load insurances, load claims. It probably took about
two to three months in order to and we would
get payments that would trickle in here and there that
kind of slipped through, probably an old claim that had
been processed before the hack. But we survived. I mean,
(09:45):
no big deal, just a little bump in the road.
There's always bumps, always roads.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So patients, yeah, but patient care continued. And these are
some of the potential issues that come up with our
current healthcare system. It is electronic. We love it, we
use it, we want to grow it. But again, these
are you know, we thought that the electronic industry would
(10:13):
just solve all of our problems, like it would just
be so wonderful, which it is on a lot of levels,
but it just generates new problems interacting with the computer
system and the troubles that come with using the electronic
system where everyone's sort of on this big grid and
(10:35):
it can be sort of as you mentioned, hacked or infiltrated,
adult traded however you want to call it. And it's
valuable information on there and it can be massively disruptive
to the system. Pharmacies. Did they get hacked this year? Pharmacies?
Did they have any problems?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I'm not sure. I mean, I do remember patients not
being able to go get their medicines because their insurance
benefits weren't there, so they couldn't see what their benefits
were to even give them their medications. So I remember
something like that, I'm not pharmacy medical.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So yeah, and so got through it, closed that door,
kind of continued to move on, and yes, the end
of the year is here, twenty twenty four, and we're
looking forward to the year twenty twenty five. If you
have any questions or concerns, or if you want to
chat about anything that happened in twenty four something looking
(11:35):
forward to in twenty five gives call phone lines to
open eight nine six skalvy I went one hundred and
three to three zero kill if y, I'll be back
in two minutes. All right, welcome back to Docta vin Medical.
(12:04):
Our phone line to open eight nine to six kov
I one hundred and three to three zero kopi. Last
program of year twenty twenty four, so very special program,
and we have as our guest, missus Charlotte Levine, a
very important part of this whole process. Without her, this
could not exist, So obviously we had to bring her
(12:25):
in and just sort of close it out the right
way and open it up the right way as well
on the twenty twenty five time of year, just chatting
and going through the twenty twenty four you know, things
that may have happened or things we want to highlight.
I know that when the office opened, we didn't have vaccines,
and we promote vaccines all the time on this show,
(12:48):
and we finally got a vaccine program a couple of
years ago. Has that been successful year twenty twenty four
that with offering vaccines, covid flu, pneumonia, shingles, all those things?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I think, so you're always going to have pats. You
always always are going to have patients who believe in
back vaccines or who do not believe in vaccines, And
we offered it's there. All you have to is ask
for it. The nurses know how to give it. It's simple, streamline, straightforward.
I think it's I think it's been great for the office.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, you know, we're just trying to do our part
and increasing the immunity in our community. Look at that
what I just did.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Your poet didn't know that?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, and uh yeah, most doctors in primary care position
roles should have that availability. Just it wasn't feasible for
a long time. But a company has allowed us to
offer that, and we're just so happy and glad that
we can't, excuse me, do that. You know, if you
haven't listened to this show, I've talked about maybe vaccines
(13:53):
being in a pill form, maybe a capsule, and we
can just do it that way. I mean, that would
just wouldn't that be cool? Here's your pill your vaccine.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Nation take enough pills though, I know that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Hey, Jar from Needland, how can we help you?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Hey? Thanks?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Just a brief comment. I think you mentioned twenty twenty
four we had the assassination of the CEO insurance CEO.
I think we as a nation, as a government, need
to look at insurance and how we pay. I've personally experienced,
you know, an illness with my insurance and then you
(14:33):
get so much out of pocket. Can overwhelm the average
Joe and I just wanted to say, maybe we should
stop kicking the can down the road and everybody get
together and look at this.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Absolutely gerations. Oh, no question. It's it's a huge, huge,
very complicated, multi layered issue. And you know it's always
sort of on the agenda when we hiring or i'm sorry,
electing our officials who help us figure out how to
make the system better. And I would agree with you. Yes,
(15:06):
the healthcare system was highlighted with the recent death of
the CEO. It generates more conversation about how to make
it better, more affordable and accessible to everyone in this country.
So yeah, that's something that we have to keep working.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
I agree with you, without being left or right. It's
really there's too much profit. In my personal opinion, with
insurance companies, people who go to work every day can
end up with five six thousand dollars out of pocket
after showing up with Blue Cross, and it's really unpleasant.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, yeah, no question. I feel you. We interact with
the healthcare system every day, and yeah, it's I think
everyone agrees that we still need to figure out a
way to make it better and more affordable, even with
just medications. I'm a prescribing doctor and medicines come out
(16:07):
every year and they're good and they work, but god,
it just seems out of reach for most people, at
least for a few years until the pricing goes down. So, yes,
there's a long history of how we got to this point.
It wasn't always like this, but it is now. And
this is a great country and we have a lot
of smart people in this country, and it's got to
(16:27):
be prioritized and I think it will eventually just because
we can't just like you say, can't ye kicking the
can down the street. We got to figure this one
out and we will because we're great country and so
we appreciate that comment.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Yes, buddy, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Happy New Year to you, brother. And yeah, Charlotte, I
mean I crims all the time. I mean we can
just even talk about when we're talking about topics that
we could think about. Our weight loss program involves this
diabetes medicine called semi glue tie right, and we offer
(17:04):
it right. We've offered it there for about a year.
So how's that program going? What do you think it's good?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I mean, patients either respond to it and lose weight
or they don't respond to it. And we change their medicine.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And they cry.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
They don't cry like.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
My friend is.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But you can't mean you have to love it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Why isn't that working for me?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
And go ahead, Well, you can't just take a shot.
I mean, you have to do some exercise, you have
to change your diet. There's a few other things you
have to do. You can't just have a shot put
into your body and think that you're going to become skinny.
I mean, it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You're absolutely right, But it it seems to check all
the boxes when you talk about a weight loss medication,
meaning it's relatively safe, it's effective.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It curbs your appetite, Yes, it makes you feel full.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, you can take it long term honestly, because it
is really die be dismdicine. But the pricing, it's out
of reach for most people. And yeah, it's confusing to
me as a as a healthcare provider when we, you know,
interact with the insurance company and you know, it seems like, hey,
(18:18):
they want to prevent things, they don't want people in
the hospital. Right, take your medicines compliance visits. Certain things
that we need to document in the chart. Medicare physical
it's just sort of this huge attention to try and
reduce progression, keep you out of the hospital. And then
(18:39):
we have, like I said, this drug or class of drugs,
I should say, there's several. Yeah, there's several us by Durion,
by Ata Wygovi, Munjaro, Zimpic right, Bels's I mean there's
a number of them. And which is so crazy. Sax
(19:00):
Cinda that's the name brand of I think it's Victosa
that's the name brand of that medication has been out
for years, I mean years, and it didn't get quite
the attraction that Ozimpik received.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Well, maybe there wasn't enough education behind it, because people think, oh,
I have diabetes, I cannot take that medicine.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. I think a lot of people like it's a
diabetes medicine. I don't want it to make I don't
have diabetes, louse me to have diabetes. That's a lot
of people feel like, oh, if I start taking them,
I'm going to become diabetics. So we had to get
through that. But nonetheless, it would just make sense that
this medicine would be very affordable and accessible to most
(19:46):
of our citizens so that they can get their weight
down because it is super super duper hard to eat
right out there. It's it's every year, right at the
end of the year, it's like, okay, twenty new year,
we're gonna get the way down. I'm gonna eat right.
I hear that refrain every year from my patients, and
I'm super supportive and I'm like, hey, let's let's do it.
(20:08):
I hear this all the time. Hey, next time I
see you, Doctoravine, I'm gonna be thirty pounds lighter. I'm
gonna look better.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I saw you on that cookie and they buy that
coffee part.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I was wondering what to do if I ate it,
but I.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Hear that, yeah, you would leave the box.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
But I hear that every year, and I'm like, okay,
let's see and I just know ez ere. I'm like, man,
it's just super duper hard to say. Note all that stuff,
too many distractions to eating correctly, exercising on a consistent basis.
It's just tough for the average person to do that.
And it just it'd be great if there was a
(20:45):
drug that most average individuals had access to that could
just sort of shorten the gap, close the gap in
terms of allowing them to accomplish that, but it is
it's expensive. Just like our caller was talking about, Yes,
our system is not perfect, and just so you know,
(21:07):
I mean, there is really no perfect system out there, right.
There's negatives and positive to every healthcare system known to man.
And there's certainly a story in our country as to
how we got to this point because it always wasn't
like this. But we're here now, and there's been several
(21:28):
authors and several books that have put together the story
quite well from day one to here, and you can
understand how it became what it is now. And we're
all a part of the system, but we all have
to change the system industry, right, It's not just going
to be one person. It's going to be a lot
(21:51):
of thought into it. It's complicated because a lot of
people are involved, and you know, we're trying to deliver
a product to the masses when really there's limited resources
in the system, and just trying to figure out how
to do that. Man, it's super, super tough, and it's
just going to be a constant struggle working on trying
to adjust the system so that everybody's happy, which can
(22:15):
be tough in some situations. But our weight loss program. Yes,
we have that Sema glue tide injection and for the
most part, it works very well for most people and
they can get to weight down. But there are some
little adverse reaction issues. Have we seen a lot of
that at our office, just the reactions of the medication.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, I mean it again. It's the main thing that
it does is kind of slows down your gastric motility.
That's sort of a little fancy term that means how
fast and how quick your stomach and your intestines work.
And when you sort of slow it down, it sort
of gives you this very satisfied sensation where you know
(23:02):
you're not you don't have to eat, you don't have
to drink, and you're satisfy. You just have this satisfied
feeling in your belly. We all have been angry periodically,
and we know how uncomfortable that is. And because of
all this delicious, succulent food and these beverages we have here,
Hey windus, we drink it, we eat it, and we
(23:23):
don't think twice and twice about it. But a lot
of this stuff is very processed. It's got sugar, and
it's got preserved. It's got all these man made chemicals.
And just again, all the experts they've done, all their
research is well publicized, it's well chronicled. It's just these
things are making a lot of Americans sick. They're making
a lot of Americans ill. They're gaining a lot of weight,
(23:45):
and that's where a lot of our diseases come from.
It's just consuming all this stuff on a regular basis.
We have Michael from Pasadena. How can we help you?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Oh, good morning, First of all, for all you do
and and and missus Levin and uh, I'm h I
had a loop recorder installed, uh last Tuesday. Yeah, and
uh if they stealed the opening up with Derma Bond
(24:21):
and it's it's still on there. I wonder how long
before it comes off. I'm not I'm not taking it.
I haven't pulled it off or anything, but uh, I'm
wondering if it's if it's if if it should be
taken off. I'm supposed to see the doctor on Tuesday,
but uh, I'm thinking, you know that maybe it should
(24:44):
be off by now. I'm going to make that wound
heal a little better.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
But what do you know? Yeah, Michael A lot of
times with these outpatient procedures. From my standpoint, what I
see is that the doctor who performs the procedure normally
gives you some literature that sort of spells out some
of those questions, and they give you the answer, maybe
(25:08):
a little Q and a hot sheet where some of
those answers are already answered for you. If it's if
you don't have that in your hands and you still
don't know, they normally will have a one eight hundred
number or on call number where you can call a
registered nurse, you can call a nurse practitioner or the
(25:28):
physician on call and you can ask that question. Because
most doctors who performance proceedures understand that things may go
wrong or something might happen, and patients need access to
someone who can answer some quick questions. So a lot
of times there will be access to a number or
(25:49):
face sheet that sort of explains all that stuff. In
my experience, yeah, they normally want you to kind of
leave it alone for a few days at least, but
really beyond three or four days, the wound pretty much
is healed and you can probably remove that. But again,
every doctor is different, and you want to sort of
(26:11):
follow the doctor's sort of recommendations, because we get real
sensitive about procedures and how things are handled afterwards, and
they're all different, and you want to be sure that
you're kind of following their recommendations and doing your part
to keep everything healed and not get infected or not
(26:32):
let the wound open up. But normally after about three
or four days is pretty good in terms of the
wound and sort of the top covering packing can be
kind of removed. But again, they normally provided information. They
tell you before you leave. Now leave this alone, don't
touch it until you see the doctor in a week.
(26:54):
Call us if you have any problems with it. Here's
the number that's normally how that goes. Did you not
get that sort of experience?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I got a literature, but it doesn't talk about that.
And I did call, but they haven't called me back.
And I had done on the seventeenth. It's been yeahs
day or so, two weeks. Anyway, I just thought maybe
(27:26):
I could I read on internet word well, a doctor
on had a video and basically said after ten days
you could remove it with using vasoline. Yeah, but I
haven't done anything yet. I just thought it's not hurting anything.
(27:47):
And so anyway, I thought maybe you you, I know,
you know what's going on. But anyway, I do have
a comment about the uh paperwork, all all the paperwork
that we show. I've been seen, I've been, I've been
then to I have been to see oh maybe ten
(28:11):
doctors this year, and everyone I'm filling out the same paperwork.
And I thought to myself, by now somebody I'll know
all about me. And but in time I've got to
fall out. And I really believe that somebody could make
a mint by just simply having for each patient. I
(28:36):
know there's things that are added from time to time,
but it's it's very frustrating to have to fill out
the same thing over and over and over again. Uh.
And so anyway where I fell out of I make
my own form and that they want you to fill
(28:57):
out there for him, and you know so, but anyway,
it's just a suggestion that somebody come up with a
system that everything is a's already in a computer somewhere,
and you know you're able to your new doctors able
to access that absolutely. You know, that's just that's just
(29:18):
the thought. And so and I do I do want
to say thanks for everything you've done, and we really
appreciate you out here. Yeah, she would like to se
over here sometimes.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
But what about opening an office in Pasadena? Is that
we'll on the radar.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
And we'll see.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
All right, Well, we'll put it on the agenda for
twenty five buddy.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Okay, Well, happy new Year and for everything.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
All right, buddy, we appreciate that. Take care and I mean, yeah,
the technology is there if this country really wanted to
do that.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
The only thing that's bad is, you know, everybody has
a different system, So you would have to have the
same system that everybody used in order to do what
he was wanting done. And that would be awesome, but
there's a cost for.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
That because you know, price to paye.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah, so everybody that could work, and that could happen,
but everybody would have to have the same system.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah. The whole idea of a one payer system terrifies people.
And to have one computer grid for everyone terrifies people.
They just don't like that idea of it's just one
and no alternatives, no options. That's not America.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Well, just like when you go to the hospitals, their
systems are different. They don't talk to each other, they
don't integrate what you did at this hospital.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
That goes against sort of the theme of this country,
in my opinion, where we prioritize, we cherish individual freedoms,
individual voice. I don't want to do it. I don't
have to. It's it's my decision. That's what we really
that's what's really critical in this country, and we believe
in it and we want that. We want to be
(31:11):
able to choose, and we hate when we don't have choices.
And I think that's that's sort of having that one computer,
even though it sounds cool, right and it's like, well,
I don't have to fill out this paperwork it. I'm
sure there would be problems with that if everybody's went
on one. Could you imagine if the system got hacked, right,
(31:31):
just shut down everything all right, broke? Yeah, But you know,
doctor Levine has one system, compute has one system. So
the hospital's system is down, but doctor Levine's is working.
Let's go over and see, you know. So that's kind
of that's just one idea. But the technology is there.
It's been talked about before for many years, but just limitations.
(31:52):
Phone lines are open eight nine six, Scalva one hundred
through three zero Kova. I'll be back in two minutes.
(32:14):
All right, Welcome back to Jaclavi and Medica. Our phone
lines are open eight nine six kalv I one hundred
three three zero kov here with missus Levine, sort of
wrapping up the year. Twenty twenty four went by so fast,
and we're just sort of highlighting maybe some things that
happened to us that were memorable. A lot has happened, right,
It's been a year, but we're just trying to highlight
(32:35):
some things to appreciate the callers comments. I mean, I
guess the big thing is that we're gonna do the
show next year, right twenty five. The fans still want us, right, yes,
I mean Jim hadn't come to us and like, hey,
what are you doing here? Yeah, they're like, no, We're okay,
(32:55):
we don't you know, we got something else going on
between eight and hadn't come to us yet. So that's
one thing. We're still gonna do the show for next year.
We love doing this show. How many years have been
doing it?
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Oh my gosh, A long time?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Yeah, and we love doing it. I see a lot
of the fans out there in the hospital, and we
appreciate all the support and it's fun for us. Again,
we're just trying to sort of educate the community about
these basic things. We feel like we're on the inside.
We have some insight to some of these issues, not
(33:31):
all of them, but we're there at the office is
generally eight Monday through Friday. Trying to make a difference
is not always easy, but we've had a fun time
coming on here Saturday eight to nine, just chatting and
talking whatever comes up on my mind. And yeah, we're
(33:52):
gonna do it next year. We're gonna keep doing it
until you don't want us or something changes or because
again and just let you know we love doing it.
We just need to hear from you if there's a
certain topic you want us to talk about. That's always
from my standpoint. You know, what do you want to hear?
What topics are interesting to you. But again, listening to
(34:15):
the callers and when I see you in the hospital
or in public, you guys tend to like the program.
So we're going to keep rolling with that. It's you know,
I like to try and have more guests, but it's
just difficult to get people up here eight to nine Saturday,
especially doctors. You know, they want to. They're like everybody
(34:36):
else in a weekend hits and they want to be
at home. They want to travel. They don't really want
to come up and talk more so, they want to
hang out with their family. But for the year twenty five,
anything on your horizon that you might want to prioritize
or what are you looking forward to they want to
share with the listeners.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Well, I would love for the patients to be an
activist and getting their A one c's early, their blood
pressure readings normal and early and recorded, pick up their
medications and be compliant with that. That has been my
biggest struggle in twenty twenty four is non compliant patients
and trying to educate them on how easy it is
(35:18):
and how simple it is for them to become compliant.
Get your medicare physicals early, your mammograms, your colonoscopies. Try
to be on the forefront of getting everything done the
first six months so that the next six months you
can just kind of relax and your name will go
off of a list of long reports that we get
(35:41):
and we don't have to chase you down and beg
you to come in and become compliant again. So you know,
just be the best that you can be, the best
version of yourself that you can be, and will help
you along the way and educate you on helping you
connect those dots.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah, I mean it's a struggle out there for all
of it us to be compliant with going to the doctor,
taking your meds, getting refills, getting your labs, getting your
ex ray reports. And that's something else that we changed
maybe a couple of years ago, was asking patients factually
come back into the office to have a face to
face visit for the results of these X rays. Remember,
(36:22):
we didn't really do that initially, but was was that
something that insurance companies asked us to do? Is that
something that we felt like it was a good move
to improve our outcomes and improve our communication? Is is
that how that happened?
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You know, we always want to improve our outcomes, but
insurance companies are very aware that things are missed, small
things are missed, and a face to face visit is
simple versus treatments or surgeries or things of that sort.
So a face to face is the least of the cost. Yeah,
(37:00):
and the more responsible.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
But I would agree with you, but again, it's it's
a it's a big price that a patient has to pay,
honestly to go to a doctor's office. It's that's something
that we all need to work on as in the
medical world, going to the er, going to the hospital,
going to the doctor's office, it's a big production for
(37:22):
the average person. It's not as easy as you think.
I mean, you're talking about already a two hour commitment.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Honestly, there's a big difference going to the emergency room.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
For an emergency. Everybody knows. I just want let everybody
know out there that the hospitals work every day to
try to make the process faster and better. I mean,
they're constantly meeting and how can we do it better
and better?
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Better?
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Just let you guys know that. But still it's an
arduous process for the patient because, as you know, I
do a lot of hot to work at Baptist Hospital.
I'm there every day. I hear this all the time.
Patients are gettingmitted to the hospital right and we're like, okay,
it's time to go home. Well, doctor, I don't want
to have to come back. I do not want to
(38:12):
come back in a day, two days, three days. When
I leave here, I don't want to have to come
back and I'm puzzled with that statement, right because let's
be clear, no doctor can guarantee your success when you
leave the hospital. But it just goes to show you
how much it is put into coming to that whole
(38:34):
process from start to finish. I leave my house until
I get to the to the bed, that could be
twenty four hours and it's just a lot, and patients
know that. It's like, oh my god, I want to
go through that again. So looking at twenty five, that's
we need to work on that as a system. Anyway,
if one wants are open at eight nine six kovy,
I want to hundred through through zero kovy. I'll be
(38:56):
back in two minutes. Our last break for the year
twenty twenty four, be right back, all right this starck
Leavine Phone Lines opening nine six kV I won one
(39:17):
hundred and three to three zero okyopy I with Missus Levine
closing out the year twenty twenty four. We want to
thank all the listeners for your support and all the
patients and their support for our business. We started many,
many years ago right in a small little office two
thousand and six. In our small little office. We loved it,
(39:37):
we grew it and We're very, very blessed, and we
appreciate all the support from all the listeners and all
of our patients out there who have supported us over
the years to get us to this point. And again,
we love providing this service to Beaumont, Texas. As you know,
I was born and raised here, your Southeast Texan though
(39:58):
Saint Augustine far away, not too far away, but Southeast
text and nonetheless, so we love you and appreciate you
being here. You've given back so much to the community.
That beautiful office that you put together. Everyone loves it,
the art in there and just the style. Everyone comments
on it. And you did that, and you're providing that
(40:19):
to South East Sex's to someone who was born and
raised here. So we appreciate your efforts that you put
into it because you have done a lot. And we
again we want to thank all the listeners for listening
to us every week, no matter what we have to say,
and we'll be here as every week providing you with
(40:41):
what we feel like is up to dated healthcare information.
Try to make your life easier, your job easier, because
it is tough out there. Missus Levine was talking about compliance.
We all know that that's very difficult a lot of times,
a lot of obstacles, and we want to try and
help you as much as possible, but certainly taking those
mads on a regular basis, getting those labs done and
(41:03):
getting those screening tests right. We talked about colonoscopes, PSA tests, mammograms,
even if you're a smoke or getting those cat skins
for lung cancer screening. You gotta come in and get
that done and we gotta go over face to face
because it does improve the chances of having better outcomes.
So again, have a good time, don't drink and drive,
(41:27):
be safe out there.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Vegetables, yes, each your you don't have to eat a
lot of them, just eat one like eat a carrot
per day, cucumber per day. Yes, that's all you gotta do.
And less is more in these situations. So that's where
your health is, is what you eat and drink and
exercise also, and again you don't have Yes, all right,
(41:49):
happy new We'll see you next year. Take care,
All right, welcome in that radio listeners Southeast Texas, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
This is Dark Levine of the Dark Laving Medical Hour,
taking your phone calls, the last edition of the new
Oh I'm sorry, last estion of the year twenty four.
We're moving into the new year next week and this
is the last edition, so very special edition. Thank you
(00:21):
for joining us today, us, I said, not me, but us.
As you know, periodically, I do have guests, not that many,
one or two, but I do have guests periodically. And
because it is the last show of twenty twenty four,
we certainly had to bring on a very special, very important,
(00:42):
very essential person that helps us out, helps you out,
helps me out, to make all of this possible, because
without this person, it would be impossible to bring this
show to you, and so we certainly had to bring
this person on so we can just chat and see
what's going on next year and maybe close out year
(01:04):
twenty twenty four and make sure we're doing the right
thing at the end of the year so we can
start doing the right thing at the beginning of the year.
Good morning, missus Levine, Good morning, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm good. I'll be better after I have coffee.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You didn't put all your stuff in it either.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, I dashed out of the house. It's like they.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Didn't have all this stuff here.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It was five o'clock and then it was all of
a sudden, seven forty four.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It takes uh, well, it takes you. It takes you
a while to get your coffee going right because you
have all these stuff you put in it, special items, flavorings, textures,
Aroma's colors, that's right now in order for you to
(01:54):
drink it. Coffee has gotten to that point, right, you know,
it's not I guess when you and I grew up
with similar ages. You know, it's just sort of maxwell
house folgers community that about it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I think that was about it. And man, now everybody's
drinking coffee. I mean, coffee is everywhere. And some people
still confuse whether or not you you know, they think
coffee is a good beverage or not. And yeah, I
see confusing studies periodically about coffee, and it's it's discouraging
(02:34):
that there is so much information out there that's contradictory.
Folks just don't know what to drink anymore. But in
my opinion, you know, coffee is can be a part
of a healthy lifestyle, can be part of a healthy beverage.
But certainly if you're adding a bunch of sweeteners and
sugars and those sorts of things every day, then that,
(02:58):
I think that's when it turns left and it's not
such necessarily good beverage because a lot of that stuff
is just sort of man made artificial things, and you
don't want to try and consume things that are as
fresh and as natural as possible. So anyway, I thought,
(03:21):
I thought you were wondering, so I just told you
about it.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Then it becomes syrup, and then.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I've just started with my whole I have the napresso
machine right, and I bought a real coffee pot that
doesn't use the little pod pod. You know, again, I'm
just as vulnerable as everybody else is out there to
information I see and just seeing more and more information
(03:49):
about that sort of system and maybe the aluminum in
the pods and it's leaking. And anyway, it got me
nerved up us because I drink I would say, I
drink coffee all day long.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
For all day long. Have you learned how to use
your maker for coffee maker?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
No? No, se that's and that's the that's the problem.
I remember the coffee makers back in the day. You
just get get some coffee grounds, get to fill with
a white filter, right, yeah, put it in the receptacle,
close that door, then put the water in the receptacle.
Press on. Man, you got coffee.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Why don't we go there when we leave here and
see if we can make a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well try, That'll be our project before the year twenty
four ends, just to figure out how to work my
new coffee machines.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
When I have a coffee machine literally twenty feet.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Away from the same one. You no, it's the same manufacturer,
but I think it's mine is more individual. It's just
a one, one time sort of coffee thing, so you
have to pres it once every time. I think yours
could make more. Yours is more complicated, so we should
be able to figure this thing out. You still just
push a button, right, But you know it's got all
(05:11):
this startup it's brand new and it's got all this
startup stuff. So anyway, that's why I'm married my wife,
so she can figure out all that stuff and I
can just go be a doctor. Phone lines are open
eight nine to six kV one hundred three three zero Kova.
It's me, it's missus Levine. It's the last program of
twenty twenty four. Man, the year went by fast. I
(05:32):
mean it flew by crazy fast. And we're looking forward
to your twenty twenty five and we always you always
come at the end of the year. Yeah, just to
sort of wrap up twenty twenty four. And I guess
we want to know what is there anything on your
(05:52):
mind to wrap up twenty twenty four, Any highlights, anything
that comes to mind at this point that you want
to mention to the audience about twenty twenty four. Any
memorable periods of time, anything that you're proud of, excited
about your Maybe you weren't so proud of, I mean anything.
(06:13):
In twenty four was a long year, three sixty three,
sixty five.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know, it was a very long year. So lots
of challenges for us in twenty twenty four, starting out
with probably in February when healthcare got hacked. I don't
know if you remember that. Yeah, so claims couldn't come in,
claims couldn't go out.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Oh man, Yeah, so you.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Don't remember how long that went on?
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
How long did it go.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
On, tell the viewers a little I mean the listeners
a little bit about that. I mean, this is a
part that they don't really get to hear.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So what I'm sure they felt it because I think.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Briefly, the first part of it was.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
They couldn't get their medications at the pharmacies.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Okay, so.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
And then claims. You couldn't send out claims declaring houses.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
What is a claim?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
A claim is a piece of paper?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
That is it actually a piece of paper.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
It's actually a piece of paper.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay. I thought it was just sort of a It
was sort of a statement that was generated by us
that we send to the insurance company that sort of
verifies what time we spent with the patient, what we
did with the patient, that sort of thing. That that's
sort of a claim. Right. It doesn't have to be
(07:32):
a piece of paper because most of it's electronic though, right.
I guess it used to be paper. You would have
to mail it years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It used to be paper you used to mail. And
it's called a heckfood none ask me what it stands for.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, like hi, CFA or something like that. It was
an acronym. Yeah, so it is, so you would fill
it out on a piece of paper like a spreadsheet
like bubbles, right, not.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Bubbles, you would handwrite it, okay, So and.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
That is sort of your bill right for the insurance company.
Like I saw this patient, we did this and this,
and that I need to now charge the insurance company
for my services. They call that fee for service, which
again our system is trying to work on that and
(08:20):
trying to figure out a way to provide healthcare but
not be so expensive, very complicated. This is not the
time for this show. We can talk about a little bit,
but nonetheless, these claims, so.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It is electronic. There's a clearinghouse. Everyone has a clearinghouse
so that the physician's office is not mailing out claims
directly to the physicians, I mean to the insurance companies.
So there's a clearinghouse, and the clearinghouse scrubs them for
any errors that could be wrong, so that when they
(08:51):
go to the insurance company, they're payable, there's nothing wrong
with them. They don't get kicked back. So that whole
industry stopped in February of last year or.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
This year because it was the electronics system was quote
hacked and so you couldn't trust what was going on, so.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
It didn't matter about trust.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
So it's kind of just shut down, yeah, and shut down, right,
So we had to go to different clearinghouse.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We had to change everything over to a different clearinghouse,
sign contracts, load insurances, load claims. It probably took about
two to three months in order to and we would
get payments that would trickle in here and there that
kind of slipped through, probably an old claim that had
been processed before the hack. But we survived. I mean,
(09:45):
no big deal, just a little bump in the road.
There's always bumps, always roads.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So patients, yeah, but patient care continued. And these are
some of the potential issues that come up with our
current healthcare system. It is electronic. We love it, we
use it, we want to grow it. But again, these
are you know, we thought that the electronic industry would
(10:13):
just solve all of our problems, like it would just
be so wonderful, which it is on a lot of levels,
but it just generates new problems interacting with the computer
system and the troubles that come with using the electronic
system where everyone's sort of on this big grid and
(10:35):
it can be sort of as you mentioned, hacked or infiltrated,
adult traded however you want to call it. And it's
valuable information on there and it can be massively disruptive
to the system. Pharmacies. Did they get hacked this year? Pharmacies?
Did they have any problems?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I'm not sure. I mean, I do remember patients not
being able to go get their medicines because their insurance
benefits weren't there, so they couldn't see what their benefits
were to even give them their medications. So I remember
something like that, I'm not pharmacy medical.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
So yeah, and so got through it, closed that door,
kind of continued to move on, and yes, the end
of the year is here, twenty twenty four, and we're
looking forward to the year twenty twenty five. If you
have any questions or concerns, or if you want to
chat about anything that happened in twenty four something looking
(11:35):
forward to in twenty five gives call phone lines to
open eight nine six skalvy I went one hundred and
three to three zero kill if y, I'll be back
in two minutes. All right, welcome back to Docta vin Medical.
(12:04):
Our phone line to open eight nine to six kov
I one hundred and three to three zero kopi. Last
program of year twenty twenty four, so very special program,
and we have as our guest, missus Charlotte Levine, a
very important part of this whole process. Without her, this
could not exist, So obviously we had to bring her
(12:25):
in and just sort of close it out the right
way and open it up the right way as well
on the twenty twenty five time of year, just chatting
and going through the twenty twenty four you know, things
that may have happened or things we want to highlight.
I know that when the office opened, we didn't have vaccines,
and we promote vaccines all the time on this show,
(12:48):
and we finally got a vaccine program a couple of
years ago. Has that been successful year twenty twenty four
that with offering vaccines, covid flu, pneumonia, shingles, all those things?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I think, so you're always going to have pats. You
always always are going to have patients who believe in
back vaccines or who do not believe in vaccines, And
we offered it's there. All you have to is ask
for it. The nurses know how to give it. It's simple, streamline, straightforward.
I think it's I think it's been great for the office.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, you know, we're just trying to do our part
and increasing the immunity in our community. Look at that
what I just did.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Your poet didn't know that?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, and uh yeah, most doctors in primary care position
roles should have that availability. Just it wasn't feasible for
a long time. But a company has allowed us to
offer that, and we're just so happy and glad that
we can't, excuse me, do that. You know, if you
haven't listened to this show, I've talked about maybe vaccines
(13:53):
being in a pill form, maybe a capsule, and we
can just do it that way. I mean, that would
just wouldn't that be cool? Here's your pill your vaccine.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Nation take enough pills though, I know that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Hey, Jar from Needland, how can we help you?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Hey? Thanks?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Just a brief comment. I think you mentioned twenty twenty
four we had the assassination of the CEO insurance CEO.
I think we as a nation, as a government, need
to look at insurance and how we pay. I've personally experienced,
you know, an illness with my insurance and then you
(14:33):
get so much out of pocket. Can overwhelm the average
Joe and I just wanted to say, maybe we should
stop kicking the can down the road and everybody get
together and look at this.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Absolutely gerations. Oh, no question. It's it's a huge, huge,
very complicated, multi layered issue. And you know it's always
sort of on the agenda when we hiring or i'm sorry,
electing our officials who help us figure out how to
make the system better. And I would agree with you. Yes,
(15:06):
the healthcare system was highlighted with the recent death of
the CEO. It generates more conversation about how to make
it better, more affordable and accessible to everyone in this country.
So yeah, that's something that we have to keep working.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
I agree with you, without being left or right. It's
really there's too much profit. In my personal opinion, with
insurance companies, people who go to work every day can
end up with five six thousand dollars out of pocket
after showing up with Blue Cross, and it's really unpleasant.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, yeah, no question. I feel you. We interact with
the healthcare system every day, and yeah, it's I think
everyone agrees that we still need to figure out a
way to make it better and more affordable, even with
just medications. I'm a prescribing doctor and medicines come out
(16:07):
every year and they're good and they work, but god,
it just seems out of reach for most people, at
least for a few years until the pricing goes down. So, yes,
there's a long history of how we got to this point.
It wasn't always like this, but it is now. And
this is a great country and we have a lot
of smart people in this country, and it's got to
(16:27):
be prioritized and I think it will eventually just because
we can't just like you say, can't ye kicking the
can down the street. We got to figure this one
out and we will because we're great country and so
we appreciate that comment.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Yes, buddy, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Happy New Year to you, brother. And yeah, Charlotte, I
mean I crims all the time. I mean we can
just even talk about when we're talking about topics that
we could think about. Our weight loss program involves this
diabetes medicine called semi glue tie right, and we offer
(17:04):
it right. We've offered it there for about a year.
So how's that program going? What do you think it's good?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I mean, patients either respond to it and lose weight
or they don't respond to it. And we change their medicine.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
And they cry.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
They don't cry like.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
My friend is.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But you can't mean you have to love it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Why isn't that working for me?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
And go ahead, Well, you can't just take a shot.
I mean, you have to do some exercise, you have
to change your diet. There's a few other things you
have to do. You can't just have a shot put
into your body and think that you're going to become skinny.
I mean, it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You're absolutely right, But it it seems to check all
the boxes when you talk about a weight loss medication,
meaning it's relatively safe, it's effective.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It curbs your appetite, Yes, it makes you feel full.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, you can take it long term honestly, because it
is really die be dismdicine. But the pricing, it's out
of reach for most people. And yeah, it's confusing to
me as a as a healthcare provider when we, you know,
interact with the insurance company and you know, it seems like, hey,
(18:18):
they want to prevent things, they don't want people in
the hospital. Right, take your medicines compliance visits. Certain things
that we need to document in the chart. Medicare physical
it's just sort of this huge attention to try and
reduce progression, keep you out of the hospital. And then
(18:39):
we have, like I said, this drug or class of drugs,
I should say, there's several. Yeah, there's several us by Durion,
by Ata Wygovi, Munjaro, Zimpic right, Bels's I mean there's
a number of them. And which is so crazy. Sax
(19:00):
Cinda that's the name brand of I think it's Victosa
that's the name brand of that medication has been out
for years, I mean years, and it didn't get quite
the attraction that Ozimpik received.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Well, maybe there wasn't enough education behind it, because people think, oh,
I have diabetes, I cannot take that medicine.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah. I think a lot of people like it's a
diabetes medicine. I don't want it to make I don't
have diabetes, louse me to have diabetes. That's a lot
of people feel like, oh, if I start taking them,
I'm going to become diabetics. So we had to get
through that. But nonetheless, it would just make sense that
this medicine would be very affordable and accessible to most
(19:46):
of our citizens so that they can get their weight
down because it is super super duper hard to eat
right out there. It's it's every year, right at the
end of the year, it's like, okay, twenty new year,
we're gonna get the way down. I'm gonna eat right.
I hear that refrain every year from my patients, and
I'm super supportive and I'm like, hey, let's let's do it.
(20:08):
I hear this all the time. Hey, next time I
see you, Doctoravine, I'm gonna be thirty pounds lighter. I'm
gonna look better.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I saw you on that cookie and they buy that
coffee part.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I was wondering what to do if I ate it,
but I.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Hear that, yeah, you would leave the box.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
But I hear that every year, and I'm like, okay,
let's see and I just know ez ere. I'm like, man,
it's just super duper hard to say. Note all that stuff,
too many distractions to eating correctly, exercising on a consistent basis.
It's just tough for the average person to do that.
And it just it'd be great if there was a
(20:45):
drug that most average individuals had access to that could
just sort of shorten the gap, close the gap in
terms of allowing them to accomplish that, but it is
it's expensive. Just like our caller was talking about, Yes,
our system is not perfect, and just so you know,
(21:07):
I mean, there is really no perfect system out there, right.
There's negatives and positive to every healthcare system known to man.
And there's certainly a story in our country as to
how we got to this point because it always wasn't
like this. But we're here now, and there's been several
(21:28):
authors and several books that have put together the story
quite well from day one to here, and you can
understand how it became what it is now. And we're
all a part of the system, but we all have
to change the system industry, right, It's not just going
to be one person. It's going to be a lot
(21:51):
of thought into it. It's complicated because a lot of
people are involved, and you know, we're trying to deliver
a product to the masses when really there's limited resources
in the system, and just trying to figure out how
to do that. Man, it's super, super tough, and it's
just going to be a constant struggle working on trying
to adjust the system so that everybody's happy, which can
(22:15):
be tough in some situations. But our weight loss program. Yes,
we have that Sema glue tide injection and for the
most part, it works very well for most people and
they can get to weight down. But there are some
little adverse reaction issues. Have we seen a lot of
that at our office, just the reactions of the medication.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, I mean it again. It's the main thing that
it does is kind of slows down your gastric motility.
That's sort of a little fancy term that means how
fast and how quick your stomach and your intestines work.
And when you sort of slow it down, it sort
of gives you this very satisfied sensation where you know
(23:02):
you're not you don't have to eat, you don't have
to drink, and you're satisfy. You just have this satisfied
feeling in your belly. We all have been angry periodically,
and we know how uncomfortable that is. And because of
all this delicious, succulent food and these beverages we have here,
Hey windus, we drink it, we eat it, and we
(23:23):
don't think twice and twice about it. But a lot
of this stuff is very processed. It's got sugar, and
it's got preserved. It's got all these man made chemicals.
And just again, all the experts they've done, all their
research is well publicized, it's well chronicled. It's just these
things are making a lot of Americans sick. They're making
a lot of Americans ill. They're gaining a lot of weight,
(23:45):
and that's where a lot of our diseases come from.
It's just consuming all this stuff on a regular basis.
We have Michael from Pasadena. How can we help you?
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Oh, good morning, First of all, for all you do
and and and missus Levin and uh, I'm h I
had a loop recorder installed, uh last Tuesday. Yeah, and
uh if they stealed the opening up with Derma Bond
(24:21):
and it's it's still on there. I wonder how long
before it comes off. I'm not I'm not taking it.
I haven't pulled it off or anything, but uh, I'm
wondering if it's if it's if if it should be
taken off. I'm supposed to see the doctor on Tuesday,
but uh, I'm thinking, you know that maybe it should
(24:44):
be off by now. I'm going to make that wound
heal a little better.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
But what do you know? Yeah, Michael A lot of
times with these outpatient procedures. From my standpoint, what I
see is that the doctor who performs the procedure normally
gives you some literature that sort of spells out some
of those questions, and they give you the answer, maybe
(25:08):
a little Q and a hot sheet where some of
those answers are already answered for you. If it's if
you don't have that in your hands and you still
don't know, they normally will have a one eight hundred
number or on call number where you can call a
registered nurse, you can call a nurse practitioner or the
(25:28):
physician on call and you can ask that question. Because
most doctors who performance proceedures understand that things may go
wrong or something might happen, and patients need access to
someone who can answer some quick questions. So a lot
of times there will be access to a number or
(25:49):
face sheet that sort of explains all that stuff. In
my experience, yeah, they normally want you to kind of
leave it alone for a few days at least, but
really beyond three or four days, the wound pretty much
is healed and you can probably remove that. But again,
every doctor is different, and you want to sort of
(26:11):
follow the doctor's sort of recommendations, because we get real
sensitive about procedures and how things are handled afterwards, and
they're all different, and you want to be sure that
you're kind of following their recommendations and doing your part
to keep everything healed and not get infected or not
(26:32):
let the wound open up. But normally after about three
or four days is pretty good in terms of the
wound and sort of the top covering packing can be
kind of removed. But again, they normally provided information. They
tell you before you leave. Now leave this alone, don't
touch it until you see the doctor in a week.
(26:54):
Call us if you have any problems with it. Here's
the number that's normally how that goes. Did you not
get that sort of experience?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I got a literature, but it doesn't talk about that.
And I did call, but they haven't called me back.
And I had done on the seventeenth. It's been yeahs
day or so, two weeks. Anyway, I just thought maybe
(27:26):
I could I read on internet word well, a doctor
on had a video and basically said after ten days
you could remove it with using vasoline. Yeah, but I
haven't done anything yet. I just thought it's not hurting anything.
(27:47):
And so anyway, I thought maybe you you, I know,
you know what's going on. But anyway, I do have
a comment about the uh paperwork, all all the paperwork
that we show. I've been seen, I've been, I've been
then to I have been to see oh maybe ten
(28:11):
doctors this year, and everyone I'm filling out the same paperwork.
And I thought to myself, by now somebody I'll know
all about me. And but in time I've got to
fall out. And I really believe that somebody could make
a mint by just simply having for each patient. I
(28:36):
know there's things that are added from time to time,
but it's it's very frustrating to have to fill out
the same thing over and over and over again. Uh.
And so anyway where I fell out of I make
my own form and that they want you to fill
(28:57):
out there for him, and you know so, but anyway,
it's just a suggestion that somebody come up with a
system that everything is a's already in a computer somewhere,
and you know you're able to your new doctors able
to access that absolutely. You know, that's just that's just
(29:18):
the thought. And so and I do I do want
to say thanks for everything you've done, and we really
appreciate you out here. Yeah, she would like to se
over here sometimes.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
But what about opening an office in Pasadena? Is that
we'll on the radar.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
And we'll see.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
All right, Well, we'll put it on the agenda for
twenty five buddy.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Okay, Well, happy new Year and for everything.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
All right, buddy, we appreciate that. Take care and I mean, yeah,
the technology is there if this country really wanted to
do that.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
The only thing that's bad is, you know, everybody has
a different system, So you would have to have the
same system that everybody used in order to do what
he was wanting done. And that would be awesome, but
there's a cost for.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
That because you know, price to paye.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah, so everybody that could work, and that could happen,
but everybody would have to have the same system.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah. The whole idea of a one payer system terrifies people.
And to have one computer grid for everyone terrifies people.
They just don't like that idea of it's just one
and no alternatives, no options. That's not America.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Well, just like when you go to the hospitals, their
systems are different. They don't talk to each other, they
don't integrate what you did at this hospital.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
That goes against sort of the theme of this country,
in my opinion, where we prioritize, we cherish individual freedoms,
individual voice. I don't want to do it. I don't
have to. It's it's my decision. That's what we really
that's what's really critical in this country, and we believe
in it and we want that. We want to be
(31:11):
able to choose, and we hate when we don't have choices.
And I think that's that's sort of having that one computer,
even though it sounds cool, right and it's like, well,
I don't have to fill out this paperwork it. I'm
sure there would be problems with that if everybody's went
on one. Could you imagine if the system got hacked, right,
(31:31):
just shut down everything all right, broke? Yeah, But you know,
doctor Levine has one system, compute has one system. So
the hospital's system is down, but doctor Levine's is working.
Let's go over and see, you know. So that's kind
of that's just one idea. But the technology is there.
It's been talked about before for many years, but just limitations.
(31:52):
Phone lines are open eight nine six, Scalva one hundred
through three zero Kova. I'll be back in two minutes.
(32:14):
All right, Welcome back to Jaclavi and Medica. Our phone
lines are open eight nine six kalv I one hundred
three three zero kov here with missus Levine, sort of
wrapping up the year. Twenty twenty four went by so fast,
and we're just sort of highlighting maybe some things that
happened to us that were memorable. A lot has happened, right,
It's been a year, but we're just trying to highlight
(32:35):
some things to appreciate the callers comments. I mean, I
guess the big thing is that we're gonna do the
show next year, right twenty five. The fans still want us, right, yes,
I mean Jim hadn't come to us and like, hey,
what are you doing here? Yeah, they're like, no, We're okay,
(32:55):
we don't you know, we got something else going on
between eight and hadn't come to us yet. So that's
one thing. We're still gonna do the show for next year.
We love doing this show. How many years have been
doing it?
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Oh my gosh, A long time?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Yeah, and we love doing it. I see a lot
of the fans out there in the hospital, and we
appreciate all the support and it's fun for us. Again,
we're just trying to sort of educate the community about
these basic things. We feel like we're on the inside.
We have some insight to some of these issues, not
(33:31):
all of them, but we're there at the office is
generally eight Monday through Friday. Trying to make a difference
is not always easy, but we've had a fun time
coming on here Saturday eight to nine, just chatting and
talking whatever comes up on my mind. And yeah, we're
(33:52):
gonna do it next year. We're gonna keep doing it
until you don't want us or something changes or because
again and just let you know we love doing it.
We just need to hear from you if there's a
certain topic you want us to talk about. That's always
from my standpoint. You know, what do you want to hear?
What topics are interesting to you. But again, listening to
(34:15):
the callers and when I see you in the hospital
or in public, you guys tend to like the program.
So we're going to keep rolling with that. It's you know,
I like to try and have more guests, but it's
just difficult to get people up here eight to nine Saturday,
especially doctors. You know, they want to. They're like everybody
(34:36):
else in a weekend hits and they want to be
at home. They want to travel. They don't really want
to come up and talk more so, they want to
hang out with their family. But for the year twenty five,
anything on your horizon that you might want to prioritize
or what are you looking forward to they want to
share with the listeners.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Well, I would love for the patients to be an
activist and getting their A one c's early, their blood
pressure readings normal and early and recorded, pick up their
medications and be compliant with that. That has been my
biggest struggle in twenty twenty four is non compliant patients
and trying to educate them on how easy it is
(35:18):
and how simple it is for them to become compliant.
Get your medicare physicals early, your mammograms, your colonoscopies. Try
to be on the forefront of getting everything done the
first six months so that the next six months you
can just kind of relax and your name will go
off of a list of long reports that we get
(35:41):
and we don't have to chase you down and beg
you to come in and become compliant again. So you know,
just be the best that you can be, the best
version of yourself that you can be, and will help
you along the way and educate you on helping you
connect those dots.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah, I mean it's a struggle out there for all
of it us to be compliant with going to the doctor,
taking your meds, getting refills, getting your labs, getting your
ex ray reports. And that's something else that we changed
maybe a couple of years ago, was asking patients factually
come back into the office to have a face to
face visit for the results of these X rays. Remember,
(36:22):
we didn't really do that initially, but was was that
something that insurance companies asked us to do? Is that
something that we felt like it was a good move
to improve our outcomes and improve our communication? Is is
that how that happened?
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You know, we always want to improve our outcomes, but
insurance companies are very aware that things are missed, small
things are missed, and a face to face visit is
simple versus treatments or surgeries or things of that sort.
So a face to face is the least of the cost. Yeah,
(37:00):
and the more responsible.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
But I would agree with you, but again, it's it's
a it's a big price that a patient has to pay,
honestly to go to a doctor's office. It's that's something
that we all need to work on as in the
medical world, going to the er, going to the hospital,
going to the doctor's office, it's a big production for
(37:22):
the average person. It's not as easy as you think.
I mean, you're talking about already a two hour commitment.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Honestly, there's a big difference going to the emergency room.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
For an emergency. Everybody knows. I just want let everybody
know out there that the hospitals work every day to
try to make the process faster and better. I mean,
they're constantly meeting and how can we do it better
and better?
Speaker 3 (37:51):
Better?
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Just let you guys know that. But still it's an
arduous process for the patient because, as you know, I
do a lot of hot to work at Baptist Hospital.
I'm there every day. I hear this all the time.
Patients are gettingmitted to the hospital right and we're like, okay,
it's time to go home. Well, doctor, I don't want
to have to come back. I do not want to
(38:12):
come back in a day, two days, three days. When
I leave here, I don't want to have to come
back and I'm puzzled with that statement, right because let's
be clear, no doctor can guarantee your success when you
leave the hospital. But it just goes to show you
how much it is put into coming to that whole
(38:34):
process from start to finish. I leave my house until
I get to the to the bed, that could be
twenty four hours and it's just a lot, and patients
know that. It's like, oh my god, I want to
go through that again. So looking at twenty five, that's
we need to work on that as a system. Anyway,
if one wants are open at eight nine six kovy,
I want to hundred through through zero kovy. I'll be
(38:56):
back in two minutes. Our last break for the year
twenty twenty four, be right back, all right this starck
Leavine Phone Lines opening nine six kV I won one
(39:17):
hundred and three to three zero okyopy I with Missus Levine
closing out the year twenty twenty four. We want to
thank all the listeners for your support and all the
patients and their support for our business. We started many,
many years ago right in a small little office two
thousand and six. In our small little office. We loved it,
(39:37):
we grew it and We're very, very blessed, and we
appreciate all the support from all the listeners and all
of our patients out there who have supported us over
the years to get us to this point. And again,
we love providing this service to Beaumont, Texas. As you know,
I was born and raised here, your Southeast Texan though
(39:58):
Saint Augustine far away, not too far away, but Southeast
text and nonetheless, so we love you and appreciate you
being here. You've given back so much to the community.
That beautiful office that you put together. Everyone loves it,
the art in there and just the style. Everyone comments
on it. And you did that, and you're providing that
(40:19):
to South East Sex's to someone who was born and
raised here. So we appreciate your efforts that you put
into it because you have done a lot. And we
again we want to thank all the listeners for listening
to us every week, no matter what we have to say,
and we'll be here as every week providing you with
(40:41):
what we feel like is up to dated healthcare information.
Try to make your life easier, your job easier, because
it is tough out there. Missus Levine was talking about compliance.
We all know that that's very difficult a lot of times,
a lot of obstacles, and we want to try and
help you as much as possible, but certainly taking those
mads on a regular basis, getting those labs done and
(41:03):
getting those screening tests right. We talked about colonoscopes, PSA tests, mammograms,
even if you're a smoke or getting those cat skins
for lung cancer screening. You gotta come in and get
that done and we gotta go over face to face
because it does improve the chances of having better outcomes.
So again, have a good time, don't drink and drive,
(41:27):
be safe out there.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Vegetables, yes, each your you don't have to eat a
lot of them, just eat one like eat a carrot
per day, cucumber per day. Yes, that's all you gotta do.
And less is more in these situations. So that's where
your health is, is what you eat and drink and
exercise also, and again you don't have Yes, all right,
(41:49):
happy new We'll see you next year. Take care,
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