Jump to content

Basic Med


Bennett

Recommended Posts

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I come up for a Medical next month. My long term AME (40 years) died earlier this year, and so I am thinking that BASIC MED makes sense for me. So I have two questions:

 

Does anyone know if the Kaiser Permanente Northern California program has a policy, positive or negative, about signing the Basic Med forms,

 

And if negative, does anyone know of a qualified physician who would sign the Basic Med form for someone who is not his/her regular patient. For a fee, of course.

 

I don't have a medical problem, but four years sounds advantageous to me, especially at my age.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/18/2017 at 5:53 PM, MIm20c said:

I would check with the offices that normally give physicals for CDL drivers.  My guess is other PCP's will not want to take on the perceived liability. 

This is my experience.  The clinic I went to specialized in Occupational Medicine.  This may be a key word.  This included CDL or other trade license medical exams and workman's comp.  

As a further data point for the CB's, it cost me $75 for the visit with signature.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/18/2017 at 4:27 PM, Cruiser said:

I believe the best way to approach this issue is to call your PCP for an appointment and tell them you want a BasicMed exam.

I would not use my PCP. I don't want to connect my PCP with my FAA medical. My PCP complains about one older patients who flies. He obviously meets the FAA requirement but the PCP wouldn't sign him off because he doesn't think he should fly. I'd prefer an occupational dr who just follows the rules and doesn't know anything about me.

-Robert

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/18/2017 at 5:53 PM, MIm20c said:

I would check with the offices that normally give physicals for CDL drivers.  My guess is other PCP's will not want to take on the perceived liability. 

I'm guessing that will work, but remember the intention of BasicMed was to allow pilots to have their PCP's who are familiar with their medical history perform the exam.  You may find that doc's who do commercial exams may be just as leery of an FAA exam, which they have no experience with and have more liability with.

I called my PCP's office and asked them to schedule a physical.  I met with my PCP and spent about 10 minutes going over the theory of BasicMed and the forms I filled out ahead of time.  I emphasized that the forms were not for documenting his findings, but to simply confirm they were reviewed with me, and that he should document the exam as he normally does in my medical record.  I also emphasized that he needed to be comfortable that I did not have a  cardiac, neurologic or psychiatric condition that would make me unsafe, but that I ultimately bear responsibility for determining my own airworthiness.  Since he knew my history, he was able to go through the forms with me in about 5 minutes.  Then he blitzed through the exam in about 10 minutes, signed off on his forms in a couple minutes, and then we spent about 10 minutes chatting about preventative health, exercise and flying.

Total time with the MD was about 40 minutes, total damage $0 (covered by insurance).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

I'm guessing that will work, but remember the intention of BasicMed was to allow pilots to have their PCP's who are familiar with their medical history perform the exam.   

That's the best argument to avoid your pcp in my mind. I just want a dr to follow the directions on the form and not make decisions based on his opinion of my medial history. What if you'd made an off handed comment to your pcp at some point or had blood work come out strange but never followed up with it and now he considers it a relevant part of your history? 

-Robert 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bennett   I have Kaiser also.  I personal Dr. did my Basic Med for me in May.  We have been doing a special issuance for 9 years.  Her comment was "Is this all, this is much easier that the Special Issuance that we have been doing."   Also She is not a fan of flying, but knows and understands that I want to.  Also, has used the Medical to twist my arm a few times for healthier choices.  Yes, I feel better for the healthier choices.

Ron

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

That's the best argument to avoid your pcp in my mind. I just want a dr to follow the directions on the form and not make decisions based on his opinion of my medial history. What if you'd made an off handed comment to your pcp at some point or had blood work come out strange but never followed up with it and now he considers it a relevant part of your history? 

-Robert 

Well, I suppose if your PCP made a stink out of some issue, THEN you could try to go to some other MD for the BasicMed.  Or, if you were thinking more clearly, you would change PCP's--I'm not sure I'd want someone rigid and unreasonable being my PCP anyway

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

Well, I suppose if your PCP made a stink out of some issue, THEN you could try to go to some other MD for the BasicMed.  Or, if you were thinking more clearly, you would change PCP's--I'm not sure I'd want someone rigid and unreasonable being my PCP anyway

But either way it does mean that you need to censor anything you discuss with your PCP if you know you're going to later ask him to sign your FAA medical doesn't it?

The old military joke, when you go to the flight surgeon  and he asks how you're doing you always say "Fine"

-Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bennett   I have Kaiser also.  I personal Dr. did my Basic Med for me in May.  We have been doing a special issuance for 9 years.  Her comment was "Is this all, this is much easier that the Special Issuance that we have been doing."   Also She is not a fan of flying, but knows and understands that I want to.  Also, has used the Medical to twist my arm a few times for healthier choices.  Yes, I feel better for the healthier choices.
Ron

Thank you for your comments. I will schedule an appointment with my regular Kaiser physician in the coming weeks, after sending her the AOPA materials explaining the physician’s role in the basic med process. A decade or so ago I had an SI for Prostrate Cancer (SI requirement removed about 4 years ago), and she was very helpful in writing notes to the FAA. I’ll post whether or not this was successful with respect to basic med.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, RobertGary1 said:

But either way it does mean that you need to censor anything you discuss with your PCP if you know you're going to later ask him to sign your FAA medical doesn't it?

No, I don't agree, because if he refuses to sign, you would always have the option to go to another physician or even an AME.  Remember, there is no medical "disapproval" sent to the FAA as part of BasicMed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.