Basic med problem

[DonMuncy]

Being the dutiful airman that I am, I decided to use the FAA Basicmed system. I pulled up and passed the on-line medical course, only to find that I needed the name, etc. of the doctor doing the required exam. Not being certain that my doctor would do it, I decided to wait, get the medical exam, and go back and take the course again. I faxed the completed Basicmed forms to my doctor, asking if she would be able to do the exam (noting that I was aware my medical insurance would almost certainly not pay for a pilot's license exam and indicating I would be prepared to pay her.) Her assistant called me back, saying they do not have the equipment to do the vision test. I googled around and found that the problem was addressed by the AOPA which suggested I should likely get an eye specialist to do the vision requirements and give me a copy of the report to take with me and that "should suffice if my examining doctor would like to review that information before completing the medical exam checklist." I am virtually certain that my ophthalmologist does not have a form for the purpose of satisfying this particular part of the FAA requirements, so I am going to have to create a report form for him to sign, or take whatever form he routinely uses, and hope that is enough to get my examining doctor to "certify that she has performed an examination that included all the items on the checklist". 

My ophthalmologist is a semi-cousin-in-law, and my doctor is a very nice lady, both of whom will probably sign whatever I ask them. But using a "one doctor relying on another doctor's report to certify she did the examination, is spooky at best. Compounded with the fact the certification is laced with legal looking mumbo jumbo about the FAA laws. With my legal knowledge, I would be hesitant, if I were an MD.  

So the fact that I am going to pay two doctors, and take a few liberties with the technicalities, to get something I have never had a problem getting anyway, makes me wonder about my sanity. At least it will be good for 4 years, providing I remember to take the medical course again halfway through the time period. I suppose if I had, or should develop, some condition that would impair my ability to get a third class medical, and still not bad enough to prevent me from self- certifying my ability to fly, it would seem a lot more reasonable.

Rant off.

[RLCarter]

Several years ago I busted the eye test at the AME for a Second Class Medical, so it was off to the ophthalmologist for new glasses. Short story long, the ophthalmologist told me that eye charts get close so he wrote a letter giving both uncorrected and corrected for distance, mid close distances. I went back to my AME and handed him the letter which he read and put in my file and handed me my Medical, both Docs said it was fairly common for the vision side of the medical

[steingar]

Why not just go to your AME for the Basic Med?  Mine would have done it, but he did the 3rd class instead since I easily qualified.  I would have liked the four year thing, but I also have aspirations to fly to Canada and Central America.

[EricJ]

The reason I'm on basic med is because I had to jump through the hoops going back and forth between the AME and my (very cooperative) optometrist to get my last Third Class.   It was a lot of work and I was barely able to meet compliance.   My right eye has been dorked since birth, and I had to have a waiver (SODA) for my third class even when I was a teenager.   The waiver at that time was written for only distance vision, but since I got older I couldn't meet the near vision either, so my waiver was no good any more.      This is what kept me out of an aviation career.

Thanks to those who made it happen basic med makes it possible for me to keep flying.

[yvesg]

OK folks, lets try this... how many fingers?

[Marcopolo]

4 plus a thumb, two fingers are being held up!

[Hank]

16 minutes ago, yvesg said:

OK folks, lets try this... how many fingers?

One more than I normally see . . . . .  

[jaylw314]

14 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

Being the dutiful airman that I am, I decided to use the FAA Basicmed system. I pulled up and passed the on-line medical course, only to find that I needed the name, etc. of the doctor doing the required exam. Not being certain that my doctor would do it, I decided to wait, get the medical exam, and go back and take the course again. I faxed the completed Basicmed forms to my doctor, asking if she would be able to do the exam (noting that I was aware my medical insurance would almost certainly not pay for a pilot's license exam and indicating I would be prepared to pay her.) Her assistant called me back, saying they do not have the equipment to do the vision test. I googled around and found that the problem was addressed by the AOPA which suggested I should likely get an eye specialist to do the vision requirements and give me a copy of the report to take with me and that "should suffice if my examining doctor would like to review that information before completing the medical exam checklist." I am virtually certain that my ophthalmologist does not have a form for the purpose of satisfying this particular part of the FAA requirements, so I am going to have to create a report form for him to sign, or take whatever form he routinely uses, and hope that is enough to get my examining doctor to "certify that she has performed an examination that included all the items on the checklist". 

My ophthalmologist is a semi-cousin-in-law, and my doctor is a very nice lady, both of whom will probably sign whatever I ask them. But using a "one doctor relying on another doctor's report to certify she did the examination, is spooky at best. Compounded with the fact the certification is laced with legal looking mumbo jumbo about the FAA laws. With my legal knowledge, I would be hesitant, if I were an MD.  

So the fact that I am going to pay two doctors, and take a few liberties with the technicalities, to get something I have never had a problem getting anyway, makes me wonder about my sanity. At least it will be good for 4 years, providing I remember to take the medical course again halfway through the time period. I suppose if I had, or should develop, some condition that would impair my ability to get a third class medical, and still not bad enough to prevent me from self- certifying my ability to fly, it would seem a lot more reasonable.

Rant off.

The whole idea of BasicMed was to make the medical exam part easier by having a physician already familiar with you and your medical history doing it.  So once you get into a place where you're juggling multiple doctors/specialists, it starts losing its usefulness.

I mentioned in some other thread that BasicMed only requires that the physician:

• Reviews the history form with you
• Goes over medications you take that can affect safety
• Addresses all the systems in the physical exam sheet appropriately.  Note that this does NOT mean every part of the body needs to be examined and to what extent.  The doc gets to determine what would be appropriate to do for NORMAL medical treatment

Ideally, if I were your PCP, I should be willing to discuss the known vision abnormality, whether it is corrected and the last time you had an optometry exam, maybe get a copy of the report, and that would be that.  Realistically, some MD's are going to read into this that they have to verify everything to do CYA medicine, which defeats the purpose of BasicMed in the first place.

TL;DR -- BasicMed depends on doctors being reasonable to work

 

[yvesg]

The answer is not simple:

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/is-a-thumb-a-finger

[Hank]

3 hours ago, yvesg said:

The answer is not simple:

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/is-a-thumb-a-finger

You can't answer "is a thumb a finger" until you determine what the definition of "is" is . . . . .  

[LANCECASPER]

On 2/27/2018 at 8:53 PM, DonMuncy said:

Being the dutiful airman that I am, I decided to use the FAA Basicmed system. I pulled up and passed the on-line medical course, only to find that I needed the name, etc. of the doctor doing the required exam. Not being certain that my doctor would do it, I decided to wait, get the medical exam, and go back and take the course again. I faxed the completed Basicmed forms to my doctor, asking if she would be able to do the exam (noting that I was aware my medical insurance would almost certainly not pay for a pilot's license exam and indicating I would be prepared to pay her.) Her assistant called me back, saying they do not have the equipment to do the vision test. I googled around and found that the problem was addressed by the AOPA which suggested I should likely get an eye specialist to do the vision requirements and give me a copy of the report to take with me and that "should suffice if my examining doctor would like to review that information before completing the medical exam checklist." I am virtually certain that my ophthalmologist does not have a form for the purpose of satisfying this particular part of the FAA requirements, so I am going to have to create a report form for him to sign, or take whatever form he routinely uses, and hope that is enough to get my examining doctor to "certify that she has performed an examination that included all the items on the checklist". 

My ophthalmologist is a semi-cousin-in-law, and my doctor is a very nice lady, both of whom will probably sign whatever I ask them. But using a "one doctor relying on another doctor's report to certify she did the examination, is spooky at best. Compounded with the fact the certification is laced with legal looking mumbo jumbo about the FAA laws. With my legal knowledge, I would be hesitant, if I were an MD.  

So the fact that I am going to pay two doctors, and take a few liberties with the technicalities, to get something I have never had a problem getting anyway, makes me wonder about my sanity. At least it will be good for 4 years, providing I remember to take the medical course again halfway through the time period. I suppose if I had, or should develop, some condition that would impair my ability to get a third class medical, and still not bad enough to prevent me from self- certifying my ability to fly, it would seem a lot more reasonable.

Rant off.

Basic Med means that you have to keep your 231 below FL180.

[DonMuncy]

Just now, LANCECASPER said:

Basic Med means that you have to keep your 231 below FL180.

I've had it 17 years now and still haven't been over 18000. 

[LANCECASPER]

1 minute ago, DonMuncy said:

I've had it 17 years now and still haven't been over 18000. 

Well there you go.

[midlifeflyer]

Don, you are overthinking "the form."

Specialists send reports like this to PCPs (and insurers and attorneys, and even to AMEs), and on more substantial topics than  results of a standard set of vision tests, every day. 

Of course, if you insist on something more formal, the FAA has a "Report of Eye Evaluation" form. A bit of overkill for BasicMed IMO, but certainly an option.

Edited March 1, 2018 by midlifeflyer

[bradp]

Midlife is on it.  We rely on reports from other doctors every day - sub specialists, radiologists, pathologists etc.  The vision exam to go on a form is small potato’s compared to the other stuff.... 

[MARZ]

On 2/28/2018 at 7:21 AM, steingar said:

Why not just go to your AME for the Basic Med?  Mine would have done it, but he did the 3rd class instead since I easily qualified.  I would have liked the four year thing, but I also have aspirations to fly to Canada and Central America.

Exactly what I did.  Non issue. 

[carusoam]

My AME knows me as well as my PCP... I see them both about once per year... not enough time to remember any detail.

Trying to get my PCP up to speed with basic Med... or getting my basic med from my AME... hmmmm...

Looks like Basic Med at my AME is a better route for me this year.  The classIII SI takes a lot of cost and additional effort and needs to be updated annually?

Flying to the Mooney Summit and possibly the Bahamas would be interesting....

Best regard,

-a-

[Cruiser]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 3:07 PM, jaylw314 said:

The whole idea of BasicMed was to make the medical exam part easier by having a physician already familiar with you and your medical history doing it.

Actually the original idea for BasicMed was no medical exam at all. Remember the driver's license medical?

It was headed that way until a not to be named Senator insisted on inserting the medical exam .......

At the time everyone thought it was the AMA lobby behind it but with all the doctors refusing to perform BasicMed exams now I wonder..........

[DonMuncy]

The saga continues. Today my usual family doctor's office called and said she would not be able to do the exam, due to liability concerns of their group. This really does not surprise me too much. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to surmise that the doctor signing off on basic med is some sort of statement that the pilot is capable. And thus, if the pilot ever kills or maims someone, guess who a sharp plaintiff's lawyer is going to add to the list of people to sue.

I'm sure I will be able to find someone, but it really should not be this difficult.

Maybe those of us/you who find a source, should post, so others in geographic areas will have a little easier road.

[Bolter]

For those in the SoCal area, Dr. Linnemann at Pacific Medical Clinic in Santa Ana, CA does regular medicals and BasicMed.  

1534 East Warner Ave, Suite A, Santa Ana, CA  714-557-5599

thanks, -dan

[Godfather]

No AME’s in my area will do BasicMed. None of the doctors who normally do CDL etc exams would do it. I ended up driving out of state to get the job done (5 hr round trip). 

[Yetti]

which is the one that make me laugh.   CDL and Aviation are under the same US Department of Transportation.  SMH

 

[DXB]

5 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

The saga continues. Today my usual family doctor's office called and said she would not be able to do the exam, due to liability concerns of their group. This really does not surprise me too much. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to surmise that the doctor signing off on basic med is some sort of statement that the pilot is capable. And thus, if the pilot ever kills or maims someone, guess who a sharp plaintiff's lawyer is going to add to the list of people to sue.

I'm sure I will be able to find someone, but it really should not be this difficult.

Maybe those of us/you who find a source, should post, so others in geographic areas will have a little easier road.

I’m  surpised it is so tough in Texas! My professional counterparts in Dallas seem so much more chill than me when it comes to med mal fears, given the caps on damages and much lower insurance premiums there.  By contrast, Philly is a veritable magnet for plaintiff’s lawyers of all stripes.  Probably no point in trying to get  anyone to sign off here.  

[DonMuncy]

In case anyone is interested...  My AME does not do BasicMeds, but he referred me to a DO who does. When my regular doc figured out her group would not let her do mine, she also had a referral. Perhaps not coincidentally, he was a DO as well. This may be useful when you start looking.

I scheduled an appointment.

[Ron McBride]

My basic med was completed by me personal Doctor.  We went through the form, line by line.  I was told that they did not have the color test, so She got creative, pointed to a poster and asked what colors I could see.  I did the vision test in the hallway with the normal charts.   When we had this completed, Her comment was, Is that all, "this was much easier than the Special Issuance crap that we were doing yearly. "

I have Kaiser Medical Insurance and the Dr. and I have a 10 year business relationship, so we know each other well.     My Special Issuance is for a Heart Attack 10 years ago, and Diabetes is developing.     I had a solo vehicle accident and suffered physically from it, I am all better, She did not put any additional restrictions on me flying or driving.  I pushed for additional tests, knowing a bad test result could cost me my drivers license and medical.  All tests came back that "I was normal."     My Dr. is not a fan of flying, Her father flew, and she did not enjoy it.

Keep looking, Drs. are out there that will do this for us.   I have heard that some local clinic type offices may do it also, the ones that do sports medicals, drivers license medical etc.

Ron