An interesting article about the Indian Health Service. Hat tip to Kevin, M.D.
I used to work for the Indian Health Service. By the way, I loved it. The work was great. The pay was acceptable*. The people were great. But we all know the system has problems, but an IHS optometrist is insulated from most of those problems…until you try to get a cataract surgery for one of your patients. We had to wait until the vision was 20/70 or worse before Contract Care would consider paying for a referral.
The reason? There’s no money!
*I didn’t leave because I was unhappy with pay. My wife’s and mine extended family is based in Idaho and Utah, so we left the service and moved back to Utah to be closer to the fam. That’s important to people like us. I would have transferred to Fort Hall, ID or Fort Duchesne, UT but these locations had just been filled by optometrists who look like they are going to be there for the long haul, so I saw no chance of being any closer than 8-9 hours away from extended family unless I went into the private sector.
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