Those of you on Basic Med, was your Doc OK with it?

A

Anonymous

Guest
I recently brought up Basic Med to me regular doctor, as I will be switching over once my medical expires. He basically just said he'd have to look into it, which tells me it may not be as common knowledge in the medical community as the folks at AOPA lead you to believe. If you've asked your doctor to fill out he Basic Med form, how did it go?
 
No problem at all here. The usual stuff wrong......type 2 and age 73, she filled it out with no trouble.
 
It's not common knowledge in the medical world. In addition to being new, how many physicians do you think even know their patients are pilots? It will usually be incumbent upon us to educate our physician - you know far more than they do about the process. I sent my doc BasicMed materials and came to the appointment armed with a few other references in case she had questions.

You will find that some will have no problem with it while others will defer for various reasons from simple discomfort due to lack of familiarly/experience to liability concerns (whether or not justified) to company policies not to do these type of evaluations.
 
baboss said:
It went ok once I spoon-fed them the info from AOPA for Drs explaining the program/process. We’ll see if it goes as smoothly at the next exam
Click to expand...
That's funny if only because on my next annual exam, she asked me if it were time to fill one out again!
 
First time I went into my GP and asked about it, he said I was the 14th (or so) Basic Med he'd done.
 
I was the second one my GP had done (this was 2 1/2 yrs ago). The only thing he balked at was the color vision item; said he did not have the plates to do that.

From what I have heard (i.e. read on POA), if you explain that it is comparable to a DOT exam, then it clicks w/ them.
 
The only AME we have around our area said he won’t sign up for Basic Med. The closest doc who’s signed up for Basic Med is at least 180 miles away.
 
My family doc had never heard of it. I sent her the educational paperwork and she had no problem completing the exam/checklist for me.

I have a waiver for color vision deficiency based on demonstrated ability, so color vision testing wasn’t a factor in my case.
 
Last edited:
Mine signed. He didn't even read the paperwork very carefully. No big deal in his mind.
 
No trouble at all. Probably didn't hurt that my primary physician is also my AME's primary physician.

Art Schmidt said:
The only AME we have around our area said he won’t sign up for Basic Med. The closest doc who’s signed up for Basic Med is at least 180 miles away.
Click to expand...

I can understand AMEs not liking Basicmed, it takes away from their business. But a doc doesn't have to "sign up" for it, he just has to fill out a form you give him and sign it and he gives it back to you.

I don't think the AME who did my last medical is going to lose much business though, he's 95 years old...
 
I explained it as similar to the DOT truck driver physicals and noted the FAA is part of the DOT. My doctor already does DOT physicals, so for him it was no big deal.

Plus, a local CFI had already beat me to the punch and explained it to him.
 
Van Johnston said:
I was the second one my GP had done (this was 2 1/2 yrs ago). The only thing he balked at was the color vision item; said he did not have the plates to do that.

From what I have heard (i.e. read on POA), if you explain that it is comparable to a DOT exam, then it clicks w/ them.
Click to expand...

My Doc said about the same thing about the vision part. I was due for new glasses, so I took the info to my eye doc and he did the test. He faxed the results to my PCP, and my PCP signed off on the form. I have had to change PCP's and my renewal is due this summer. I hope it goes as smooth as the first time.
 
The form comes with instructions for the doctor that make it pretty straightforward for them.
 
Not common knowledge at all. And definitely not something that most primary care doctors are going to be interested in. Many or most will perceive that they are being asked to certify a patient as medically fit to fly an airplane. They will often give that exam a hard pass and go on to the next runny nose...something they know. Not enough time in the day for more (government) paperwork, an unknown liability exposure (not just from the patient crashing but from the FAA's long punitive arm), and because it doesn't come with a built-in Epic template.
 
No drama at all. I gave her the form, she filled it out and gave it to me. Twice now. The practice charges $15 per form but they always forget to invoice it.
 
Thankfully it is an anonymous OP, because...

How the hell would anyone get on Basic Med without a doctor being okay with it?
 
Art Schmidt said:
The only AME we have around our area said he won’t sign up for Basic Med. The closest doc who’s signed up for Basic Med is at least 180 miles away.
Click to expand...
There's no "signing up" required.
 
Art Schmidt said:
The only AME we have around our area said he won’t sign up for Basic Med. The closest doc who’s signed up for Basic Med is at least 180 miles away.
Click to expand...
Any doctor can do basic med. Your family doctor will likely do it if you just bring them the form and they see clearly what they are committing to. It's pretty simple.
 
No problem for my longtime PCP (who had been a student pilot decades ago). He looked over the AOPA BasicMed for physicians document and said it was similar to the DoT commercial driver physical. Since my plan covers annual physicals it didn't cost anything.
 
I asked my PCP. She said she didn't know very much about it. She said she would want to research it a bit before committing to it.. I'm ok with that. I ALWAYS tell any attending physician that I am a pilot, and careful what you inject/prescribe for me without consulting an AME. That includes my dentist.
 
Oldmanb777 said:
I asked my PCP. She said she didn't know very much about it. She said she would want to research it a bit before committing to it.. I'm ok with that. I ALWAYS tell any attending physician that I am a pilot, and careful what you inject/prescribe for me without consulting an AME. That includes my dentist.
Click to expand...
If you take the supporting documents with you for them to see, they'll see how not a big deal it is. When you talk to them without any info, they tend to be more hesitant. I saw the same hesitancy until I took the actual documents with me.
 
baboss said:
It went ok once I spoon-fed them the info from AOPA for Drs explaining the program/process. We’ll see if it goes as smoothly at the next exam.
https://www.aopa.org/advocacy/pilots/medical/basicmed
Click to expand...

I did the same. They equate it to a DOT physical which is different and according to her puts more risk on them if the driver screws the pooch ... after getting the AOPA physician FAQs, she had no problem.
 
timrb said:
If you have Kaiser insurance, they won't sign off on a basicmed physical. Too many lawyers, I guess.
Click to expand...

I get a physical every year when the noise in my ears gets too bad* and my GP physical is pretty thorough and I just ask him if he minded doing the basic med form too and he said no problem so I assume the visit was coded as my free physical and had nothing to do with basic med.


*My wife yelling "did you get a physical this year"
 
timrb said:
If you have Kaiser insurance, they won't sign off on a basicmed physical. Too many lawyers, I guess.

Tim
Click to expand...

Yeah, I want to make the switch to basic med, but I'm with Kaiser. They switch my doc so often I haven't seen the same one twice in years, but I'm pretty healthy so I don't go but every few years for a checkup anyway. My regular AME won't do a basic med exam. I guess I'll try a doc in the box and see what happens.
 
Pay it out of pocket for crying out loud. It's less than the typical AME fee for class 3.
 
My family physician wouldn't do it. Said "I don't know anything about that".
My AME was reluctant. Said "well I guess I'll never see you again after this". I said "yes you will, but in 4 years instead of 2."
 
My doctor is a pilot, but I was his first (and maybe only?) and he was a bit hesitant.
 
1) I've heard that if your PCP won't do it, find a place that does Class C driver license physicals. Any Dr. can sign Basic Med.
2) I wonder if a doc could do this on TeleMedicine?
 
I am zero for two at getting my primary to do it. One flat refused citing liability (and we argued about it, a lot, and I switched providers afterward, she was such a cow about it...) second one said that because they aren't set up to give eye exams, he couldn't sign it. I gave him the yao ming face, but decided not to press it, as I like him for other stuff.

I got my basic med from a trucker medical place/urgent care (Concentra) -- ended up getting my trucker card too, whatever that is. doot doot?
 
WDD said:
1) I've heard that if your PCP won't do it, find a place that does Class C driver license physicals. Any Dr. can sign Basic Med.
2) I wonder if a doc could do this on TeleMedicine?
Click to expand...
Regarding telemedicine: Generally speaking, no. The doctor haves to evaluate 21 different items, must of which require some degree of physical interaction. Physical examinations via telemedicine generally require some on-site medical support and equipment you typically wouldn't have at home. There setups are generally geared towards rural clinics, not examining a patient at home.
 
This is turning out to be a PITA. My PCP's staff is positive the doctor can't do anything with vision / color vision testing, etc. I've called several urgent care / doc in a box that advertises DOT physicals, but the front office staff either can't confirm they could do it, or promises to call back - and apparently no one does that. I might have to just walk in, ask to talk to the doc, show him/her the form, and ask how much. I even called the AME who did my 3rd class 2 years ago and his admin says he doesn't do those things.
 
Go to an eye doctor and have him send a report to your PCP?
 
So, I've contacted a couple Docs who did up to this year but quit doing Basic Med because their malpractice coverage has started to specifically exclude it. A half-dozen Doc in the boxes around FDK , AOPA's back yard, want nothing to do with it, nor do a couple of Occupational Health DOT exam joints.

I'm trying to support basic med. I'm healthy, so I'll just stick with 3rd for now, but this isn't boding well. My AME won't do it because he thinks it's just a way for the medically unfit to fly, yet I would be just as fit under basic med were he to sign me off that way as I will be under the 3rd.. Maybe the alphabets should take a deep breath, gird their loins and continue the fight before the insurance industry guts a hard-won victory.
 
I sent my PCP an email asking about Basic Med, and included a link about the program. He emailed back that he was doing Basic Med exams. I scheduled an appointment, and the rest is history...
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top