Right now, VeriChip allows users to store their name, emergency contact information, and the name and phone number of their physician for a $10 annual fee. For an additional $70 or $80 annually, users also can store their living will, power of attorney, do-not-resuscitate order, and health insurance and medical information, including medications, past diagnoses and test results.
To implant the chips, physicians must buy a starter kit that includes 10 insertion packets, each containing a single chip, for a total of $1,450. VeriChip suggests physicians charge patients $200 for the cost of the chip and another $200 for their professional services, but the final price is at the physician's discretion, said Richard Seelig,
MD, vice president of medical applications at the company.
To minimize potential financial conflict of interest and exploitation of patients, physicians should sell from their offices only healthrelated products that serve the immediate and pressing needs of patients, said Priscilla Ray, MD, a Houston psychiatrist who chairs the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Under CEJA's guidelines, those products also should be offered for free or at cost to patients, Dr. Ray said. Physicians also must fully disclose the financial arrangement to patients.
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Right now, VeriChip allows users to store their name, emergency contact information, and the name and phone number of their physician for a $10 annual fee. For an additional $70 or $80 annually, users also can store their living will, power of attorney, do-not-resuscitate order, and health insurance and medical information, including medications, past diagnoses and test results.
To implant the chips, physicians must buy a starter kit that includes 10 insertion packets, each containing a single chip, for a total of $1,450. VeriChip suggests physicians charge patients $200 for the cost of the chip and another $200 for their professional services, but the final price is at the physician's discretion, said Richard Seelig,
MD, vice president of medical applications at the company.
To minimize potential financial conflict of interest and exploitation of patients, physicians should sell from their offices only healthrelated products that serve the immediate and pressing needs of patients, said Priscilla Ray, MD, a Houston psychiatrist who chairs the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Under CEJA's guidelines, those products also should be offered for free or at cost to patients, Dr. Ray said. Physicians also must fully disclose the financial arrangement to patients.