The Doc pokes his head through a door and passes the time of the day pleasantries and that's a home visit.
I can do better than that! When I was treasurer on a public hospital board, exactly that was the bane of my existence. We had to balance the hospital budget against that kind of waste. But the doctor is god and calls the tune.
The biggest waste was the doctor ordering ambulance transport to the nearest major centre 160 kms away, for people who would sit in the front seat and go shopping afterwards. The cost then was $1600 per trip to our budget. A taxi trip cost $400, but we were powerless to insist on that.
That was more than ten years ago, so I can only imagine what it costs now, - with the old boards gone, and the system now using government administrators. It must be a whole lot worse.
