Some say they are willing to pay $40 or more a year to compensate doctors for the time they spend calling in prescriptions, filling out complex medical forms and performing other services that offer no reimbursement.

But more people say the fees are outrageous.

"Doctors feel they need to be compensated for their time? What about the patient's time?" asks Fairfield resident Shelly Gibson. "The long hours waiting to be seen, the hours of waiting for a doctor to call back. Where is the value in our time? If my doctor chose to go that route, he would have four patients in my family leaving the practice."

Gibson was one of more than 30 readers who responded to an Enquirer story published Tuesday about doctors charging administrative fees. Family medicine practices in Madeira and Springdale plan to start charging such fees next month.

Fairfield resident Robert Kramer, a patient of Springdale Family Medicine, said he already has sent in his check.

"As the former owner of the Kramer's Sew & Vac stores, I know all about overhead costs. I suspect the average patient is clueless," Kramer said.

But Newport resident Melissa Sheffel, also a patient of Springdale Family Medicine, said she has started looking for a new doctor. After moving to Northern Kentucky, she had been driving to Springdale for care.

"They were always very good about calling in my prescription refills without making me come in for an appointment," Sheffel said. "But I don't think the four or five times a year they call in a prescription for me is worth the $45 fee. That's $10 for a two-minute phone call."

People who support the fees say people routinely pay similar service fees to lawyers, banks, telephone companies and other businesses.

But Jerry Barrett, a resident of Winter Haven, Fla., said the new fees are the latest example of physician greed.

"When will enough be enough?" Barrett said. "When socialized medicine is the law in this country, guess who will be screaming the loudest? You've got it, our elitist doctors."

E-mail tbonfield@enquirer.com