Posted by: AtlasMD

April 29, 2013

Tech Win for EMR Demonstrates Concierge Medicine’s Advantages Yet Again

There’s some good news for EMR software. Box, a cloud storage and information-sharing platform used in many different industries, released a statement on Thursday, saying that they acquired an “ecosystem” of app companies and are actively expanding their healthcare offerings.

One of Box’s efforts is to create a downloadable Personal Health Record that aggregates multiple inputs. Basically they want consumers to carry around a digital medical file to take to different specialists. A few of the new companies they acquired focus on text transmission, so its presumed they want to help doctors text information more effectively, too—X-rays, notes, files and the like.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 23, 2013

Rising Deductibles Make Concierge Medicine Look Even More Desirable

Doctors considering transitioning to a concierge business model, take note: deductibles are on the rise. Here are the grim findings from a study conducted by Athenehealth between 2009 and 2011:

Deductibles as a percentage of contracted rate have risen by 47% in the Northeast and by 20% in the rest of the country.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 22, 2013

Angela Dunn Rests Her Case For Technology Driving Concierge Medicine

Angela Dunn of HL7 (Health) Standards concluded her piece about technology and concierge medicine today.

She relied on Dr. Josh’s expertise and enthusiasm to prove her point. Concierge doctors are “using technology and social media as ‘tools’ to forge more human, more connected relationships with patients.”

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 19, 2013

Improve Patient-Doctor Relationships With Shorter Emails

Improve Patient-Doctor Relationships With Shorter Emails

Life Hacker offers help for abbreviating those long emails that no one’s reading. You might be a master of the inbox, but if you’re finding yourself writing novels, take a look at the pointers below.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 19, 2013

Technology Will Drive Concierge Medicine

Angela Dunn cited Dr. Josh and AtlasMD’s affordability in yesterday’s post on HL7 (Health) Standards’ blog. It’s the first in a two-part piece called “Technology Driving New Models for Concierge Medicine and Direct Primary Care.”

Check out her summary of concierge medicine’s key benefits. It’s an effective case for doctors who want to practice grassroots primary care. She sums up the movement saying that it aims to “minimize the need for insurance, except for emergency and catastrophic care, and… eliminate or minimize the high administrative costs for a practice.”

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 18, 2013

Encouraging Signs for Direct Primary Care in the U.S.

The Concierge Medicine Research Collective conducted a three year study and found some promising results.

Most encouraging was news that a third of the households seeing concierge doctors made less than $100,000/yr. An effective healthcare reform needs to be affordable to a majority of Americans. More practices opening up and better technology helping doctors to run their practices all serve to drive the cost of care down. Concierge doctors win. Patients win. Even insurance can win, by paying out fewer settlements. That’s the beauty of a free market.

The survey also suggested that concierge doctors have been able to make steady incomes while expanding their services to more Americans. You can check out the full press release here. It’s worth a glance.

Posted by: AtlasMD

April 11, 2013

Kansas Representatives Praise Stripped-Down Healthcare Plans

The Topeka Capital-Journal posted a story yesterday saying that David Powell and Beverly Gossage praised Kansas’ Legislature for passing of a bill that will open the state insurance market to stripped-down health plans.

Both candidates are vying to replace Sandy Praeger in 2014. According to them both, “Mandate Lite” policies will combat the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare.

Ironically, the law wasn’t even written to battle Obamacare. According to Powell, a Republican who helped draft it, the idea originated much earlier. He said, “I wrote this law in 2008 based on my concern that the direction our health insurance rates were going (up) in Kansas would hurt our citizens and businesses.”

Supporters believe this new Kansas law will make insurance more affordable, especially for young, healthy Kansans. It will allow them to opt out of coverage for things like diabetes care, allergy treatments, prostate screenings and mental services. These services are known culprits of high-cost insurance premiums.

Check out the complete article at cjonline.com.

Posted by: AtlasMD

April 9, 2013

Use Facebook Chat Effectively

Use Facebook Chat Effectively

Facebook Chat is one of a multitude of online chat platforms. It allows quick instantaneous communication with a limitless number of people. More than you’ll likely ever want to talk to at once. Besides being embedded within one of the most highly trafficked websites on the planet, it has a key advantage: a certain degree of privacy.

As a doctor, you’ll of course want to check with state regulation to make sure Facebook Chat is compliant with standards. Here at AtlasMD, based in Kansas, we are able to Facebook chat with patients who sign a confidentiality agreement. A key advantage to this forum is that the messages are only able to be accessed by a sole user, and can be deleted at will.

First, make sure you are familiar with what Facebook Chat is and how to use it. Check out Facebook Chat Basics. The How To Use Facebook Chat section is all you need to get going. It’s easy to use. If you want, get a friend or family member to “chat” with you to try it out.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 9, 2013

Make Friends With Social Media, Carefully

Concierge medicine opens up new opportunities to enhance patient-doctor relationships through social media. But doctors need to know how to use the tools to make the most of them. And they need to know how to do so responsibly. This first post will go over the basics. Keep this link handy, though, since links to more specific best practices will be added below over time.

Please be advised, do not start connecting with patients right away. At least not yet. First things first, get your head around social media. Then determine how you can use these tools to positively reinforce your relationship with the Web at large, as well as colleagues and patients.

If you’re already feeling comfortable with using Facebook and Twitter as a personal user, check out the growing list of topics covering Social Media Best Practices For Medical Professionals. Otherwise keep going for a breakdown of what Facebook and Twitter are useful for.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

April 9, 2013

Kansas Direct Medicine Gets an Obamacare Bypass

There’s nothing like waking up to some seriously good news! Last Friday, the Topeka Capital Journal said the Kansas House of Representatives “eventually passed a bill” that will permit the state’s health insurance market to sell stripped-down policies.

So what’s that mean? It means Kansas residents can purchase an insurance plan covering only high-cost events like emergency, trauma and unexpected operations. This will free up the ability to pay for general care out of pocket. And it motivates doctors to stay within and join the direct care business model. Happy patients and doctors can keep up their successful relationships without the government getting in the way. And more doctors can partake in direct care’s more enjoyable professional environment.

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