April 22, 2013
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.”
April 19, 2013
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.”
April 18, 2013
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.
April 11, 2013
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.
April 9, 2013
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.
April 9, 2013
Concierge Medicine Today (CMT) looks for physicians every year who have done great work in the industry and of course they found Dr. Josh!
Doctors can earn a “Top Doc” nod from a bunch of factors like improving patients’ lives directly, helping out in their community or State, using social media in exciting new ways, or doing anything genuinely impressive.
Fourteen doctors were selected in total this year from all across the continental U.S. According to CMT’s press release there were a ton of exceptional doctors to choose from. This comes in part because there are extraordinary practices opening up in markets like Kansas, Montana, Utah, Vermont and even Bismarck, North Dakota. And considering how rapidly the industry is growing, the recognition comes with even more prestige now.