Posted by: AtlasMD

April 13, 2015

We Should Aim for “Crazy and Oldschool”

If being crazy means we know our patients backwards and forwards, show up at the hospital when they’re admitted, and help fill in the blanks of their medical history when our patient is unable, then sign us up.

If being old school means our doctor-patient relationships are rock solid, cradled in trust, and wrapped in endless care, then we’re on board.

Like the experience in this story told by Dr. Dhand over at KevinMD, we’re totally up for letting DPC take us back to basics.

A couple of weeks ago I was on-call and had to go down to the emergency room to see a patient. Before I entered the room, I was told that the patient was accompanied by her long-time physician who was a bit “crazy and old school.”

“Hmm … that’s strange … why would her physician be in the room with her?” I thought to myself. When I went in to introduce myself, sure enough sat next to her was an elderly physician probably in his late 70s or early 80s. After he greeted me with a warm and friendly handshake, he told me that he had practiced medicine in the local area for the last several decades. I still continued to wonder exactly what he was doing there, and this thought persisted for the next few minutes.

However, as I got further into the interview, I quickly realized just why he was sitting by his patient’s side. This doctor had cared for the patient for at least the last 30 years, was in the process of winding down his practice, but felt compelled to come and visit his patient (with no financial incentive to do so) as soon as he heard she was being admitted to the hospital. The patient — elderly herself and hard of hearing — wasn’t able to give me a complete history. But that was OK, because her doctor knew her inside out. Every little detail.

Read the full story over here and after you do, a little personal reflection of your own might be just what the doctor ordered.

Posted by: AtlasMD

March 18, 2015

Is Social Media Closing the Gap it Created in the First Place?

Technology is good for so many positive purposes when it’s put to use for the right reasons. But when it’s abused the results can be catastrophic. Take online bullying for example. It’s been linked to low self esteem, actual fights, and worst of all – suicide.

There’s a lot you can ignore while looking down at your mobile device. But can we really ignore the gap that separates the technology generation from real life eye contact? One social media platform is attempting to bridge the gap society says it created in the first place. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

March 2, 2015

Texting Could be Good for Your Health.

The Direct Care community is totally on board with embracing unconventional methods of communication. It’s why our patients text, email, Skype, and Tweet us in addition to making the tradition phone call. Turns out we’re on the right track.

Text messaging is a fixture in modern culture. In two separate studies, U-M Family Medicine researchers have shown that in addition to facilitating everyday conversation, texting can help people adopt healthier behaviors, and can make it easier for health researchers to gather information.

Companies are apparently using texting campaigns to send messages to people in an attempt to raise their awareness about type 2 diabetes risks. And it turns out people are pretty darn receptive to it. In fact, not only is texting turning out to be an effective way to promote healthy habits, but a new study even suggests that it could replace direct mail campaigns in urban areas where researchers are trying to conduct surveys.

Think this seems like a no-brainer? Texting has been around for a while, right? Nothing new about the technology itself, but now researchers are able to extract information – collect data that tells whether or not the campaign is working. That, friends, is new and exciting. Out with the old and in with the new, right?

Read the full article on how texting could be good for your health. >

Technology is great, but the DPC community needs to look past it to stay grounded in truly patient-centric objectives. What we’re really using technology for is to go back to the basics – before the fancy stuff even existed. The idea is to create a more personalized experience, to develop a real relationship between doctor and patient. One that never underestimates the value of a face-to-face conversation or house call.

Posted by: AtlasMD

February 9, 2015

Healthcare Informatics: Healthcare Should Be More Like Amazon

David Chou was recently interviewed for a piece at Healthcare Informatics about how the healthcare industry should take a hint from the internet giant Amazon “in order to achieve patient engagement.”

Chou’s reasoning for using analytics to understand patient behavior and patterns is proactive, and indicative of what Direct Care believes should be the standard. He says “We need to project what issues each patient is going to have.”

But to gain the data, technology must be embraced more than it is today – by both patients and healthcare workers. According to the 2014 HIMSS Analytics Mobile Devices Study, it looks like we’re on the right track!

“Interest in telehealth is growing among providers, which could help keep patients out of the hospital. In addition, more than 50 percent of U.S. hospitals are using smartphones and/or tablets and 69 percent of clinicians are using both a desktop/laptop and a smartphone/tablet to access data.”

So how do we continue this trend? Chou says it’s all about changing behavior.

“I think it’s not what they need to know, it’s changing their behavior and how they practice medicine. They do get called for emergencies, but when that [engagement] floodgate opens you know the patient is going to [contact] the doctor anytime they have concerns. It won’t have to be urgent. So it’s a behavior change more than anything. Most of the physicians they know how to use technology. Everyone has text messaging. Everyone knows how to use two-way communications applications. It’s not that they don’t know what they’re doing, it’s just not on a professional manner.”

Click here to read the full interview, which also includes Chou’s thoughts on how patient-generated data can be useful for doctors.

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 21, 2015

Skate Where the Puck’s Going, Not Where it’s Been.

If you know anything at all about hockey, you know that in order to survive in the game, you must think proactively. It’s the same with most sports, actually. To receive the pass, you go where the object you’re receiving is going – not where it’s already been.

It’s the most basic of principles, and it applies to medicine, too. The ACA is around to stay for a while – that’s just the way of it. So to prevent a giant ball from being dropped, Direct Care is taking it upon itself to show patients where the industry should go in order to catch the pass that is healthcare.

It’s this kind of proactive thinking that is leading docs around the country to open up Direct Care practices. These docs are standing in the end zone, frantically waving their arms calling for the pass; they’re wide open! Their rally cry? Patients really can save money while getting the kind of care they forgot even existed. Third party payments become a thing of the past, and people are reminded of how simple the whole thing can be.

Wayne Gretzky is a hockey hall-of-famer; one can only assume that’s partially because of his ability to apply the principle he so eloquently expressed. Skate where the puck is going, not where it’s been.

Posted by: AtlasMD

December 19, 2014

If Not Your Doc, Who CAN You Trust?

We hate to hear stories like the one Dr. Frances told recently over at Kevin.md. The picture he paints about his friend who has been the unfortunate victim of not only cancer, but “community” treatment mishaps leaves only one word in our minds.

Chaos.

And that is not the ideal word you want to use to describe healthcare. According to Dr. Frances, several of those mishaps could have easily been prevented if someone were just paying attention to the patient instead of his results. Among these mistakes? The patient was prescribed meds that clashed and is no longer able to participate in lung cancer studies because alternative treatments (also prescribed by his docs) compromised his kidneys.

Dr. Frances has had it up to here. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

October 30, 2014

REBEL.MD: The War on Physicians Escalates

The Sunshine Act attempts to shed light on a potential ulterior motive of physicians influenced by exterior perks, but in what seems to be the latest attack on physicians, Direct Primary Care advocates like Dr. Cavale are fighting back.

“After nearly 20 years of clinical practice, I have yet to encounter even one instance where I felt I prescribed a drug or referred a patient for a test under the influence of a payment or gift from a pharmaceutical company… Our loyalty is and should be to our patient only and patient benefit should be our criteria while prescribing a drug or device.”

Dr. Cavale is in the DPC business to create trust between he and his patients, not tear it down with seemingly unsubstantiated claims.

“The Sunshine Act adds one more suggestion that patients should distrust their doctors. I am not surprised that leaders of both political parties gang up against physicians, but I am astonished that the major media outlets have bought into this notion, without asking for evidence of conflict. Could it be possible that these actions are a concerted effort by those in power to force patients to accept government-prescribed cook-book medical care as the only option available to them, by forcing physicians to be mere pawns in this chess game? Someone tell me it ain’t so!”

But take solace in the fact that word of mouth is powerful. Very powerful. So, may the patients of Direct Primary Care clinics tell the world about the positive experiences they have with their physicians. May they spread the word about how DPC docs put their patients first.

May they declare with confidence that they trust their Direct Primary Care physicians, and in doing so put this whole thing to rest. Once and for all. 

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 24, 2014

FORBES: Healthcare is at a Tipping Point.

Cisco CEO John Chambers fears the US economy is being threatened by bankruptcy. That is, unless we evolve our healthcare system. He equates the current state of healthcare to the prehistoric state of computers – disconnected and inefficient.

Chambers hopes for better, not only for himself, but for his family and employees. He has an idea of how it could all come together, too, in an “Internet of Everything.”

“The first thing that will happen is all devices on our bodies, in hospitals and in our homes will be connected,” he said. “The second technological advance is video, which is the way people will prefer to communicate in the future. Video can connect any health care professional to any patient and to any specialist, all at tremendous speeds. You’ll be able to receive medical expertise 24/7. Health care applications will combine the technologies of cloud and big data, whether in the hospital or in your home. Video allows a different level of collaboration, and it offers security and privacy from your home. This is the Internet of Everything.”

READ THE FORBES ARTICLE >

We can’t help but think Chambers would look upon the Direct Care healthcare model with a smile, knowing that those in its care are receiving individualized, personalized treatment. Treatment that stems from being able to reach your doc anytime, through seemingly unconventional methods like Skype, Twitter, email and text. Factor in 24/7 physician availability, house calls and office visits that last at least 30 minutes, we don’t think we’re far off from Chambers’ vision.

Maybe this is a good time to mention how the Atlas.md EMR specifically accounts for better connectivity between doctors and patients by integrating all those communication methods directly into the patient’s chart. No, more than accounts for, encourages it. Enables it. Demands it.

Because Direct Care is gearing up to be the thing that tips the point toward better healthcare.

Patients Won’t Take Their Meds? Make Them Play For It!

Getting patients to take their medications is a challenge in itself, and there’s only so much physicians can do without handing patients the bottle of water to wash pills down with each meal.

Not practical.

This issue literally costs insurance providers billions of dollars. Yes, billions. So someone thought outside the box, and is putting gaming techniques to use to help solve this problem. “ngmoco,” a mobile game company has taken on the challenge and is attempting to get users engaged in taking their medications a different way: a smartphone app.

“Oberfest built the app to engage users in their health, but he maintained some of the most viral aspects of mobile games, such as gifts, and a feature to see how friends are faring in their treatment. The app also includes a drug database and sends refill alerts to patients.”

By integrating the need to take medications with the ever addictive nature of the smartphone, game makers are hoping this new approach will help hold patients accountable in a way many people are accustomed to – via their phone.

Read the full article on Reuters, here. > 

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 20, 2014

Is DPC an Alternative to Conventional Health Insurance?

Graduate Fellow of Health Policy at The Heritage Foundation recently published a paper we thought provoked some really interesting thought. He proposes Direct Primary Care is an innovative alternative for conventional health insurance.

“Direct primary care could resolve many of the underlying problems facing doctors and patients in government and private-sector third-party payment arrangements. It has the potential to provide better health care for patients, create a positive work environment for physicians, and reduce the growing economic burdens on doctors and patients that are caused by the prevailing trends in health policy.”

The Daily Signal agrees, adding, “Physicians benefit from eliminating costly and time-consuming overhead required to get paid on a fee-for-service basis. It also enables them to reduce their practice costs and spend more time actually treating their patients–-which is why they became doctors in the first place.”

We couldn’t agree more!

DIRECT PRIMARY CARE: AN INNOVATIVE ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE. >