Posted by: AtlasMD

December 10, 2014

Recommended Reading: The SPEED of Trust

We often get asked for recommended reading lists. We’re delivering! These weekly posts feature one book we highly recommend to learn more about business, philosophy, and different perspectives to help you run your business. Do you have a recommendation that’s not on the list yet? Mention it in the comments!

This Week’s Recommendation: The SPEED of Trust.

Stephen M.R. Covey shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients and, employees—is essential to a successful organization.

With nearly 750,000 copies in print, this instant classic shows that establishing trust is “the one thing that changes everything” (Marcus Buckingham, coauthor of Now, Discover Your Strengths) in both business and life.

Trust, says Stephen M.R. Covey, is the very basis of the new global economy, and he shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients, employees, and constituents—is the essential ingredient for any high–performance, successful organization.

For business leaders and public figures in any arena, The Speed of Trust offers an unprecedented and eminently practical look at exactly how trust functions in our every transaction and relationship—from the most personal to the broadest, most indirect interaction—and how to establish trust immediately so that you and your organization can forego the time–killing, bureaucratic check–and–balance processes so often deployed in lieu of actual trust.

BUY THE SPEED OF TRUST >

Posted by: AtlasMD

December 4, 2014

A Better Home for Traditional Docs

It’s not that physicians of traditional primary care don’t know what they’re doing. It’s not that they’re bad at their jobs. It’s not that they don’t care about their patients, or are incapable of making eye contact during an appointment.

The problem with how traditional docs perform is a result of something much worse.

It’s an environment that allows talent to be used at less than its full potential. It’s knowledge being hidden behind a wall of rules that prevents it from shining through. It’s a flawed system that spends so much time communicating internally that it can’t effectively communicate to those who need it most: patients.

Physicians in a traditional healthcare setting went through medical school just like the rest. They have what it takes. They got into the business to help people, but the setting they find themselves in is more conducive to sticking with the red tape rather than sticking it to the red tape. And that means paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork.

Many docs have already found a better home. One that puts them in control and gives them the kind of life they dreamed of in med school. One that serves their patients by providing them proactive healthcare and time. Ahh, time. Life under this roof challenges them to be better, think outside the box, and push their own limits. This life they’ve found? It doesn’t revolve around paperwork.

The Direct Care movement is in full swing, and it’s calling those physicians who feel… stuck. Disillusioned. Trapped. But it’s also calling physicians who feel invigorated, entrepreneurial, and inspired.

There’s room for everyone here.

Posted by: AtlasMD

December 3, 2014

Getting Patients to Take Their Meds is a Work in Progress.

A while back, we told you about a new method aimed at getting patients to take their meds – this one revolved around video games. But gaming isn’t a motivator for everyone, and researchers are trying to find the trouble spot surrounding the lack of adherence to doctor’s orders.

Dr. Steve Leuck, PharmD is a pharmacist and founder of AudibleRx. Dr. Leuck is excited that more research is being done to get to the bottom of the issue, but he thinks success might revolve around patient education.

“When patients understand why they are taking their medications, and importantly, what the consequences are of not taking their medication, they are much more likely to be adherent to their pharmaceutical regimen,” he said.

The studies that have already been conducted looking at things like utilizing pill box organizers, having the pharmacist talk to the patient about the medication, text reminders, even web-based support. But a lot of variance in how the studies were conducted and the sheer lack of studies in general prevented them from coming to any conclusions we can run with.

The case isn’t cracked… yet. But those in the field aren’t done trying.  Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 26, 2014

Recommended Reading: The Power of Habit

We often get asked for recommended reading lists. We’re delivering! These weekly posts feature one book we highly recommend to learn more about business, philosophy, and different perspectives to help you run your business. Do you have a recommendation that’s not on the list yet? Mention it in the comments!

This Week’s Recommendation: The Power of Habit.

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.

Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.

At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

BUY THE POWER OF HABIT >

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 25, 2014

Disillusioned Physicians Learn about DPC.

It doesn’t take long for the true colors of healthcare’s current condition to shine through.

“I’ve only been in practice for a year and I’m already disillusioned,” said Levis. “I think we spend more of our time doing paperwork than we spend taking care of people. I’m here to explore this concept of direct primary care and learn about its viability.” – Erika Levis, M.D., of Pleasant Hill, Iowa

Levis, along with nearly 40 other family physicians from around the country recently gathered for a workshop to learn everything they could about Direct Primary Care. Many of them had questions about how they could make the model work for them. They quickly learned they had options – that the model is flexible and with some hard work and research, they could make their practice exactly what they’d always dreamed of. Angela Kerschner, MD is already taking advantage of this versatility. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 24, 2014

The Right People are Asking the Right Questions.

RightPeopleRightQuestions2

It’s a great time in healthcare.

Not only because more and more Direct Primary Care practices are popping up all over the country. Not only because patients are spreading the word about how DPC is working for them. And not only because now more than ever, doctors actually want to practice medicine.

There’s another reason why it’s such a great time to be in healthcare amid swirling chaos in the form of health insurance, doctor burnout and misinformation.

Medical students are asking for DPC training. 

And what’s better, the DPC community is willing to teach it.  Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 20, 2014

Medium.com: Sharing is the Future of Healthcare

Susannah Fox sheds light on something so many people take for granted in her recent article for Medium.com. Sharing.

Time is of the Essence.

Fox shares a story of a patient with a very rare condition who took it upon herself to track her medications’ interactions. It’s because of this she was able to refuse a certain prescribed medications that could have been lethal to her. When met with resistance from the prescribing doctor, she had to defend herself against the argument that, “for 20 years he has been telling all his patients to take it and no one else has ever complained.”

The particularly frightening portion of this story is that the physician prescribed without checking how the medications would interact with each other. Equally disturbing is that he then challenged the patient, attempting to coerce her into submission.

Maybe he had a reason for doing what he did. Maybe he didn’t have the time to do his research. Maybe he was in a rush to get to his next patient. Who knows.

But that sigh of relief you just heard? That came from all the Direct Primary Care physicians out there who don’t have to worry about such things as rushing from one patient to the next, or not having time to do research. Because the DPC model is not reliant upon meeting quotas, making a certain amount of money, or owing anything to big pharma. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 19, 2014

What Really Happens When You Cut the Red Tape?

Dr. Michael D. Shaw takes us to the heart of what Direct Primary Care is all about in his recent contribution to HealthNewsDigest.com.

“The doctor/patient relationship has deteriorated precisely because the patient is no longer the client.”

The moment physicians are forced to turn their attention from a patient, hold up one finger as if to say, “Hold on.” and become engaged elsewhere is the very moment the doctor patient relationship begins to break down. It’s all traced back to the fact that physicians must see so many patients in such a short amount of time… and are therefore forced to spend on average a mere 7 minutes with them during the appointment.

Third parties. Insurance. Bureaucracy. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 17, 2014

Recommended Reading: The Checklist Manifesto

We often get asked for recommended reading lists. We’re delivering! These weekly posts feature one book we highly recommend to learn more about business, philosophy, and different perspectives to help you run your business. Do you have a recommendation that’s not on the list yet? Mention it in the comments!

This Week’s Recommendation: The Checklist Manifesto.

In his latest bestseller, Atul Gawande shows what the simple idea of the checklist reveals about the complexity of our lives and how we can deal with it.

The modern world has given us stupendous know-how. Yet avoidable failures continue to plague us in health care, government, the law, the financial industry—in almost every realm of organized activity. And the reason is simple: the volume and complexity of knowledge today has exceeded our ability as individuals to properly deliver it to people—consistently, correctly, safely. We train longer, specialize more, use ever-advancing technologies, and still we fail. Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument that we can do better, using the simplest of methods: the checklist. In riveting stories, he reveals what checklists can do, what they can’t, and how they could bring about striking improvements in a variety of fields, from medicine and disaster recovery to professions and businesses of all kinds. And the insights are making a difference. Already, a simple surgical checklist from the World Health Organization designed by following the ideas described here has been adopted in more than twenty countries as a standard for care and has been heralded as “the biggest clinical invention in thirty years” (The Independent).

BUY THE CHECKLIST MANIFESTO >

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 13, 2014

What’s New in the Atlas.md EMR?

Check out the latest round of updates and feature releases for the Atlas.md EMR.

Did You Notice?
Some new information is now being featured on your login screen. You’ll find helpful blurbs about new features, and what we’re talking about on the blog just below the login fields.

Smooth Transition to iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 and 6+ are bigger than ever. To accommodate, Atlas.md EMR improved the size and resolution of the graphics within the app to ensure users have a smooth experience throughout.

Better Note Editing
The creator of a note can do more than simply edit the content. Now users can view previous versions of the note, including the reason the note was edited in the first place. Linear transparency = real efficiency. Read more about editing notes over here.

Automated Birthday Messages
Atlas.md EMR users can automatically send patients an email on their birthday. Read more about setting this up over here.

Easier Macro Viewing
Now you can view your custom macros, and patient-only macros with one click. Catch up on all things macro here.

Additional Notification Options
You already had the option to schedule appointment reminders or follow up messages using email, but now you can utilize Twitter DMs and SMS, too. Read more about it in this article.

Resend Fax Messages
Resend failed faxes and successful faxes, see who failed faxes were sent to and why they failed in the first place. Get the details over here.

Notification of Task Assignment
If someone assigns you to a task, you’ll receive an email notification explaining the details so you won’t miss a thing. Read more about email task notifications here.

Manage Recurring Appointments
If you have a recurring appointment set, now you can edit just one of those events instead of the entire block.