VIDEO: Direct Care Explained in 10 Minutes.

If you’ve been looking for an elevator pitch to make a case for this healthcare model, search no longer. Dr. Josh had the pleasure of speaking at the Louisville Airport Crowne Plaza for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. In a short time allotment of 10 minutes, Dr. Josh lays out the premise of Direct Care.

Direct Care clinics are laying down roots all over the country. Don’t believe us? See for yourself over at iwantdirectcare.com. Patients have expressed their interest, docs know exactly where they’re wanted. Don’t forget to put yourself on the map while you’re there!

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 4, 2014

Ayn Rand’s Lost Novel Is Coming in 2015

Penguin Random House is going to release Ayn Rand’s unpublished work from 1934. And Rand’s heir, Dr. Leonard Peikoff, even discussed the book at the 2014 Objectivist Summer Conference.

Of course, The Ayn Rand Institute is excited about the announcement. In their Press Release they say that Ideal, written in 1934, is scheduled for release and will be paired with Rand’s play of the same name. It will be available as a single volume with an introduction written by Rand’s designated heir, Leonard Peikoff.

“We are delighted to share this wonderful news,” said ARI executive director Yaron Brook. “How often does one get to announce the new publication of a novel by such an influential author eighty years after the book was written? It’s incredible to see that several decades after Rand’s death, her work and ideas are still fresh and alive in the culture.”

The Ayn Rand Institute’s Objectivist Summer Conference 2014 featured a Q&A event on Ideal. Dr. Leonard Peikoff, in a rare public appearance, fielded questions about the book, its ideas and the history of this important new publication. Want to know more about Objectivism and a major influence on Atlas MD’s core values? Check out ARI’s website. The Ayn Rand Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 2, 2014

Are Patient Portals Really Relevant?

Patients say the answer is no.

If this shocks you, the rest of the stats will really throw you for a loop. According to Mobi Health News,

  • 49 percent of patients know their doctor’s office offers a patient portal (but don’t necessarily use it)
  • 40 percent were not aware of a patient portal offering
  • The remaining 11 percent of patients know their doctor doesn’t offer one

When a patient portal does it right, it offers helpful articles in addition to account status, a way to get in touch with the doc, or even join an online forum to discuss what other patients within the portal might be going through. But even if all these stars are aligned, even if the portal exists, and the patient knows about it, who’s to say they’ll actually use it? Read more

Time Begets Quality, DPC is the Key to Utilizing FitBit Data.

Venture Beat recently released an article expounding on all the reasons doctors don’t want data from health wearables like Fitbit. Among those reasons? Not enough time to analyze, and no proven system to analyze it in.

One higher-up explains: “Doctors would love to be excited about wearables — they’re gadget guys at heart — but their day-to-day is spent battling 30 year old fax machines to get your last lab report.” says Jeff Tangney, CEO of Doximity, which makes a social communication platform for clinicians. “For a busy doctor, the ability to use email would save more lives than a Fitbit.”

Atlas MD’s Dr. Josh told his side of the story in an interview with The Daily Beast. His view looks completely different from that of docs who shudder at the thought of more data. He not only cares about his patient’s FitBit data, but welcomes it. He finds this information so useful, he’s integrated fitness app tracking into his EMR software (that also handles emails, in case you were wondering) to better communicate with his patients about the one thing that matters most – their health.  Read more

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. > 

Atlas MD Podcast 18 — The State of Specialty Care

Atlas MD Podcast 18 — The State of Specialty Care

STREAM EP. 18 OF THE ATLAS MD PODCAST ON iTUNES

A lot’s been going on! In addition to talking about the state of specialty care with respect to Direct Primary Care, here’s a sneak peek at the latest podcast:

  • We’ve had lots of meetings with insurance companies about how they can create a wrap around product to sell alongside Direct Primary Care, which could help take DPC mainstream even faster.
  • Employers are able to give their employees monetary raises because of their association with Direct Primary Care.
  • The ACO model is struggling to be sustainable due to the high cost of healthcare – Direct Care can help decrease overhead by decreasing waste, and turning that waste into profit.
  • Big updates to the Atlas.md EMR software include more fitness app integration features.

Last but not least, We were honored to have a med student join us for an entire month recently, and we want to make sure the medical community knows they’re more than welcome to stop by and see what we’re all about. Or if we can help make direct care a part of your medical education, conference, personal training experience, please get in touch.

Posted by: AtlasMD

July 23, 2014

When Health Insurance and Breakfast Collide.

Sorry, your decaf was denied.

Pamela Wible, MD recently mentioned a couple analogies we happen to have articulated a few times ourselves. She breaks down what it would be like using health insurance to cover breakfast, and the result is less than ideal…

“If you hired a third party to pay your restaurant bill, you’d pay twice as much, wait 2 weeks for a table, and have 7 minutes to eat.”

We’re glad she’s using real world analogies to get the point across; you can’t deny that using health insurance as a catastrophic net makes more sense than a convenience plan for daily maintenance.

READ DR. WIBLE’S ARTICLE >

Posted by: AtlasMD

July 18, 2014

What’s New in Atlas.md?

Atlas.md rolled out more updates! In this latest batch, you’ll find more features that help your clinic run more smoothly, details on security measures, and more ways to connect directly with your patients.

HumanAPI integration

Expanding our fitness tracking capabilities, Atlas.md has added support for the Human API, which is a gateway to most of the fitness devices and applications available on the market. We now support devices from Jawbone, Nike, iHealth and Withings as well as applications such as RunKeeper, Moves App and DailyMile.

Easily export basic patient details to CSV

Now you can easily export basic patient information to a CSV file, which can be read by Microsoft Excel, Google Apps and virtually any other application that supports spreadsheets. This also allows you to easily export lists to web applications like Campaign Monitor and Mail Chimp.

Extra security: inactivity logouts

You can now enable the “Inactivity Logout” feature, which kicks users out of the system after 30 inactive minutes. This can be useful for clinics who have shared computers in the office. It’s especially helpful for making sure the system stays secure for when someone forgets to logout, or leaves a computer unattended or unlocked.

Editable dashboard calendar

You can now adjust the calendar that shows up on your dashboard. This is specifically helpful for nurses and staff members who need to keep track of doctors’ appointments instead of their own.

Email notification on task completion

Now when someone completes a task you’ve assigned them, you’ll get a notification email confirming the completion. This closes any possible communication gap, and ensures you’re always in the loop on the delegated tasks.

Critical note for patient records

Atlas.md users can now add critical notes to patient charts. Critical notes are highlighted and fixed at the top of the patient record to ensure they are not overlooked. Critical notes are particularly useful for patients with a specific sensitive condition, allergies, etc.

Billing: expanded communication logs

We now keep track of all email invoices and failed payments for both patients and companies. Users can also add custom notes to the communication logs to help them keep track of other collection efforts made.

Referencing notes inside notes in the patient record

Atlas.md’s macro-autocompleter now allows you to reference other notes inside the same patient record. Just type “#attachment” to reference a previous attachment, “#prescription” to reference a previous prescription, etc.

Posted by: AtlasMD

July 15, 2014

Business Insider: This Company Saved A Lot of Money by Tracking their Employees with FitBits.

We caught wind of another way FitBit is benefiting more than the individual wearing it. In this case, it’s creating a different type of social community within the workplace, bringing transparency to these employees’ health habits, and oh, yeah – possibly even lowering their insurance premiums.

“One day soon, your company could hand you a fitness-tracking device as a gift.

The gift could have a sizeable payoff for the company. They could use it to track your fitness habits and, if you and your coworkers behave well, use that data to negotiate lower insurance premiums.

In fact, hot Valley startup Appirio did exactly that, reports Nancy Gohring at Citeworld. As part of a bigger corporate wellness program it calls CloudFit, Appirio handed out Fitbits to about 400 employees. And thanks to CloudFit, Appirio convinced its insurance company to lower its rates by 5%. That added up to a hefty $280,000.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON BUSINESS INSIDER.

We’re especially glad we integrated FitBit into our DPC EMR, Atlas.md. Just another way we’re closing the gap between our patients, and their health!