Atlas.md | EMR Software for Concierge Medicine

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 4, 2014

Prescription Prices Are Too Damn High

Our nation loves prescriptions.

According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center, “Nearly 70% of Americans take one prescription drug and more than half take two.”

It gets better. Approximately 20% of Americans use at least five prescription medications. Imagine the cost savings if Direct Care doctors directly prescribed a majority of these at wholesale prices.

Prescription drug use has been increasing steadily in the U.S. for the last ten years.

So what drugs are being prescribed, and why?

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 2, 2014

Doctors Are Talking: EHRs Destroy the Patient Encounter

KLAS, a national firm that measures EHR vendor performance, conducts an annual poll of healthcare providers, not only about the quality of their EHRs but also about make-or-break issues such as training, implementation, and support.

The gripes cover three main areas: One, EHRs have made the patient encounter far more annoying and complex than it ever was before.

Two, many physicians feel that EHRs take doctors who were trained to be independent thinkers and constrain their ability to make independent decisions, causing them to feel like data entry clerks, with a computer telling them how to practice medicine.

Last but not least, a large number of physicians feel that EHRs erode the doctor-patient relationship by creating a barrier between the two.

Posted by: Josh Umbehr, M.D.

June 1, 2014

Insurance-Based Primary Care Won’t Prevent Obesity

Recently, someone asked me on Twitter, “Has the change in classification of obesity as a disease affected how you treat patients presenting w/ the disease?”

The classification change in question is regarding the American Medical Association’s declaration that obesity is a disease rather than a comorbidity factor.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 26, 2014

Fist Bump, Doc? Handshake Ban Suggested in Health Care.

If a doctor, dentist or nurse reaches out to shake your hand, should you: (a) reciprocate and extend your hand, (b) shake at least once or twice but don’t pump or hold hands for more than five seconds, (c) make eye contact and smile while shaking or (d) recoil in horror, shove your hands deep into any available pocket and report the perpetrator to the nearest infection control specialist?

If you answered ‘d,’ then high five me. You understand the sorry state of hand hygiene in American health care and the toll it takes in spreading disease.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 26, 2014

Damn, Gawker. Way To Point Out The Prescription Drug In The Room.

You might think that the U.S. government’s small step towards a national healthcare system would somehow help bring the cost of prescription drugs down to reasonable levels.

“You could not be more wrong! You idiot!” writes Hamilton Nolan of Gawker.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 26, 2014

Over-Prescribing, Under-Prescribing, And The Fee-For-Service Catch 22

The federal government has granted itself potent new authority to expel physicians from Medicare if they are found to prescribe drugs in abusive ways, following through on a proposal issued earlier this year.

Excellent news! Now fee-for-service doctors can exist like Heller-esque protgaonists, trapped by the possibility of losing funding for over-prescribing, or losing funding by under-prescribing.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 26, 2014

The Medical Establishment Took The Treasury’s Keys

According to Uwe E. Reinhardt, an economics professor at Princeton, about half a century ago, organized medicine and the hospital industry in this country struck a deal with Congress.

In retrospect, it was as audacious as it was incredible: Congress was asked to surrender to these industries the keys to the United States Treasury.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 26, 2014

Yep, You Can Yelp Us

Some of the country’s best doctors have the worst patient satisfaction scores.

Want to know why?

Part of training to become a fee-for-service doctor is learning how to suppress your feelings. You get good at being who people want you to be, not who they need you to be.

You’re slowly transformed into something you didn’t foresee–a Stepford doctor out to please everyone with a sycophantic grin and forcibly appealing demeanor, hoping that your patient satisfaction survey will be favorable, no matter the cost.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 25, 2014

Want To Practice Good Medicine? Get Naked And Have Some Fun.

Early on, Dr. Pamela Wible was warned by her doctor family, “Don’t go into medicine.”

Of course, she went into medicine, and was met with grim circumstances — doctor after doctor she knew, killing themselves.

Now, in light of assembly-line medicine killing the souls of doctors, Dr. Wible has opened an ideal clinic that focuses on the patient-doctor relationship.

And she’s having a fun doing it.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 21, 2014

Direct Care Subscription Savings — Wholesale Prescriptions

We keep telling them, but some critics still doubt that Direct Care can save patients a tremendous amount of money each month.

Venlafaxine tablets (generic for Effexor) is a prime example.

Assuming you know about the coupon option, you can buy the generic for $17. However, if not, you’ll pay ~$150 cash.

Keep in mind that we can sell a monthly script of Venlafaxine tablets for $5.70.

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