Posted by: AtlasMD

May 21, 2014

Atlas.md EMR Security Update — Patient Opt-In

Atlas.md EMR operates free from HIPAA regulation, and free from government scrutiny.

Instead patients are in the power seat to communicate as THEY see fit with their physicians.

When patients enroll, they can opt in to receive communications over non-HIPAA-compliant methods.

These non-HIPAA-compliant methods include confidential communications via SMS, email and Twitter DMs, and also general billing conducted via email.

Unless users check to allow these features, no private information will be communicated in any of these manners.

However, Atlas.md EMR will send emails to patients regarding billing, e.g. invoices, confirmation of payments, confirmation of refunds, and more.

Invoices, to the best of Atlas.md EMR’s abilities, will never contain any sensitive or compromising information.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 20, 2014

More Support For Subscription-Based Practices

Qliance and Atlas MD made an appearance on MainStreet, a financial blogging network. It’s worth noting that by cutting the red tape, we’ve made the “perks” of concierge medicine (24/7 access, same-day appointments, unlimited visits) affordable for a majority of Americans.

We’re glad to know they’re opining a rise in subscription-based primary care, too.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 19, 2014

Futurist Forecasts More Rain Before Things Clear Up In Healthcare

Author, consultant and futurist Ian Morrison served up the opening keynote at the National Healthcare Innovation Summit on May 14 in Boston with a large dose of wit. But he delivered a somber message concerning the urgent need for innovation in healthcare.

“We have to innovate,” he told the audience. “We don’t have a choice. We have hit the wall.”

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 19, 2014

Stephen Schimpff Wants To Spend More Than 10 Minutes With His Patients

You call for an appointment and are told it will be about 20 days.

You arrive on time only to sit in the apt named waiting room for 40 minutes.

You see your primary care doctor (PCP).

You start to explain why you came in.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 19, 2014

Direct Care Blackup Plan: 8 Reasons To Go Locum Tenens

We know that physicians are unhappy with the way things are going in healthcare.

Some even believe that up to a third of the US physician work force is planning to leave the profession in the next 3 years

Direct primary care practices are the single best way to restore patient and provider satisfaction. Those brave enough to cut the red tape (i.e. health insurers, both public and private) find a remarkable reduction in billing paperwork, unrecovered fees, and electronic documentation requirements.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 18, 2014

When Direct Care Works It WORKS.

Transitioning from insurance-based care into Direct Care isn’t a walk in the park. Cutting the red tape is not necessarily about EASE.

It’s about AFFECT. Affecting patients lives, affecting our own lives as doctors and business owners. It’s about having a stake in the work we do, and being rewarded for doing it well.

Here’s an earnest email from Mary Wulfers. She’s helping her husband run his newly opened Direct Care practice.

We’re really busy. Mike has about 130 new patients and they all seem to want a physical right away, so he’s really really busy. Around 170-180 patients transferred from his old practice, and we’ve obtained and built all those charts as well. I continue to work full time at the office and then some out of necessity, which is just fine. Younger families are really starting to sign up; it’s almost like the word has just gotten out. Last Monday was quite a day, had 17 new patients sign up and our nurse was out sick that day, too.This has been a very rewarding experience in so many ways but a lot of work, too. Out [sic] new website should be online soon, can’t wait to see it. Mike is really happy about some of the new patients he’s getting, some with poor insurance who are so excited to have a good doctor for the first time. How can you beat that?

Seriously, how CAN you beat that?

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 18, 2014

Stop Losing Primary Care Physicians To Burnout

Here’s a central difficulty of the Affordable Care Act: If everyone has access to health insurance, then everyone has access to all the medical care they need. But curing sickness and preventing death is costly, so why not save money and lives by making primary care doctors more affordable?

After all, it’s our business to KEEP you healthy. And keeping you healthy cuts costs in the long-run.

However, we don’t and won’t have enough primary care providers in the United States unless things change.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 18, 2014

Healthcare Executives Need Big Compensation, And Big Results

“It’s stressful, dirty, hard work, and the burnout rate is high,” said Tom McNulty, a 19-year-old college student who volunteers for an ambulance corps outside Rochester. He told the New York Times that he finds it fulfilling, but that he would not make it a career: “Financially, it’s not feasible.”

Turns out the healthcare industry is staffed by some of the lowest as well as highest paid professionals in any business. The average staff nurse is paid about $61,000 a year, and an emergency medical technician earns just about minimum wage, for a yearly income of $27,000, according to the Compdata analysis.

Did you know that many medics work two or three jobs just to get by?

Read more

Posted by: Josh Umbehr, M.D.

May 15, 2014

Here’s An Idea. Let’s Make Healthcare So Affordable That You’ll Need A Loan For Your Deductible.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard the parable of the tall man and the cat.

Maybe not, since I had to make it up in light of healthcare’s unending cost increase.

See in this allegorical village there was a group of citizens who were very upset with a man who lived there. This man was very, very tall, and he made all the villagers feel uneasy (they were insecure about the crowns of their heads, who knows why).

One night, a mob caravanned to the tall man’s house with tall, burning torches.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 15, 2014

Pay Kevin MD Like A French Doctor (Or Get Your Numbers Straight Before Blaming Doc Salaries For Overspending.)

Whenever new physician salary data is released, reporters and policy experts often compare doctor salaries in the United States to those of other countries: most notably, France. But Kevin Pho isn’t pleased.

That’s because because, practically on cue, Vox’s Sarah Kliff — regarded by thought leaders an excellent healthcare writer, is “uncharacteristically” lazy in framing physician salaries through a biased lens.

She writes, “Primary care doctors in the United States, do tend to earn a lot more than their counterparts abroad. One 2011 study, which looked at doctor salaries from 2008, found that the average primary care doctor in France earns about $95,000, compared to the $186,000 that physicians net in the United States.”

Read more