Everybody Laissez Faire Tonight; New Book Reveals Intimate Details About Ayn Rand’s Life

Doug French curates and reviews books for Laissez Faire Books and also blogs at Libertarian Standard. He mentioned us recently in a review of Nathaniel Branden’s book Judgment Day: My Years With Ayn Rand. He came right out with a reference to the age of Obamacare, saying, “… The writings of Ayn Rand are inspiring some doctors to push back. A small, but growing group of doctors want their patients to pay cash. That’s right, cash. Their own cash.” Then he went on to mention our practice. We’re flattered to have Atlas MD’s name beside an inspirational figure like Rand. Her philosophy guided us to where we are today, practicing medicine, changing people’s lives, and changing the way other doctor’s can change their patients’ lives.

French even says that our practice “sounds like Rand’s free-market Shangri-La — Galt’s Gulch.” Gulp. That’s a sweeping vision to live up to. Although we’re in good company. French reminds us in his review that Ayn Rand has had tremendous influence on the likes of other innovative entrepreneurs and business leaders: BB&T’s John Allison, Whole Foods’ John Mackey, and Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales to name a few. And we did release direct care’s first EMR, so we’ll admit that we’re ambitious. But our battle for common sense is ongoing.

ORDER JUDGEMENT DAY: MY LIFE WITH AYN RAND ON LAISSEZ FAIRE BOOKS

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December 5, 2013

Throwback Thursday_Cash Only Medicine

So we use the Internet here at Atlas MD. It’s part of our daily routine to Tweet with patients (if they choose) about ailments, conditions, and the like. We also use our web-based Atlas.md EMR to view patient records and do just about anything else that needs doing here at the office.

And since we’re online all the time, we learned about this whole Throwback Thursday thing (aka #tbt). So here’s one for you. Check out this article from 2004, almost ten years old now. It’s about one of the first cash-only primary care physicians, Dr. Vern Cherewatenko, and a patient named Chuck O’Brien. Back then, Dr. Vern charged patients $50 to come in and get a physical. It was that simple.

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December 5, 2013

More Obamacare Rabble Rousing? How About We Just Do Healthcare Ourselves?

When it comes to Obamacare, we’re not even sure there is a simple bipartisan debate. CNBC reported last week about the inherent security shortcomings of Obamacare. According to cybersecurity expert David Kennedy on CNBC last Monday, “It could take a year to secure the risk of ‘high exposures’ of personal information on the federal Obamacare online exchange.”

Kennedy added, “When you develop a website, you develop it with security in mind. And it doesn’t appear to have happened this time.” The so-called “white hat” hacker tests online security by breaching websites. He testified on Capitol Hill about the flaws of HealthCare.gov the week prior. Maybe it’s reassuring then that few could actually sign up on the federal portals.

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December 4, 2013

This Is The Best Advertisement For Direct Care (And We Didn’t Even Come Up With It)

Stop what you’re doing and read this article from The New York Times. In a piece called “As Hospital Prices Soar, a Stitch Tops $500” writer Elisabeth Rosenthal relays multiple stories of outrageous hospital charges. California Pacific Medical Center’s tidy emergency room treated Deepika Singh who had cut her knee at a barbecue and a toddler named Orla Roche who had sliced open her forehead on a coffee table. Here’s what their bills looked like: Ms. Singh’s three stitches were billed for $2,229.11; Orla’s forehead was sealed with a dab of skin glue that cost $1,696.

And great job, investigative journalists, researchers, everyone who’s fed up with the arbitrary nature of pricing. According to government statistics hospital charges represent about a third of the $2.7 trillion annual United States health care bill, the biggest single segment. These charges are the largest driver of medical inflation, too, a new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

December 2, 2013

Atlas.md EMR 1.0 Is Live

We’re excited to announce that Atlas.md EMR is open for public sign-up. Thanks to all the doctors who submitted feedback. You helped us create a lean, efficient and effective tool for cash-only medicine.

SIGN UP FOR ATLAS.MD EMR

Of course, no software update would be complete without some new improvements. Check out what else is new with Atlas.md.

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More Mind The Gap Magic

Fear not, Stephen Wilkins’ new blog post could be construed as Luddite, but we’re totally on his side. He was prompted to write after Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of the San Francisco-based healthcare system, Dignity Health, announced something called the Dignity Health and Box Patient Education App Challenge. Dean is quoted in the announcement as saying:

“We recognize the immense potential that (health information) technology has to enhance our patients’ care and overall experience.”

Wilkins then asks, “Immense potential compared to what?”

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November 27, 2013

Touche. The Federal Health Exchange Website Mocked By Actual Insurance Company.

As low as this blow is, it seems almost destined. Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has launched three ads that tell people to skip Healthcare.gov and visit their website instead. And what’s there reasoning? Because Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield’s site actually works.

Chris Matyszczyk of CNET reported on this advertising development (and included his own personal insurance woes). He writes, “Somehow, though, there’s always this nagging feeling with insurance companies — and, indeed, with the whole health industry — that the drive for a buck (with the frequent assistance of technology) is often at the expense of its customers’ mental, as well as financial, health.”

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November 26, 2013

Four In Ten Americans Are Clueless About Obamacare

You’ll have to read more about this disappointing survey yourself. It actually caused us physical pain to write that blog title. Mostly since that 40% obviously isn’t following our quest to cut red tape. Oh, and these results came only one day after a Gallup poll found that Americans respond more favorably to the name Affordable Care Act than Obamacare.

Obviously we’re fans of business and business depends on advertising to earn customers. We get that. But the idea that our government and media have turned this giant, singular fiasco into two separately perceived entities is troubling. Again, it’s a confusion that’s doing nothing to provide healthcare to anyone. Effectively it’s like spinning your wheels and saying, “Look how far we’ve gone.” And really we haven’t gone anywhere. We’re still waiting to hear stories about the great healthcare that’s going to magically manifest itself.

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 26, 2013

Medicare Penalizes Nearly 1,500 Hospitals For Poor Quality Scores

As you know, the health law’s insurance markets are struggling. Oh well, that hasn’t stopped the Obama administration from moving ahead with its second year of “meting out bonuses and penalties to hospitals based on the quality of their care,” says NPR.

And this year, it looks like more hospitals lost than won.

So how does this bureaucratic mousetrap work? The government determines if hospitals get more or less Medicare dollars for the work they complete based on patients’ surveys. And what were this year’s results? According to NPR, “Medicare has raised payment rates to 1,231 hospitals based on two-dozen quality measurements, including surveys of patient satisfaction and — for the first time — death rates. Another 1,451 hospitals are being paid less for each Medicare patient they treat for the year that began Oct. 1.”

NPR says half the hospitals will see negligible changes while others are going to see a noticeable difference.

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More Dutch Inspiration – Needless ER Visits Waste Money

You know our style. We’re opinionated folks here. We speak liberally about the red tape that bloats healthcare costs—absurd ER charges for one. You’ve heard our spiel: We insist that affordable primary care like what we offer at Atlas MD can keep people out of the ER, and save everyone (patients’ wallets, insurance companies’ payouts, frazzled doctors’ sanity, even our nation’s budget) considerably.

Speaking of costly ER charges, NPR just wrote another piece about the topic. It’s also Dutch-related, and definitely worth checking out.

NPR writes, “In the United States, the growing number of uninsured Americans means more people do not have a family doctor or primary care provider. When they suffer a worrisome accident or problem, they may end up in the nearest hospital emergency room.”

And this is where we as a nation are just pouring money down the drain.

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