Posted by: AtlasMD

December 10, 2013

Direct Care Has A Brand New Face In Philadelphia

R Health in Philly launched their version of direct care back in August. Mason Reiner, the founder and CEO of the bootstrapped healthcare startup, says “[I saw] an opportunity to help consumers cut down on healthcare costs through more meaningful patient interactions and 24-hour access through telehealth.”

Welcome to the “wild” side of primary care, R Health. Wild if only because we’re willing to take big risks to earn big rewards. Rewards like quality relationships with our patients, and in our case even tweets like this:

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Posted by: AtlasMD

December 8, 2013

More Cash Only News Coverage

8 News NOW

So CBS News in Las Vegas aired a segment about MedLion a few weeks ago. You’ve probably heard us mention Dr Samir Qamar’s operation. He was originally a high-end concierge medical doctor, offering private, 24/7 service for the elite Pebble Beach Golf Resort. He charged his patients as much as $30,000 a month.

No worries, he is charging much less now. 70 bucks a month and a $10 copay. His model doesn’t include the house calls we do, and it is a little more expensive than what we’re offering here. That said, it takes all kinds to bring direct care and cash-only medicine to life. Every time a news segment’s telling our side of the healthcare story, we’ll call it a win. Part of us might want to argue with MedLion, “Oh, you’re charging too much.” But that’s petty. In fact, that type of pettiness would be great. Seriously, that dialogue will only happen when direct care goes mainstream. American healthcare would look a lot different then. We’d welcome a new set of problems to overcome, new battles to win. At least we’d have made it past today’s impasse, where insurance dictates patient care, and not the other way around.

Posted by: AtlasMD

December 8, 2013

The Prism Vision Of Direct Care

We came across a contributed post on Dr. James Diamond’s blog (Diamond is founder/CEO of Diamond Luxury Healthcare, a concierge medical network). The post is called “Is Concierge Medicine The Correct Choice For You?” and was submitted by contributor Paul Hsieh, MD. You’re well aware that our branch of concierge medicine, direct care, is carving out a niche where families, individuals, and businesses can get quality care for the most affordable rate possible. Although our society is made of many types of cars, some are more expensive than others, though. So it makes sense that our movement would see cost stratification.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

December 6, 2013

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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Posted by: AtlasMD

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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Posted by: AtlasMD

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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Posted by: AtlasMD

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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Posted by: AtlasMD

November 27, 2013

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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Posted by: AtlasMD

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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