Manage My Practice put together a great case study about marketing your practice. They create a model of marketing success using the career of Jay-Z. Never heard of him? Well then your kids have. He’s only the most successful rap artist of all time, who’s also parlayed his success into careers in fashion, merchandising, vodka, and a stake in the NBA’s New Jersey Nets franchise. His success, beyond the normal hard work and talent, is ultimately in marketing himself. That’s something many of us are loathe to do. But it can really pay off with your practice.
September 4, 2013
September 3, 2013
MUST FOLLOW_The Self Pay Patient Blog
Sean Parnell reached out to us recently, expressing support of our cash-for-service model of primary care. We’re glad he did. Turns out he runs a blog called The Self Pay Patient and it’s a helpful resource for “tens of millions of Americans who are either uninsured, have high-deductible health insurance, or just want to escape from bureaucratic medicine…”
His blog entries are the basis of a book he’s currently writing that will be “a ‘users guide’ to self-pay medicine, explaining in detail how to find doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and other providers of health care goods and services…”
He recently wrote about a patient who needed knee surgery and benefitted indirectly from cash-only medicine. The first hospital he visited wanted an out of pocket payment (he had a “good” insurance plan) that was MORE than the cost of the whole operation at the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, a cash-only facility. In the end, the patient used price transparency to negotiate and save about $3,000 on his procedure.
READ THE COMPLETE STORY ON ABC NEWS
Once more we see the power of the market, and price transparency, in making healthcare more readily available. We believe it’s worth writing down — every direct primary care practice and every cash-only hospital that offers competitive, cost-saving procedures, treatments, prescriptions, etc. puts pressure on the insurance companies to treat clientele more fairly. Cheers to Mr. Parnell’s blog for keeping a record of these establishments and spreading awareness of their benefits.
September 3, 2013
How a Cabal Keeps Generics Scarce
So around a year ago, President Obama signed a law meant to end chronic shortages of lifesaving drugs. However, a critical lack of generic drugs continues. This is being called a “preventable crisis” and it’s harming patients, even leading to death in the case of botched anesthesias. The New York Times does not believe the law will be effective, in part because it addresses the symptoms but not at all the disease.
September 3, 2013
You CAN Charge $546 for Six Liters of Saltwater in America
When we first read this headline, we thought it was a loose allegory, something akin to selling ice to an eskimo. But no, this headline is to be taken literally. The New York Times ran this article following up on absurd charges billed to a group of tourists who came down with severe food poisoning. According to the Times, “Some of the patients’ bills would later include markups of 100 to 200 times the manufacturer’s price, not counting separate charges for ‘IV administration.’ And on other bills, a bundled charge for ‘IV therapy’ was almost 1,000 times the official cost of the solution.”
August 28, 2013
SUMMARY: How A Secretive Panel Uses Data That Distort Doctors’ Pay
Here’s a home run for investigative journalism. The Washington Post dug around and found that doctors’ compensation is decided by a little-known committee of doctors who help establish the value of every procedure in medicine. However, critics claim the American Medical Association (AMA), the chief lobbying group for physicians, is the wrong organization to do the work.
This is a long form article, but we’ve highlighted the key takeaways in case you don’t have time to read the whole piece.
August 27, 2013
LISTEN: Atlas MD Podcast, Ep. 6
Tune in to the newest taping of the Atlas MD podcast. You can stream episode 6 for free on iTunes.
Drs. Josh and Doug are back to talk direct care and concierge medicine. This week the focus is on the nerve-wracking part of launching your own insurance-free practice — selling patients on your service. We don’t want doctors to feel like used car salesmen, but at the same time, the doctor who can outline why their model saves time, money and provides a superior service will attract more patients. We go over our model and how we break down our price points by age. Also, a myth doctors will need to dispel is that concierge medicine and direct care are only for the 1%. That’s not true. Our model is built under the idea that the best care offered at the best price can, and will, help the most people.
August 27, 2013
Shopping For HealthCare Services Not Easy Due To Lack Of Publicly Available Information On Quality And Value
After reviewing the findings from a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dark Daily reports that “most state websites aimed at transparency in healthcare pricing [are] inaccurate and basically useless in helping consumers shop for services.” This coming from a respectable publication, we’re left to assume the data was abysmal.
August 26, 2013
Direct Care + Worker’s Compensation = An Interesting Idea
A subscriber emailed us over the weekend asking if direct care and worker’s compensation have ever been merged. It’s an interesting concept that until now we haven’t considered. J (name changed to protect identity) writes:
I’d love to hear of Direct Care doctors who handle Work Comp & basic Occ Med for employers. My company pays cash for Occ Med procedures (UAs, DOT medical exams) and First Aid procedures. Are there any doctors who handle injuries for self-insured employers who pay cash for injuries up to a certain point (ie $10k, $25k)?Thank you,
August 23, 2013
You’re Going To Love Direct Care Even More
We’ve heralded the Atlas MD-style of direct care for years now. Mostly for its simplicity — you get rid of the most aggravating part of practicing medicine, the insurance billing; you start spending more time with patients, who actually pay you; you make more money, doing the enjoyable part of your job. Then add on the benefits to your local community, such as decreased ER visits. This means emergency staff can focus on legitimate trauma, and not be burdened by cases that yes, might be painful, but can be quickly remedied by your on-call physician. Oh, and by providing 24/7 access to a doctor for a yearly fee of around $600 patients actually make appointments (by the way, $600 equals less than two months of a typical full coverage, PPO health insurance plan, an expensive plan you won’t need since your doctor visits are now free, along with copious other procedures). And, to top it off, things like MRIs and other costly procedures have been negotiated at reduced costs. Don’t forget downstream benefits of proactive care for insurance companies who won’t dole out payments to treat preventable conditions like high blood pressure and type II Diabetes.
Oh, right, but we had something to add to the snowballing benefits of direct care. Practicing physicians can also cut their malpractice insurance premium in half *. Yep, that’s right. Even the insurance agencies know that when patients come in to see a direct care physician, their doctor has time to make proper diagnoses, and provides more reliable care. Therefore, the chances of something being overlooked or mistreated are reduced.
August 23, 2013
7 Things Transitioning Direct Care Physicians Need To Consider
Okay, so you’re sold on at least four key benefits of practicing direct care and/or concierge medicine. However, in order to realize your own direct care success, you’ll need to make certain preparations.