Posted by: AtlasMD

October 2, 2013

Want to Help Direct Care? Share this Video.

* Our apologies, if the video fails to load you can watch it on FoxNews.com

In case you missed it, Dr. Josh was invited to speak on Fox News’ Your World. It makes a great companion to Doug’s appearance on Huckabee earlier this year.

It’s challenging to get your message across in one TV segment. However, this is a great place to start spreading the idea of direct care. Friends, family, colleagues, etc. are most likely frustrated with the current way they are receiving or administering healthcare, whether it be the pressure of paying monthly premiums, frustrations with finding docs within their network, the inevitable waits that are attached to any interaction, or traditional docs creating 3 minutes of admin work for every minute they treat patients.

If you think someone could benefit from direct care (patient or doctor) tweet this video. If they have questions, be prepared to address them.

Here are a few points that weren’t directly addressed in the video:
Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

October 2, 2013

Vermont Internists Are An Endangered Species

Vermont Internists Are An Endangered Species

A press release announced Dr. Alicia Cunningham’s new infographic. It visually explains the “quiet exodus” of internal medicine doctors from the State of Vermont. She’s convinced the doc shortage is a quiet pandemic, caused by two diverging forces — an aging population, and declining education. What’s happening is that older internists are going to retire at 65, or retire early, or just get out of the speciality altogether. On top of that, students are not majoring in internal medicine because it pays less than sub-specialties, and does not gain respect amongst peers. And, Vermont is the 4th oldest country in the nation, with a median age of 41. That means the demand for internists will grow somewhat exponentially.

CHECK OUT DR. ALICIA CUNNINGHAM’S INFOGRAPHIC HERE

However, Dr. Cunningham believes that a direct care/concierge medicine approach could help alleviate the doctor shortage. For one, a direct care practice introduces the element of autonomy, the absence of which has been propagating the brain drain in our country. On top of that, the possibility of higher salary is promising, too.

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

October 1, 2013

The Doctors Have Left The Building…

READ THE ORIGINAL MY9 NEW JERSEY REPORT

The network My9NJ reported from Neptune, New Jersey and said, “New Jersey is experiencing a shortage of doctors.” It’s no mild shortage, either. It’s projected that by 2020 the state will be short about 3,000 primary care physicians.

So where are all the doctors?
Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

October 1, 2013

The Future of Big Data in Medicine Looks Bright

MIT Technology Review published an exciting article. Jeff Hammerbacher, a 30-year-old reputed as Facebook’s first data scientist, is working with The Mount Sinai Medical Center. He once said, “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks.” But those days are over. He wants to engineer data to help doctors better predict the likelihood of illness and complications.

Hammerbacher will apply his insight acquired while working to target online advertisements. These data-crunching techniques will be used to help doctors and researchers suck in medical information and spit out predictions. The hospital believes this data, if analyzed properly, could cut the cost of health care.

Will Big Data Promote Results-Driven Medicine?
 Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 30, 2013

EHR Study Finds Emergency Docs Click 4,000 Times In A 10-Hour Shift

The American Journal of Emergency Medicine conducted research and found that emergency doctors “spend significantly more time entering data into electronic health records than they do with patients.” The study concluded that “improved efficiency in data entry would allow emergency physicians to devote more time to patient care…”

According to the published paper, emergency physicians spent 43 percent of their time entering data on a given day. Only 28 percent of their time was spent directly interacting with patients. And, during a busy, 10-hour shift, total mouse clicks neared 4,000.

Here’s what the paper’s author, Robert Hill, M.D. from St. Luke’s University Health Network in Allentown, Pa., had to say:

“Emergency department physicians spend significantly more time entering data into electronic medical records than on any other activity, including direct patient care.”

He lists out factors that get in the way of efficient EHR usage, including operating system speed, server/mainframe responsiveness, typing skills, user-friendliness of system, interruptions, extent of training, opportunity to delegate tasks, and various environmental attributes. However, in his opinion, “Efficient use of the EMR system will increase physician productivity and hospital revenue.” We couldn’t agree more. If you agree with his thinking, too, you can tweet it right now.

READ FIERCE EMR’S COVERAGE OF THE STUDY HERE

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 29, 2013

Hands Up — Who’s Bringing Their iPad into the Examination Room?

The Direct Primary Care Journal shared findings recently about the prevalence of iPad usage by physicians. According to the report, the most common activity of physicians who use an electronic health record (EHR) and use a smartphone or tablet is “sending and receiving emails.” The second most frequent activity among tablet users is “accessing EHRs (51% daily).” Compare that with just 7% of physicians using their smartphone to access EHRs.

VIEW THE COMPLETE BREAKDOWN OF RESEARCH FINDINGS ON THE DPCJ’S WEBSITE

We’ve highlighted some of the results here:

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 29, 2013

Dr. Josh Talks About Practicing Medicine in Kansas

Special thanks to Physicians Practice, who conducted an interview with Dr. Josh. You can stream it on their site here. He talks about why Kansas is a state that lets doctors truly practice family medicine.

While of course we want to see direct care spread EVERYWHERE in America, there are some advantages to Atlas MD’s location in Wichita. Josh explains how great it is to be able to experiment, and offer a wide range of services – colonoscopies, obstetrics, and more. This has given the practice the power to challenge the status quo and reinvent the patient-doctor relationship to the benefit of all parties, insurance companies included.

STREAM DR. JOSH’S INTERVIEW WITH PHYSICIANS PRACTICE HERE

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 25, 2013

One in Six EHR Users Wants to Switch

Healthcare Technology Online followed up on a poll conducted by Black Book Rankings. Looks like many providers are leaving their current EMR systems for web-based alternatives. That’s not much of a surprise, though. It only takes a mild reading of the social web’s pulse to know docs’ sentiments range from frustrated to complacent with regards to available software.

According to Healthcare Technology Online, “Healthcare providers have never had a ‘romantic’ relationship with EHRs. On the contrary, many physicians despise the technology. However, the HITECH Act and Meaningful Use (MU) incentives did create an environment of unprecedented EHR demand among the provider community. This initiative achieved the desired result of increasing EHR adoption, but it also created an artificial market for dozens of immature EHR products.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE BLACK BOOK RANKINGS POLL

Here are some noteworthy numbers that were extracted from the study:  Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 25, 2013

LISTEN: Atlas MD Podcast, Ep. 9

LISTEN: Atlas MD Podcast, Ep. 9

A new installment of our podcast is live on iTunes. Obamacare is just a week away and the climate is already shifting. That said, we are working to better healthcare with a bipartisan approach, direct care. It’s this bottom up pressure that we believe will transform actual care.

First off, congrats to Dr. John and Dr. Henry who are busy running their new direct care practice in Pennsylvania. They are surprised to be doing the opposite of what most everyone else is doing. Ironically, it’s exactly what they always wanted to do: practice medicine.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 9 OF THE ATLAS MD PODCAST HERE

Drs. Josh and Doug answer more questions and concerns that have been brought up — Should you integrate health apps into your practice? How can doctors use this data effectively? Why is Josh such a fan of FitBit (it’s cool, connected and really helpful for starters)? Will medicine get to a point where docs can track diabetics’ A1c levels daily or weekly?

As always thanks for tuning in.

Also, Drs. Josh and Doug will be in St. Louis on Oct. 12 and 13 attending the first summit dedicated to direct primary care. Send them an email or tweet if you want to meet the docs in person.

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 24, 2013

Atlas MD On Expanding Your Direct Services

It’s Dr. Josh here. We had a doctor write us in response to our Atlas MD price listing recently. The doc asked,

What about X-rays, MRI, and emergency visits like broken bones?

Thank you for the question. We’ll gladly expand on how we negotiate for discounted services.

Read more