Posted by: AtlasMD

September 17, 2014

Atlas MD Podcast 20 – Answering the Why.

Atlas MD Podcast 20 – Answering the Why.

STREAM EPISODE 20 OF THE ATLAS MD PODCAST ON iTUNES >

Direct Care is expanding! More and more clinics are opening their doors using the Direct Care model, including specialty practices like endocrinology, and psychiatry clinics. The chiropractic community has also been listening lately, some of them adopting a monthly membership model themselves. Lending to a busy upcoming travel schedule, the Atlas MD team is working hard to not only dispel the myths of Direct Care, but continue to answer questions and educate those who want to learn more about this model of healthcare.

In this Podcast: Answering the Why.

Derived from a talk on behavioral economics, Drs. Josh and Doug explore how people make decisions based on their financial situation. The method of explaining how a $50 monthly is better than a $20 copay can be phrased different ways to get different responses – and being able to explain those situations comes from knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place.

Listen in to find out how Direct Care medical professionals have the best “Why” ever.

STREAM EPISODE 20 OF THE ATLAS MD PODCAST ON iTUNES >

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 2, 2014

Are Patient Portals Really Relevant?

Patients say the answer is no.

If this shocks you, the rest of the stats will really throw you for a loop. According to Mobi Health News,

  • 49 percent of patients know their doctor’s office offers a patient portal (but don’t necessarily use it)
  • 40 percent were not aware of a patient portal offering
  • The remaining 11 percent of patients know their doctor doesn’t offer one

When a patient portal does it right, it offers helpful articles in addition to account status, a way to get in touch with the doc, or even join an online forum to discuss what other patients within the portal might be going through. But even if all these stars are aligned, even if the portal exists, and the patient knows about it, who’s to say they’ll actually use it? Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 27, 2014

Time Begets Quality, DPC is the Key to Utilizing FitBit Data.

Venture Beat recently released an article expounding on all the reasons doctors don’t want data from health wearables like Fitbit. Among those reasons? Not enough time to analyze, and no proven system to analyze it in.

One higher-up explains: “Doctors would love to be excited about wearables — they’re gadget guys at heart — but their day-to-day is spent battling 30 year old fax machines to get your last lab report.” says Jeff Tangney, CEO of Doximity, which makes a social communication platform for clinicians. “For a busy doctor, the ability to use email would save more lives than a Fitbit.”

Atlas MD’s Dr. Josh told his side of the story in an interview with The Daily Beast. His view looks completely different from that of docs who shudder at the thought of more data. He not only cares about his patient’s FitBit data, but welcomes it. He finds this information so useful, he’s integrated fitness app tracking into his EMR software (that also handles emails, in case you were wondering) to better communicate with his patients about the one thing that matters most – their health.  Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 20, 2014

Is DPC an Alternative to Conventional Health Insurance?

Graduate Fellow of Health Policy at The Heritage Foundation recently published a paper we thought provoked some really interesting thought. He proposes Direct Primary Care is an innovative alternative for conventional health insurance.

“Direct primary care could resolve many of the underlying problems facing doctors and patients in government and private-sector third-party payment arrangements. It has the potential to provide better health care for patients, create a positive work environment for physicians, and reduce the growing economic burdens on doctors and patients that are caused by the prevailing trends in health policy.”

The Daily Signal agrees, adding, “Physicians benefit from eliminating costly and time-consuming overhead required to get paid on a fee-for-service basis. It also enables them to reduce their practice costs and spend more time actually treating their patients–-which is why they became doctors in the first place.”

We couldn’t agree more!

DIRECT PRIMARY CARE: AN INNOVATIVE ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE. > 

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 7, 2014

Atlas MD Podcast 18 — The State of Specialty Care

Atlas MD Podcast 18 — The State of Specialty Care

STREAM EP. 18 OF THE ATLAS MD PODCAST ON iTUNES

A lot’s been going on! In addition to talking about the state of specialty care with respect to Direct Primary Care, here’s a sneak peek at the latest podcast:

  • We’ve had lots of meetings with insurance companies about how they can create a wrap around product to sell alongside Direct Primary Care, which could help take DPC mainstream even faster.
  • Employers are able to give their employees monetary raises because of their association with Direct Primary Care.
  • The ACO model is struggling to be sustainable due to the high cost of healthcare – Direct Care can help decrease overhead by decreasing waste, and turning that waste into profit.
  • Big updates to the Atlas.md EMR software include more fitness app integration features.

Last but not least, We were honored to have a med student join us for an entire month recently, and we want to make sure the medical community knows they’re more than welcome to stop by and see what we’re all about. Or if we can help make direct care a part of your medical education, conference, personal training experience, please get in touch.

Posted by: AtlasMD

July 23, 2014

When Health Insurance and Breakfast Collide.

Sorry, your decaf was denied.

Pamela Wible, MD recently mentioned a couple analogies we happen to have articulated a few times ourselves. She breaks down what it would be like using health insurance to cover breakfast, and the result is less than ideal…

“If you hired a third party to pay your restaurant bill, you’d pay twice as much, wait 2 weeks for a table, and have 7 minutes to eat.”

We’re glad she’s using real world analogies to get the point across; you can’t deny that using health insurance as a catastrophic net makes more sense than a convenience plan for daily maintenance.

READ DR. WIBLE’S ARTICLE >

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 6, 2014

What’s New In Atlas.md EMR?

Atlas.md EMR rolled out some new updates. Besides the improved features listed below, we also strengthened security measures to ensure better compliance with HIPAA standards.

Manage Your Shared Appointment Resources
Now your clinic can manage resources that they share in the practice facilities, such as a procedure room or a piece of equipment.

  • First, go to your Calendar page
  • Next, use the cog menu to add new resources (training facility, procedure room, portable EKG monitior, etc.)
  • Whenever you add an appointment, mark the resource you plan to use
  • Atlas.md EMR will alert you if there are any scheduling conflicts

Improved Search Feature
We built a new search engine to help you complete advanced searches, fast.

Redesigned Online Bill Pay
Now Atlas.md EMR’s Pay Online page works aesthetically with your own clinic’s logo. It also gives your patients quick access to all of their past invoices.

Universal Autocomplete Support
The autocomplete feature works wherever you enter text in Atlas.md EMR.

New “Do-Not-Refill-Before” Notices On Prescriptions
Now when you fax Rx and refills to pharmacies, your clinic will be more compliant with regulations.

To follow up on suggestions from pharmacists we’ve been talking to, now if a prescription has a DEA controlled drug and that drug can be refilled, we display a “Do not refill before MM-DD-YYYY” notice for the pharmacists.

New Medication Savings Included In Patient Invoices
Now your patients can see the value they’re saving in ordering medications from your pratice’s inventory. We use the GoodRx database, which gives accurate prices in pharmacies all over the country (see example below of what your patients will see).

More Batch Actions When Billing
Now you can use batch actions when you are billing companies, e.g. print or email a batch of invoices, or print a batch of envelope labels instead of going one by one

Thanks for sharing your feedback with us. Keep it coming so we can make Direct Care’s EMR that much better.

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 4, 2014

Prescription Prices Are Too Damn High

Our nation loves prescriptions.

According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center, “Nearly 70% of Americans take one prescription drug and more than half take two.”

It gets better. Approximately 20% of Americans use at least five prescription medications. Imagine the cost savings if Direct Care doctors directly prescribed a majority of these at wholesale prices.

Prescription drug use has been increasing steadily in the U.S. for the last ten years.

So what drugs are being prescribed, and why?

Read more

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

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