The Direct Primary Care Journal (DPCJ) released a statement confirming the first Direct Primary Care Conference hosted by the Family Medicine Education Consortium (FMEC). On October 11th – 12th, 2013, the FMEC is hosting an inaugural gathering of physicians, investors, policymakers and anyone else involved in this game-changing healthcare model. The inaugural event will take place in St. Louis, MO at the St. Louis Airport Marriott and Meeting Center. Physicians, purchasers, payers, researchers, investors, suppliers, policymakers, the media and interested parties are invited to attend.
Tag Archives: dpc
August 7, 2013
August 7, 2013
Atlas Blog Q&A: ICD codes, HL7 Feeds, and New Patient Forms
I wanted to share our follow-up with a doctor who recently wrote into us asking about direct care. Here’s her query:
Dr Josh,
Thanks again for speaking to me a couple of weeks ago about DPC. It was very helpful. I will be using your EMR program in my practice. Was wondering if the ICD codes are generated /accessible by/from your EMR?? Also, I was advised by the local lab I will be using to ask you if your EMR has a “HL7 feed” for importing lab results. One last thing, could we see what forms you are using in your new patient information packet? I have created my own from basic forms I have used in the past but was interested in seeing what you use. Thanks again for all your help and being a champion for the DPC movement. Wish you much continued success!
[name omitted]
These are fantastic questions. I’ll address them one at a time.
August 6, 2013
If People Were EMRs, We’d Be Doing A Whole Lot Better
The Journal of General Internal Medicine has confirmed what we’ve been saying all along: Doctors spend more time with computers than they do with patients. Their new study lays out the cold hard fact that face time is down, and hours spent working on computers handily beat out patients. Here are the highlights from the research. Try not to twist your neck while you’re shaking your head.
August 6, 2013
LISTEN: Atlas MD Podcast, Ep. 4
The next installment of the Atlas MD podcast is now available on iTunes. You can stream it here. Drs. Josh and Doug drove out to Kansas City last week where they spoke both at a private clinic, as well as on the campus of a local medical school. Some of the students had visited Atlas MD recently, so it was a chance for them to follow-up with new questions. Doug and Josh were impressed how these MBA and D.O. students were already so attuned to the business aspects of medicine.
August 1, 2013
New App From Pay-Pal Founder Wants To Use Big Data To Improve Healthcare
A ZD Net post reports that during a fireside chat with AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher at the 2013 Data Driven Conference on Wednesday, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin described the inspiration behind his latest startup, Glow. Glow is a mobile app launched earlier this year that’s trying to improve fertility using “big data.” Right now, the app quite literally wants to help women get pregnant, which in such layman’s terms sounds like a parody. But Levchin is serious that this type of app can lead to better doctor-patient decision making, and ultimately trim wasted spending. He’s stated that the company’s goal is to expand into other niches in the healthcare field in order to accomplish this.
July 26, 2013
Doctors, Let’s Not Forget That Patients Are People
Have you checked out Mind The Gap yet? It’s a blog written by Stephen Wilkins, MPH. He’s interested in physician-patient communication that’s both personal and professional. His most recent post (Via Health Works Collective) addresses the issue of relevancy, something that you might immediately think, that? Oh, I know that. But the truth is, if you’ve been a healthcare professional running through what Michael Tetreault called the “hamster wheel” then you might have developed some bad communication habits.
July 25, 2013
Even Satisfied Patients Think Direct Care Is “Too Good To Be True”
Dave Chase continues his Forbes expose awakening business and industry types to the benefits of direct primary care (DPC). Now having interviewed more and more DPC consumers, the recurring theme to their comments is something like “it’s too good to be true.” That’s a concern we had. You have this straight-forward, commonsense approach that saves everyone time, cuts insurance expenditures, cuts downstream high-cost treatments and can make doctors more money… The people who experience it love it. But how do we convince other people that it’s really happening, when happy patients can’t even believe it?
July 22, 2013
LISTEN: Episode 2 of Atlas MD Podcast Now On iTunes
Drs. Josh and Doug huddled up for a second taping of the Atlas MD podcast. You can stream it on iTunes. The duo took a moment to discuss HIPAA compliance, HSA spending and Meaningful Use in context with direct care, as well as our new EMR that’s launching next month. And the team announced phenomenal news: Michael Palomino has reached 150 patients in only a couple months, vastly exceeding the predicted 10 patients per month increase.
July 18, 2013
Are Health Plans REALLY Going To Fall 50% in New York?
Many outlets are reporting on a New York Times article claiming that “health plan costs for New Yorkers are set to fall 50%” as changes under the federal health care law take effect. This was announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Wednesday, July 17. He is quoted as saying, “New York’s health benefits exchange will offer the type of real competition that helps drive down health insurance costs for consumers and businesses.”
One problem with the article is that it actually says, “While the rates will fall over all, apples-to-apples comparisons are impossible from this year to next because all of the plans are essentially new insurance products.” This immediately got us thinking, well where did a 50% price drop come into play?
July 17, 2013
Dave Chase Examines DPC Provider, Purchaser and Payer Perspective
Dave Chase published an excellent post recently on Forbes.com, claiming that DPC is the Rorschach test for insurance providers. He insisted that in the interest of business, insurance providers should provide wrap-around plans, and encourage people to enter into the insurance-free market, because it would save time and money collectively. Now he’s written a follow-up post that goes into more detail about current DPC perspectives. Give this post your full attention as it provides a 360°-view of DPC in context with low-income people utilizing Medicare and Medicaid, unions, self-insured employers, Cigna (the first major carrier to partner with DPC providers), and more.