May 25, 2014
Early on, Dr. Pamela Wible was warned by her doctor family, “Don’t go into medicine.”
Of course, she went into medicine, and was met with grim circumstances — doctor after doctor she knew, killing themselves.
Now, in light of assembly-line medicine killing the souls of doctors, Dr. Wible has opened an ideal clinic that focuses on the patient-doctor relationship.
And she’s having a fun doing it.
May 13, 2014
Dr. Dog Nunamaker leaves no stone unturned in his AAPS panel. Topics include the myth of health care insurance, the logistics of subscription-based medicine, and Atlas MD’s burgeoning success…
May 6, 2014
Dr. Josh Umbehr cofounded Atlas MD in 2010 with Dr. Doug Nunamaker. Fresh out of residency, we’ve found tremendous success providing cash-only medicine — from zero subscribers to three docs and a full roster of patients.
Here, Dr. Josh speaks at the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Conference.
If you’re new to Direct Care, this video will introduce you to an innovative insurance-free model of family medicine.
And if you want Direct Care in your area, make sure to register at “I Want Direct Care“. It only takes a name, email, and zip code to add a pin on our interactive map — and prove the demand for affordable healthcare.
April 30, 2014
Direct Care docs, current and aspiring, do you have a few minutes?
Then check out this TED Talk by Simon Sinek. He shares his insight on how great leaders — from Jobs to MLK, Jr. — inspire action in their supporters.
March 3, 2014
If you’re in the mood for a good laugh, check out this comedy round-up from The Atlantic. At the 1:30 mark, John Stewart decries Obamacare and its endless woes with a montage of politicians determined to save the monstrosity. You won’t believe how many times various proponents have uttered the phrase “Fix it. Don’t nix it.” in front of a camera. Is this our government’s way of fixing healthcare? Rhyming idealism? To be fair, we are visionaries, too. But as direct care practitioners, we spend less time trying to make our desires rhyme, and more time just making them a reality.
March 3, 2014
You have to love a good healthcare satire. Watch Stephen Colbert try to sign up for insurance on healthcare.gov on The Colbert Report. As an Obamacare “navigator” tries to help him through the process, Colbert makes the situation very uncomfortable when he jokes about getting “actual” care. Of course, as you know, the time-consuming nature of Obamacare enrollment is a prime example of red tape. And, as this sketch indicates, the way our administration fixes red tape, is with more of it, i.e. paid government employees known as “navigators.” Thankfully, here at Atlas MD, we don’t have to hire a team of people to help our patients sign up.
SPOILER ALERT: After a gruesomely awkward incident, Colbert finally finishes entering his information, only to find out the webpage he needs… doesn’t exist.
February 5, 2014
NY1, a 24-hour cable-news television channel focusing on the five boroughs of New York City, aired a segment covering Dr. Muney’s direct care practice in New York City. AMG Medical Group charges $89/month for unlimited free visits — opening abscesses, laceration sutures — and even arranges for insurers to pay for services. It’s a little different than what we’re doing, but a great example of splitting the difference. That’s because Dr. Muney advocates wrap-around insurance coverage like us. One of his patients is so pleased with the service that he admits he’d be willing to pay the Obamacare tax penalty if he chose to forego his current catastrophic healthcare plan.
VIEW DR. MUNEY’S SEGMENT ON NY1 (Via Physician Tools)
Great news: AMG Medical Group operate offices in all five boroughs and Long Island. The practice has ~1,500 patients currently enrolled.
January 10, 2014
MedCrunch is a new kind of online magazine covering health, medicine, entrepreneurship and technology. It’s coming from a good place, focusing on new trends and the challenge of being a physician. They listed a few innovative trends and people to watch for in 2014 and we made the top of the list! We’re not going to complain when MedCrunch writes, “… Atlas MD recently finished their new electronic medical record. Mobile friendly and sleek with iPhone like usability, it is likely a dream come true to doctors everywhere dealing with their clunky medical record counterparts, or worse yet, paper.”
Thank you for the kind words, MedCrunch.
January 3, 2014
Fox News interviewed the mother of a family of five who lost their insurance. They now face “uncertainty” thanks to endless glitches on the Obamacare website. For years they elected to carry a high deductible, low cost insurance plan i.e. the type we encourage our patients to buy. According to Obama they’ve been “underinsured” though.
Their philosophy on healthcare mirrors our outlook. They’ve been paying for minor issues out of pocket for years and putting aside the the money they save on their deductible. They didn’t mention direct care, but this family would benefit greatly from an Atlas MD-style of medicine. All seven members could see Drs. Josh, Doug or Michael ANYTIME for $150/mo. Colds, flus, sprains and more could all be treated in-house, at rates much lower than average clinic costs, saving them countless dollars over the course of a year.
This new layer of ACA red tape seems problematic. Really, should the government have the right to determine HOW MUCH insurance people need? We’re not opposed to them prosecuting companies practicing unethical business; there are insurance plans on the market that willfully misrepresent their offering (Forbes wrote about these junk plans here). However, this family in question was TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES WITH THEIR OWN MONEY. The fact our administration is willing to actually throw them under the bus in order to help those in need disappoints us. And unless the ACA starts actually helping people get healthcare this sentiment seems likely to spread.
October 20, 2013
Check out this YouTube video of Dr. Lee Gross, MD, a family physician practicing in Florida. He presents Epiphany Health, his direct primary care plan, to medical students attending the AMSA national conference on October 12, 2013 at Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine. His talk was sponsored by the Benjamin Rush Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the doctor-patient relationship and preserving freedom of choice in medicine.
Just a heads up, it’s a long video, clocking in around 35 minutes. To help you out, we highlighted a few key segments.