The Kaiser Health News article Spurred By Convenience, Millennials Often Spurn The ‘Family Doctor’ Model caught my eye. Millennial patients want “convenience, fast service, connectivity and price transparency” while doctors and health experts worry about “fragmented or unnecessary care, including the misuse of antibiotics” and loss of “care that is coordinated and longitudinal”. It’s as if the needs of the patients and the concerns of doctors are mutually exclusive. They are not. The challenge is the current health care system does not provide for both. What Do Patients Want? In November 2005, a survey published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found then when judging quality of care, respondents found these traits to be very important: 90% the provider’s ability to communicate well 89% getting timely care 85% the ability to easily get care and treatment 81% found the coordination of care, ability of doctor or hospital to access complete […] Read More »
Category Archives: Primary Care
Millennials Are Dropping Primary Care Because Want Convenience. Not a Bad Thing.
Posted on October 18, 2018
High Cholesterol and Need A Refill or Treatment with a Statin? Do it online with Lemonaid Health!
Posted on July 25, 2017
Lemonaid Health recently created a new high cholesterol service that allows Americans to get tested for high cholesterol. If medically appropriate, we can provide prescription medicine to treat and decrease a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke. For as little as $200 a year (less than a dollar per day), Americans at risk can get lab work, doctor interpretation of the labs and a year prescription of statin medicine should it be necessary. For those who need a statin refill, this can also be provided as long as it is safe and appropriate. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and controlling cholesterol is simply one way to decrease that risk. Common statin medicines include lovastatin (Mevacor), simvastatin (Zocor), atorvastatin (Lipitor), and rosuvastatin (Crestor). Using the most up-to-date medical guidelines An individual’s risk for future heart attack can be estimated by using a 10 […] Read More »
Primary Care Doctors Can Thrive in America and at Kaiser Permanente
Posted on September 12, 2015
Doctors should not have to wait until retirement before remembering our calling – why we do what we do. It’s about putting others first. Helping others in their time of need, worry, and illness. Often this meant sacrifice and putting others ahead of ourselves and our families. Nothing could be more noble than serving others. Yet in today’s environment, it can be very hard to remember this. As people live longer through medical advancements, providing care is increasingly and more complicated. Patients who would have died decades ago now survive and encounter other chronic illnesses and those set of complications. We face new initiatives like “best practices” and ideal workflows via Lean projects (Toyota Production Model) to make care more affordable by removing unnecessary costs and delays. We struggle with electronic medical records which show promise of having every piece of information available for patient care but still aren’t yet […] Read More »
A Healthy Life Is More than an Annual Physical Examination
Posted on October 7, 2014
Having a healthy life is more than getting an annual physical examination. It is about having healthy habits. Some of these healthy habits make common sense. Others seen unnatural, but yet are vitally important. A healthy life is more than feeling well. It is about living life to the fullest and ensuring you are doing your part to improve both your quality of life and longevity. Which ones are you missing? How do you measure up? Five or more – servings of fruits and vegetables. Those that live longer seem to have this simple habit. Common traits included not smoking, drinking in moderation and…. Physical activity Although many recommendations advocate 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise most days of the week, consider some other options. 10,000 steps per day – measure with a pedometer or an app for your smartphone. Surprise yourself and see how much you. If you don’t […] Read More »
Do I Need a Primary Care Doctor? The Quarterback of Your Medical Team.
Posted on December 12, 2012
Assembling the right medical team is important to keeping you healthy and saving money. Besides you, one of the most important people on this team is your regular doctor. For many people, this is their primary care physician (PCP) or primary medical doctor (PMD). A highly trained and well-qualified primary care doctor can advise you on what preventive tests and treatments are truly necessary to stay healthy. If you view your primary care doctor as a person to simply get referrals from to get better care, think again. One health insurance plan focused on having patients see primary care doctors first to help them figure out how to proceed. Without primary care doctors helping patients, 60 percent of the time patients chose the wrong specialist. Selecting the wrong doctor wasn’t the only issue. On average, $1,500 was spent on various tests and diagnostic services visits over an eleven-month period before […] Read More »
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