we believe Integrated will triumph Fragmented every time – Steve Jobs, Apple CEO Two articles recently got my attention. The first was an interview by Dr. Robert Pearl, CEO of the Permanente Medical Group with my favorite author and thinker Malcolm Gladwell. On Pearl’s on Forbes blog, he answered Gladwell’s request to tell people what is was like to be a doctor. The second was a NPR article “When Facts Are Scarce, ER Doctor Turns Detective To Decide On Care” by Dr. Leana Wen, patient advocate and author of the book When Doctors Don’t Listen. Both articles reminded me how doctors and patients have different realities simply by where they practice. As a practicing primary care doctor in an integrated health care system, which is partnered with a physician led medical group, these stories were quite foreign to me. These stories were once my reality in residency but no longer […] Read More »
Tag Archive for Consumer Reports
Would Doctors and Patients Pick a Better Health Care System If They Saw It?
Posted on March 25, 2014
The Seven Pillars of High Performing Primary Care Practices – Part Two
Posted on January 9, 2014
In a previous post titled, “Is Making Primary Care More Professionally Satisfying as Simple as Lowering Panel Size” I observed that lowering panel size and implementation of an electronic medical record did not change how doctors worked. Those doctors who stayed late continued to stay late. Those who left earlier tended to continue to leave earlier. Within a health care organization often touted by many to be an example of how health care should be delivered in the country, this phenomenon existed. Why? Our doctors work in a very large multispecialty group practice. We use a common electronic medical record. Doctors in both primary care and specialty care can discuss cases, review information, and determine together with the patient the best course of action. Our primary care doctors have lower panel sizes than a decade earlier. This panel size is adjusted and normalized for patient age, medical problems, and other […] Read More »
The New Ontario Annual Physical Exam – Is It Choosing Wisely?
Posted on March 5, 2013
Is the Ontario Annual Physical Exam going the way of the dinosaur? That appears to be the case for healthy individuals between the ages of 18 to 64 in the Canadian province of Ontario. Effective in 2013, these patients no longer would have available an annual physical examination, but instead a “personalized health review”. The new personalized health review would only be available to those who were healthy and did not have medical diagnoses of cancer, diabetes, or others, in which those patients could still receive a more thorough examination. Other changes include not allowing routine chest x-rays prior to minor surgery and moving the screening rate for cervical cancer from one to every three years. The plan would save the government of Ontario about half a percent on payment to physicians as the reimbursement is less for these personalized health review. Should people in Ontario be worried that their […] Read More »
The Best Blog Posts For Patients
Posted on November 6, 2012
As I make the transition to my new website, I wanted to highlight the most commonly viewed and best blog posts for patients from my previous website. For Patients Do I Need Cholesterol Medication? Is My Cholesterol High? The Simple Truth. Colon Cancer Screening Guidelines – Colonoscopy Better Than Sigmoidoscopy? The Truth and the Myth Elizabeth Edwards, Breast Cancer, and Mammograms – Her Death a Failure of Healthcare System. The Truth About Prostate Cancer Screening Other Surprising Facts Life Line Screening – Worth the Money? Routine Annual Physical – Not Worth the Time or Money The Truth and Facts About Concierge or Boutique Medicine Commentary on Media Stories Newsweek – Just Say No! – One Word Can Save Your Life. Too Simplistic. Doctors Need to Help. What Doctors Wish Their Patients Knew – Critique of the March 2011 Consumer Reports article NY Times – Finding a Quality Doctor […] Read More »
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