Hello Health: Dr. Parkinson Launches in Williamsburg

The MSBA's first speaker was Dr. Jay Parkinson back in April. His patience has paid off as he is finally launching the "storefront" of Hello Health in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The hip "Racked" blog published a recent post about the new Brooklyn doctor's office - or "hub" as Parkinson would prefer. We would like to congratulate the launch and wish Dr. Parkinson and his associates good luck.

Did the Industry FINALLY Wake Up??

Short term gains, quarterly stock price increases, quick fixes: for years these have been the key reasons for the American health care system downfall. Insurance companies try to please their stockholders, they have consistently achieved this by fighting tooth and nail to pay hospitals and doctors for services rendered. This lowers the quality of our medical care and turns doctors into assembly lines. Our system is essentially a "sick-care" system that offers zero incentive to be a so-called "good doctor." The insurance companies themselves are nurturing their own demise. By avoiding the costs of controlling chronic disease and prevention now, down the road when those diseases manifest themselves it will surely cost exponentially more. Have the insurance companies finally seen the fate they have created for themselves?
Someone with any business knowledge may have finally consulted with the companies and reminded them about investing for FUTURE gain. New plans springing up from Phili to North Carolina have been testing the concept of PAYING PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS MORE, and focusing on prevention and chronic disease management in order to save on more expensive treatment and consults down the road. The New York Times describes these insurance company-backed experiments in their article HERE. To me it seems like some foresight and common sense is finally seeping into these greedy insurance conglomerates. Maybe our "Sick care" can become "health care." If we manage our sickest patients efficiently, focus on prevention, pay primary doctors fairly for what they should be doing (promoting wellness and providing support to their patients) than we ALL benefit.

SHOULD DOCTORS BE RATED?

I have been having many discussions with people about the future of medicine lately. A topic, often controversial, that continues to come up is that of rating systems for doctors. As the costs of medicine rise both on the individual and the system, and patient satisfaction across the board is declining, the debate is not only legitimate but I believe absolutely necessary.

Essentially at the core of the debate is the question of whether medicine should be treated like any other consumer service or product. If I am interested in a digital camera, I can search the Canon Powershot S5 on BIZRATE.com and see that a reviewer gave it 5/5 on battery life, features, and picture quality. After a lengthy joy-filled approval of the camera, the reviewer states his grievance: "Although the battery life is really good, I wish it would tell me a little sooner that the batteries are going dead." I can see this same sort of set up for a doctor-rating site: John Doe wants a new primary care doctor, so he checks out the rating site and finds a 9.6 overall rating and reads that the doctor is great at coordinating his prescriptions so that the cost to the patient is the lowest! He is satisfied and is just about to schedule an appointment, when he reads that one patient complained that during a pelvic exam the doctor left the room to answer a page and left the door wide open with her in the stirrups. Uh-oh, maybe this is not the type of doctor John was looking for.... NEXT. Do patients (consumers) have the right to be able to check out a reliable source for physician ratings like this? Many believe so. Some, however, are staunchly fighting what they believe is a slippery slope to bargain, untrustworthy, doctor-shopping.

I do not have the perfect answer to this debate, nor does anyone right now. What I do know is that whether we like it or not, doctor-rating is coming. All the way back in October, the WSJ Health Blog wrote about Zagat's new system for patients of particular health plans to rate their experience with their doctor.

As a future doctor, I know medicine will change drastically by the time I am practicing. The rising concept of patient-consumer education, choice, and freedom will not simply vanish because of the uncompromising resistance of lobby groups. There are endless issues and challenges that we will need to approach clear-minded, and logically. That thought brings me back to the reason that we founded the MSBA, to empower ourselves as future doctors with knowledge of important issues related to the business of practicing medicine.

SPEAKER #2: Dr. Richard Handelsman

MSBA had the privilege of hosting another innovative speaker yesterday, Dr. Richard Handelsman. As part of the MDVIP network (www.mdvip.com), he has challenged the bureaucracy of managed care through his internal medicine practice.
Instead of treating patients in the assembly line fashion which is dictated by managed care, he treats his patients with the time and attention they deserve from their physician. He is able to do this by charging a $1500 flat annual fee per patient and treating a smaller patient population of approximately 450 people. He also bills the patient's insurance company as an out of network provider.
As a result, he can treat his patients and address their specific needs, rather than treat the disease with a quick diagnosis. Dr. Handelsman now has the time to make house calls, personally consult with the specialists he refers to, do an hour and a half extensive history and physical, advise his patients on nutrition, excercise, and lifestyle, and much more. His patients are very satisfied with his service and according to Dr. Handelsman neither he nor his patients would ever go back to the way he used to practice. This is just one of the innovative ways we can practice medicine without the burden of managed care.

New Concepts for Medical Practice

Going on the theme of our latest speaker (Dr. Richard Handelsman - of MDVIP) I want to show you an organization dedicated to innovation of medical practice. The concept of innovation is crucial to a progressive approach to the medical business world. The Organization's name is Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design and you can check out their site HERE.

hellohealth

The website is up and running. Dr. Parkinson told me that the Brooklyn "node" of this mobile practice launches June 1st! We will follow the success of this very closely. Check it out: http://www.myca.com/hello_health/index.html

Dr. Parkinson's Blog: http://blog.jayparkinsonmd.com/

Empower Your Financial Future

MSBA is here not only to encourage students to become business-conscious physicians, we also promote smart decision-making when it comes to personal finance. Check out this recent SDN article on investment ideas for medical students and residents HERE.

Or you can check out all finance related articles up on SDN at this site:

http://studentdoctor.net/blog/category/finance/