When it comes to no-holds-barred, patient-centered health reform, one state is absolutely crushing it: Arizona.
Governor Doug Ducey, a businessman with no direct healthcare experience, has recently signed (at least) three path breaking pieces of legislation.
We’ve already discussed Arizona’s law that will allow patients to order diagnostic tests without a physician’s order. Continue reading One State Leads the Fight for Health Freedom
The LA Times and the Wall Street Journal Health Blog claim house calls may save money – at least for critically ill seniors.
A new book, Shattered Lives, explores horror stories of socialized medicine.
Wall Street Journal Health Blog: High U.S. rates of violence, traffic accidents, suicides, lower the U.S. life expectancy below other OECD countries.
Thomas LaGrelius, a concierge doctor in Torrance, Calif., and president of the board of the Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design, a group of concierge doctors, says that 30 years ago almost all doctors were concierge or direct-practice doctors like Marcus Welby….
Concierge medicine may be a niche market now… but "people are hearing about it, they're seeing it on TV and they want that, they wish they could afford that," she says. "They're looking back to the days of Marcus Welby, when we all had personal attention from our doctors."
The term "medical home" conjures up HMO-type medical care to many. Ironically, the medical practice might turn out to be similar to what is being done by direct service (concierge) doctors – who refuse to take third-party payment. Here is what Group Health Cooperative (an HMO in Seattle) is doing:
Alert readers will note the similarities between this description and my description of the free market, direct service doctors.
There are doctors who communicate with their patients by phone and e-mail, maintain electronic medical records, prescribe electronically and even make house calls. The key: They avoid insurance companies. Once called "concierge doctors," they are now more commonly known as "direct practice" physicians:
Dr. Bliss's office operates with just two administrative employees for seven doctors. He estimates that if he took insurance, one or two administrative workers would be needed per doctor…… [One] study found that a third of the money received by primary care physicians pays for interactions between a doctor's practice and patients' health plans.
MDVIP, which started in Boca Raton, Fla., in 2000, expects to add more than 80 doctors to its network of 300 this year….. Each MDVIP doctor is limited to 600 patients, who each pay $1,500 to $1,800 a year.
Doctors give patients their cell phone numbers and schedule leisurely same-day appointments with no waiting. Some make house calls, though patients still need health insurance to pay for hospitalizations and specialists.
The No Insurance Club is the creation of an Arizona physician. The annual individual membership fee is $480 for up to 12 physician visits ($680 covers up to 16 visits per family). Most services during the office visits are free, including immunizations. Generic prescriptions are $4 or less. [link]