More and more it seems that primary care physicians are becoming commoditized. You know…where there is nothing to differentiate one ACO from another...or one group of physicians from another group of physicians down the street. I really don’t understand why primary...
Primary care physicians are the point of first contact that people like you and I have with a hospital or health systems. We are 13 times more likely to visit a primary care physician in any given year than we are to need a hospital stay. Primary care physicians are...
I apologize for my absence over the past month. I was side-lined with two detached retinas in December both of which required major eye surgeries and downtime. For health care professionals, patient engagement is the holy grail of health care. It is the key to...
Guest Post by Anne Polta author of the blog HealthBeat. Thanks for covering Anne while I am off having my third Vitrectomy to repair yet another detached retina. To be clear, there are lots of great clinicians out there. I’ve met many of them and I know them to be...
I may not know how to tell the difference between an empowered patient, an engaged patient, or an activated patient. But I do know that fastest way to disempower, disengage, and de-activate any patient is a trip to the doctor’s office or the hospital. A visit to an...
My wife has two world-class oncologists who help her manage her Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Both are excellent clinicians. Yet their skills differ in one very important way. Her radiation oncologist physically touches her a lot (in a good way of course!). There are the...
[tweetmeme source="Healthmessaging" only_single=false]Health care professionals are a cynical lot. We joke about the “fad or buzz word of the month”…usually some vague concept heralded by the powers on high. Our job is to promote the idea…knowing full well that...
The first experience patients are likely to have with your hospital is not in an ER visit or inpatient stay. A patient's first experience will most likely be in one of your primary-care physician offices. That because a person is 10 times more likely during a year...