Greenfield Health's approach to medical care by jestevens

The funny thing about high-priced concierge medicine is that it's pretty much the way medicine used to be. It's also the way we health consumers would really like it to be. And, thank goodness, the way some physicians would like it to be for all of us. Check out this article -- Concierge Medical Care with a Smaller Price Tag -- by New York Times reporter Katie Hafner.

NYTimes article on low-cost concierge medicine by jestevens

She focuses on One Medical Group, a low-cost concierge medical practice founded by Dr. Tom X. Lee, a physician and Stanford University MBA who became disillusioned with medicine as it is generally practiced. In his mind, it lacked "the service hospitality mind-set of hotels and the operational efficiency you’d see in manufacturing industries."

One Medical Group doctors see at most 16 patients a day; the nationwide average for primary-care physicians is 25. They welcome e-mail communication with patients, for no extra charge. Same-day appointments are routine. And unlike most concierge practices, One Medical accepts a variety of insurance plans, including Medicare.

The good news is that Lee has received venture capital funding to expand the approach. In the article, Hafner includes a couple of other similar practices -- Greenhouse Internists in Philadelphia and Greenfield Health in Portland, OR. Read the article and check out the medical practices' sites. Does anyone know of any practices like this in Lawrence?

GET DIGITAL, DOC

Digital medicine coming to a mobile phone near you by jestevens

We're ready for a digital future, even though physicians may not be. According to a survey, 78 percent of the public is willing to give remote monitoring and virtual visits (including email) a shot, while nearly half would use it, especially if it saved money. The most willing groups: the chronically ill and men.

The survey was done by Euro RSCG Tonic, consumer health and wellness division of Euro RSCG, a New York-based marketing and communications firm, and reported on by the American Medical Association's Amednews.com.

That makes a lot of sense. If you're chronically ill, wouldn't it be easier to send your physician a quick email or have her monitor your blood pressure via mobile phone or computer? (That's something the One Medical Group physicians do...see the previous entry.) And if there's a problem, THEN you can make the schlep.

YOU CAN REVERSE TYPE 2 DIABETES

CNN Health article on reversing diabetes by jestevens

The living proof is Jonathan Legg of Bethesda, MD. CNN Health reporter Val Willingham profiled Legg, a Morgan Stanley executive who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, known as adult-onset diabetes -- at the age of 39. Even though his physician advised he start taking medication, Legg decided to take a different route: change the way he lived by improving his diet and exercising regularly.

"We have seen numerous people reverse their condition," says Dr. Michelle Magee, director of the MedStar Diabetes Institute in Washington. "But it takes a real dedication for the rest of their lives," she notes.

The article notes that it's important to catch type 2 diabetes BEFORE it takes hold by testing your glucose levels while fasting. Between 100 and 125, and you're considered pre-diabetic, along with 79 million other Americans. Change the way you live at that point, and you could become healthy again. That's important, notes the article, because once you're classified as a diabetic, your insurance company keeps you there, even if you reverse the condition as Legg did. The other type of diabetes -- type 1 diabetes -- is also known as juvenile diabetes, and is not reversible.

There's another good reason for reversing type 2 diabetes or preventing it: if you've got diabetes -- and more than 20 million Americans have type 2 diabetes -- you're also likely to suffer depression, and so is your spouse. In a report in MedicalNewsToday.com of a a study of 185 couples over 50 years old, researchers found that depression was common, and men with diabetes show more symptoms of depression than women. The complications associated with diabetes -- poor blood circulation leading to amputation, blindness, heart disease and stroke -- are just one factor. The study was published in the journal Family Relations.