Wrapping up 2017, we’ve taken some time to reflect on this year’s best writing on the topics of concierge medicine, direct primary care, and direct-to-consumer healthcare in general.
These articles are a must read if you’re in the consumer healthcare business, we think.
Best Writing on the Importance of Relationships
The Heroism of Incremental Care
“We devote vast resources to intensive, one-off procedures, while starving the kind of steady, intimate care that often helps people more.”
Best Writing by a Venture Capitalist
“The combination of new technologies, data availability, information transparency, shifts in insurance coverage, regulatory reform, and consumer frustration has set the stage for a new era of healthcare service in the U.S. where the patient truly comes first.”
Best Explanation of Direct Primary Care
“Direct primary care also comes with near-constant access to a doctor — talking via FaceTime while the family is on vacation, or taking an emergency trip to the office to get stitches after a bad fall on a Saturday night. Because direct primary care doesn’t take insurance, there are no copays and no costs beyond the monthly fee.”
Best Day-In-The-Life of a Direct-Pay Doctor
Meet the primary care doctor who’s happy with his job (Also on KevinMD)
“Five years ago today I earned my last money from an insurance company. Yep, today is my five-year sobriety date.”
Best Overview of High-End Concierge Medicine
The Doctor Is In. Co-Pay? $40,000.
“In many ways, today’s elite concierge physician provides the same service as the family doctor did a half-century ago for millions of Americans, except that it is reserved for the tiny sliver of the population who can pay tens of thousands of dollars annually for it.”
Best Video: Listening To Patients
“Patients do want to be involved, they just feel like they don’t have the say. The most important thing you can do is to communicate with your patients.”
Best Writing on the Importance of Conversation
“As health care faces its latest overhaul, it’s crucial for the medical profession, as well as insurance companies and decision makers in government, to recognize the power of the doctor-patient conversation. It’s the most valuable diagnostic tool we have and can be remarkably effective as a treatment tool as well.”
Best Writing on the Future of Telemedicine
Are Healthcare Systems About to be Amazoned? Telemedicine and Lessons from Internet Services
“The healthcare industry is about to face the same disruptive competition that has created havoc across an extraordinary range of local brick and mortar businesses, local services and local media. With increasing ferocity, telemedicine platforms, enabled by connected devices, will similarly reshape the landscape of U.S. healthcare services.”
Best Comic / Creative Writing
“It takes an average of five years and five doctors for autoimmune patients (75% of whom ar women) to get a proper diagnosis. And more than half of those report being labeled as ‘chronic complainers’.”