Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Breach of Privacy in California

It seems that every day now I'm reading about privacy breaches of people's private medical records. As we move into the future of medicine, with capabilities of genetic testing for impending disease and so many services of prevention and treatment that insurers are unwilling to pay for, do you want your insurer to have access to any of this information. When you recognise that your insurer will not be paying for cutting edge prevention and treatments, why would you give them any access to that private information, especially when this just gives them ammunition not to cover a preexisting claim later on?Personal Pediatrics Pediatricians will be offering cutting edge medicine in their practices regardless of coverage by insurers. What could be more private than intimate visits at home by your child's personal pediatrician and password protected access to his medical record encrypted in similiar fashion to our banking industry?? Consider the modern pediatrics office, a privacy nightmare. Charts everywhere... chief complaints written all around attached to patient names... loose lipped staff gossiping about this child's condition and that social situation. Thin walled exam rooms that leak the most delicate of conversations as doc's bound from one room to the next, usually seeing four or so patients at once. Having done this for 10 years in practice I can surely say we place privacy at the level of utmost importance for the Personal Pediatrics administrative support system.
Natalie Hodge MD St. Louis Affiliate House Call Pediatricianb

Friday, December 15, 2006

Health Care Consumers Favor E health Records

It's time to play Today in E-Health Business' "Family Feud." When asked how interested are you in accessing your personal health information electronically, "Survey said": 65% of the public respondents say they are interested in accessing their own personal health information electronically, according to a new study by Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint for the Markle Foundation. Segments of the public most likely to express interest include Americans under 40, those who use the Internet daily and parents, the study finds

The Personal Pediatrics administrative support system features electronic access to records for both patient and affiliate pediatricians. Families benefit from the record at their fingertips and doctors benefit from drastically reduced staffing in their practices.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Powderhouse Productions

Personal Pediatrics affiliate pediatricians have a new benefit with the implementation of new media through this alliance. Streaming web video content through the eyes of Natalie Hodge MD founder and CEO of Personal Pediatrics, Inc, seasoned pediatrician and savvy mom of four, will be available for download free as an educational tool for new families and parents across the country. We will also help connect new parents top our afiliate pediatricians in zip codes across the country! Parents will benefit from this down to earth content that helps them sail the ship of parenting in a user friendly fashion.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Medicare moves to pay for performance for docs

Medicaid is deciding to pay doctors a bonus for performance measures. It seems that the bonus is quite small, 1.5 percent. In pediatrics this would translate to a couple of dollars for a visit. In other specialties as aneshesia and surgery it is clear how this performance may be measured... But in a specialty as pediatrics... Hmmm... Did your doctor take a good history and physical? Did your doctor come up with the right diagnosis? Did your doctor prescribe the right medicine? Did your pediatrician actually see you in the office vs a nurse practitioner?? I'm curious to see how this will play out in pediatrics. What I found when I converted my practice over to the Personal Pediatrics affiliate Program is that it actually costs less money to see medicaid patients for free. Most affiliates will keep a small percentage of medicaid patients 10 percent or so, and just do it pro bono. Now keeping up with these performance measures and reporting them to medicaid, I feel confident that this will cost the private pediatrics practicioner well more than the meager 1.5 percent bonus. The Personal Pediatrics system with its low overhead and affiliations with Operation Smile and Doctors Without Borders enable affiliates to actually take time off and contribute also to World Pediatric Health Issues without it costing 20 grand a month in overhead. Now this is the Pediatrician of the Past and Future...Today. Natalie Hodge MD Affiliate St. Louis

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Canadian Doc advocates for Market Forces to Fix Healthcare In America

The Cure by Dr. Grazer a Canadian doc notes that because Americans depend on insurers for health reimburement, they don't care so much about their health care bills. Of course that is all changing, with our skyrocketing costs. His point is that we can do things medically that we could not do 30 years ago and the bottom line is that that costs money. He advocates that the market naturally evolve in America rather than implementing a single payor, as in Canada. We are seeing this evolution as families use high deductible plans and combine them with new practices that charge patients directly, as the old pediatrics system is languishing in dysfunction of commoditized healthcare in which the average patient waits an hour to see a grumpy doc because he's only making 23 dollars and 50 cents for the visit. The
Personal Pediatricssolution is just one of many niche healthcare solutions that is rapidly evolving. Natalie Hodge MD St. Louis House call affiliate Pediatrician

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Consumers Question Value of Electronic Medical Record

Look at this...

Despite all of the studies and articles on the benefits of electronic health care records to health care, most consumers are still not convinced that the technology will improve their medical care, finds a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). According to The Top Seven Health Industry Trends of '07 survey, the reason why there is no public mandate for EHR systems in the U.S. is because of the lack of consumer belief that EHRs actually boost medical care. PwC adds that out of the 1,000 respondents to the survey, 24% say they do not believe that having an EHR will improve the quality of health care and 42% are uncertain. How do we change public perception?


Here's the thing?? Does your doctor's EMR enable him to come to your house and make convenient personalized house calls for your children?? Probably not, unless your pediatrician is using the Personal Pediatrics house call affiliate system. The EMR does help doctors run a little faster on the same treadmill, but the PP system allows you to hop off the treadmill, provide simple convenient care for a yearly retainer and contract directly with your patients who access their record through the PP web portal. Consumers like this. Natalie Hodge MD St. Louis PP affiliate house call pediatrician.

Monday, December 04, 2006

New Options for Generic Drug Prescribing

Families may now take advantage of Walmart's 4 dollar prescription generics for children, or they may opt for their Personal Pediatrics house call affiliate pediatrician to mix up their amoxicillin right at the bedside from our PP generic pharmacy. What do these two options have in common?? They do not involve paying a 20 to 30 dollar "copay" for a four dollar generic drug!! They days of Blue Cross Blue Shield profiting from these inexpensive drugs is over. The other options just make too much sense. Natalie Hodge MD Personal Pediatrics House Call affiliate Pediatrician, St. Louis

Two new healthcare pharmacy niches

Families may now take advantage of Walmart's 4 dollar prescription generics for children, or they may opt for their a href="http://personalpediatrics.com/">Personal Pediatrics house call affiliate pediatrician to mix up their amoxicillin right at the bedside from our PP generic pharmacy. What do these two options have in common?? They do not involve paying a 20 to 30 dollar "copay" for a four dollar generic drug!! They days of Blue Cross Blue Shield profiting from these inexpensive drugs is over. The other options just make too much sense. Natalie Hodge MD Personal Pediatrics House Call affiliate Pediatrician, St. Louis

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Walmart takes the low road, Personal Pediatrics takes the High Road

It is clear to see the two ways that healthcare is heading from the events of 2006. MDVIP an administrative support company out of Boca Raton Florida, receives six million of venture funding to expand their operations. They help internists convert their practices over to a retainer based model, reducing their dependence on conventional health insurer reimbursements. There are several notable companies who are moving in the direction of setting up health care clinics and hiring nurse practitioners to staff them. Minute Clinic and Take Care health Systems are two of these. There is a key problem that all of these companies solve. Americans are tired of waiting around for doctors in their overrun offices. The MDVIP solution is for the affluent and upper middle class. The Take Care and Minute Clinic solution is for everyone else. But what about the multitudes of babies and children that sit in overrun pediatrics practices, getting virus after virus from their contacts in those offices?? There is yet another BIG healthcare solution for children, parents and their frustrated pediatric caregivers. The Personal Pediatrics administrative support solution reaches far beyond the streamlining of the typical EMR for pediatricians. It solves several of your core problems in pediatrics practice. Bill McClellan said it best in his column about Personal Pediatrics last week, "Doctors can't control their revenues and they can't control their costs. The health insurers control their revenues and the market controls their costs" The Personal Pediatrics solution addresses both of these concerns drastically slashing overhead in a never before seen way. It also creates a rare value proposition for customers, a direct agreement with your doctor for a set of services that insurers would never consider addressing!! Natalie Hodge MD Personal Pediatrics Affiliate House Call Pediatrician St. Louis