Forms do not keep patients out of hospitals

Physician
October 21, 2013

Over one year ago my office implemented an EHR (electronic health record). I’ve not done a note on paper since.

Last week, a Transition of Care (TOC) document was placed on my desk with a sticky note stating: “Dr. Nieder please fill out this form so we can bill a 99496 for your visit with Mrs. Jones yesterday.”

I pick up two sheets of paper with multiple questions including:

  • discharge Medications: (list)
  • present Medications: (list)
  • diagnostic …

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Forms do not keep patients out of hospitals

How social media recharged this physician

Social media
May 1, 2013

In late fall of 2011, I was tired of medicine. While seeing patients was still enjoyable, I felt underappreciated in my employment and frustrated by the endless BS that I dealt with — new laws undermining the trust my patients place in me, increasing requirements from insurance companies for ordering tests or medications, more forms to sign, less time with patients, a cumbersome EHR to learn, more non-CME education requirements …

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How social media recharged this physician

Saying goodbye: Seeing a patient just admitted to hospice care

Physician
February 4, 2013

It’s Friday afternoon and I check the day’s schedule. A name jumps out at me and I groan a little and worry — what am I going to say to someone I’ve treated for twenty years, who’s my age and just been admitted to hospice care? If this is goodbye, how do I as a physician, who is more than an acquaintance but not quite a friend, handle this appointment?

All …

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Saying goodbye: Seeing a patient just admitted to hospice care

We speak volumes to our patients without opening our mouths

Physician
January 10, 2013

All professions need good communication skills. Obviously in healthcare the ability to communicate with patients should rank high in a physician’s list of talents. These days that interaction occurs in a number of ways: face-to-face, direct telephone contact or though a staff member, via emails, patient portals, or even texting. Because the communication is in the arena of medicine, the protection of an individual’s health information is paramount. Enter HIPAA, …

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We speak volumes to our patients without opening our mouths

Why doctors need to care about price transparency

Policy
November 24, 2012

As healthcare costs become a bigger and bigger chuck of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), price transparency is a subject that insurance companies and patients are talking about. The idea of knowing how much something costs, be it canned black beans in the grocery store or replacing the leaking faucet in your kitchen, seems obvious but it will be an uphill battle to enact change within the healthcare system.

The concept …

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Why doctors need to care about price transparency