My Health Care Quick Fix

I usually watch political debates like the current one on health care reform with amusement and frustration—frustration about how facts get distorted by both sides, especially those “end of the world” TV ads.

I was at my doctor’s office this past week, visiting my physicians assistant (I can’t remember the last time I actually saw my doctor) for my annual visit so I can get my prescriptions extended for another year.  It takes less than 5 minutes.  Since I have an HSA, high deductible health plan, I saw the actual cost of my visit when I paid it--$140.00!

My PA and I briefly discussed health care reform while I was getting my blood pressure checked, she listened to my lungs and heart and wrote the two prescriptions.

All this leads me to a proposal for health care reform the government can implement immediately for basically zero cost (at least by government standards).  It has two parts:

1. Pass the Association Health Bill that has been floating around Congress for the past 5 years.  That bill would exempt association’s from the ERISA laws that currently require an association health plan to meet each and every state it is offered in and offer a national plan to its members.  That would create the buying group/cooperatives discussed already.
2. Sponsor, perhaps to the tune of $50 million or so, the development of an open source practice management application system for doctor’s offices with an emphasis on electronic records storage and electronic data transfer.

I am always amazed by the fact there are as many people doing paperwork in any doctor’s office as there are people providing medical care.

And why do I have to do a health history for every doctor I visit, or for that matter several times for the same doctor?  All they get are my current memories of my history, I’m certain that no two histories I’ve completed are the same.

When I mentioned this to my PA, she objected to the costs of automating for their relatively small practice.

This is a case where having a universally available (for free) practice management system developed by, or at least sponsored by, the government makes a lot of sense.  Even if the development cost were $50 million, that’s a drop in the bucket and could be justified just on Medicare claims savings alone.

Make that practice management system run on relatively low end hardware (aka netbook specifications) and be easy enough that doctors, et al use it themselves.  From what I have been reading, there will be tablet computers with netbook specifications for way under $1,000 by the end of this year.  Eliminating just one of the clerical support people in a doctor’s office would pay for those tablets in a matter of a couple of months.

Couple freely available practice management software with cloud computing for records storage and electronic data transfer and the savings will be significant.