New York Doctors Refusing Obamacare

New York doctors are resisting ObamaCare, a new survey reveals.

A poll conducted by the New York State Medical Society finds that 44 percent of MDs said they are not participating in the nation’s new health-care plan.

Another 33 percent say they’re still not sure whether to become ObamaCare providers.

Only 23 percent of the 409 physicians queried said they’re taking patients who signed up through health exchanges.

“This is so poorly designed that a lot of doctors are afraid to participate,” said Dr. Sam Unterricht, president of the 29,000-member organization. “There’s a lot of resistance. Doctors don’t know what they’re going to get paid.”

Three out of four doctors who are participating in the program said they “had to participate” because of existing contractual obligations with an insurer or medical provider, not because they wanted to.

Only one in four “affirmatively” chose to sign up for the exchanges. Read More

Obamacare Poll Shows Confusion, Misinformation

(NBC Health) On the eve of major health reform in America, Twenty-nine percent of Americans polled said they were angry about the Affordable Care Act, compared to just 24 percent who described themselves as enthusiastic. A Kaiser Family Foundation/NBC survey found low enthusiasm about the program among ordinary people and splits among party lines. Those numbers are the source of much of the angst surrounding the biggest change in health care in years.

Just over half said they were worried, while slightly less said they were confused. When enrollment begins Oct. 1, uninsured Americans will be asked to go shopping for a plan in state-based exchanges that are supposed to keep premiums low and provide low-income discounts.  Read More

Can’t Wait for No-Wait Healthcare of the Future

(Nick van Terheyden) Imagine a world where your doctor already knows why you’re sick and can treat you over the phone–leaving the hospitals for the true emergencies. This is what many see as the future of health care.

There’s a video featuring the Kaiser Foundation that I found one day when I was perusing YouTube for insight on how the vision of the hospital has morphed over time. The video, which projects a 1950’s glimpse of the “ultra-modern hospital” offers the promise of all things streamlined and expedited, and includes amenities ranging from advanced lighting fixtures that promise no shadows during surgery to sliding baby drawers that provide mothers with easy access to their newborns (an idea ahead of its time as far as maternal-infant bonding benefits were concerned). Read More

High-End Health Plans Scale Back to Avoid ‘Cadillac Tax’

Say goodbye to that $500 deductible insurance plan and the $20 co-payment for a doctor’s office visit. They are likely to become luxuries of the past.

Get ready to enroll in a program to manage your diabetes. Or prepare for a health screening to determine your odds of developing a costly health condition.

Expect to have your blood pressure checked or a prescription filled at a clinic at your office, rather than by your private doctor.

Then blame — or credit — the so-called Cadillac tax, which penalizes companies that offer high-end health care plans to their employees.

New Smartwatch from Apple Uses Biometric Sensors

The rumor mill over at Apple is kicking into high gear a year ahead of the projected release of its smart watch dubbed iWatch.  In typical Apple style, analysts last week leaked juicy tidbits about the development of the new product, saying that its main selling points may be its biometric functionality.

Traditionally, wristwatches were used for telling the time. Smartwatches will work with your smartphone to tell when someone sends you a text, posts a picture on Facebook, calendar meeting alerts and other standard types of incoming information, flashing or buzzing on the watch through haptics.

The iWatch is reported to house a pedometer for counting steps and sensors for monitoring health-related data, such as heart rates, according to Bloomberg, which declined to identify the source because the plans were not public.

Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with KGI Securities, said that “secure user identification mechanism” and “biometric functionality” on the Apple’s iWatch could well prove to be the main selling points for this device. These features will not only help in protecting their device but will also facilitate users to make use of advanced healthcare features. ===> Continue Reading

Cycling: mHealth Grand Tour Tests Mobile Health Solutions for Diabetes

Join the mHealth Grand Tour and cycle all four stages through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France and Spain, all while road testing a new “ecosystem” of mobile health solutions for diabetes through an innovative partnership arranged by GSMA. Cycling 2,100km and more than 22,000 meters of climbs, it isn’t just a bike ride – it is also the opportunity to help demonstrate innovative solutions to the challenges of managing diabetes.

The Grand Tour is bringing the mobile and healthcare industries together with the diabetes community to raise awareness of diabetes and promote the development and delivery of mHealth solutions. The riders will take off from Parc Cinquantenaire in Brussels on 5^th September 2013 during the Mobile 360 Europe event and arrive in Barcelona, the Mobile World Capital, in time for a charity event on 18^th September. ===> Continue Reading

Give mHealth this Mother’s Day

If you want to do something thoughtful for your aging mother this mother’s day, give her an mHealth plan.  You want to be there for Mom, but when you can’t, you and she can rest easy knowing that an emergency-trained doctor is just a phone call away.

Long gone are the days of the great digital divide.  Today most seniors are using mobile phones regularly.  Of American adults ages 65 or older, 69% report having a mobile phone, up from 57% in May 2010, according to Pew Research.  More than half, 53%, are using the Internet or email.

mHealth means access to a doctor using mobile communications.   A patient with a mobile health plan can simply pick up their cell phone or landline, place a call, verify their identity with an attendant, then be connected to a board-certified, emergency-trained physician within moments. GetMedCallAssist reports average wait-times of 2 minutes to speak to a doctor.

GetMedCallAssist related a story from this past week about a field rep using mHealth to care for his aging mother. ===> Continue Reading

Integrating Telemedicine into Healthcare

American Telemedicine Association CEO Jonathan Linkous

The CEO of the American Telemedicine Association Jonathan Linkous said that the stage is set for making telemedicine “a profit center” during a session at this year’s ATA International Meeting & Trade Show, held in Austin, Texas. Linkous emphasized the role of telemedicine as a business tool as he spoke to conference attendees, according to Healthcare Finance News.

“This is an incredible time for healthcare, and we need to look at it from within a specific framework in terms of the dollars and cents of it,” Linkous said. “We want attendees to gain a better understanding of the return on investment associated with telemedicine as well as efficient ways of operating a program.”

“We’re in a new world right now, trying to figure out how to make use of this technology,” he added. “And it’s important to recognize that it’s not about the medical device or technology. It’s about the service that uses the technology as a tool. That’s where operations comes in.”

“The goal is to integrate telemedicine into the practice of care – it’s not a specialty unto itself,” said Linkous. ===> Continue Reading

GetMedCallAssist™ Expanding Immediate Care Mobile Health Service Nationwide

First Call Access to Emergency Trained Physicians

SOUTHFIELD, MI –  GetMedCallAssist™, the only mobile health service that accepts emergency and non-emergency mobile calls without members having to schedule an appointment or wait for a physician call back, is expanding its services throughout the United States to serve the growing need for affordable mobile health solutions.

GetMedCallAssist

GetMedCallAssist’s (www.getmedcallassist.com) primary objective is to reduce utilization cost of more expensive health insurance plans while immediately adding benefits to individuals and families. It is the also the first non-insurance health care plan that includes a prescription medical kit allowing their physicians to solve hundreds of the most common ailments without members having to leave their home or office.

GetMedCallAssist was founded by emergency trained physicians and medical professionals in Alaska and Washington. Founder and Chief Medical Officer Eric Stirling M.D., with more than 20 years experience, says mobile health, or mHealth, services like MedCallAssist can be a prescription for America’s ailing health care system.

“When people can talk to a doctor immediately, they realize that GetMedCallAssist is what their health care is missing,” said Dr. Stirling.  “While it does not replace the one-on-one, doctor-patient relationship, studies by the AMA have shown that 70 percent of in-office visits are unnecessary when patients can Call a Doctor First ™; so, it can save time and money.” ===> Continue Reading

Removing Doctor-Patient Barriers with Mobile Health – Infographic

With all the different benefits that mobile health can bring to health care, one can imagine it being difficult seeing the forest for the trees.  So here is a useful infographic illustrating how mHealth can remove all the barriers between a doctor and patient.

SOURCE: GetMedCallAssist