Wednesday July 1st you will be able to acdcess our services online at CallFHC.com. Patients of Family Health Center can sign in to get Health Information, Online (virtual) office visits, request medication refills, get lab test results and pay bills. You may login in anytime of day from anywhere in the world.

On July 1st go to CallFHC.com and sign up. Tell your friends about the great services from your Online Hometown Family Physician at CallFHC.com .

At Family Health Center, I am trying to remove insurance and lower the cost. The " Cash Pay - Your Way ", system reduces cost to you (substantially). Should you choose to use the Cash Pay - Your Way , we do not file with insurance and save you the cost. This way we do not penalize those without insurance. We can reduce costs for you if you choose not to use insurance or chose to do your own insurance paperwork.

Check it out at CallFHC.com . Click on Cash Pay - Your Way

Today, back to trying to define the problem. Last time, I looked at whether the quality of care was substandard. I think we have good quality of care. Please do not mis-understand, there are always problems, however, the quality of care is not the "crisis" in health in this country. The cost of care is a problem. Everything associated with medical care is too expensive. The cost to the patient is too high. Medical supplies are too expensive. Medical training is too expensive. Litigation adds a layer of cost to the system. Insurance adds a layer of cost to the system.

Today, I would like to touch on Insurance and managed care. Prior to the 1970's there was not "Managed Care". The patient used to manage their own care. They made decisions about how their money should be spent. After the federal "Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973", the decision making and the power in medical care has shifted further and further away from the patient. In both subtle and overt ways, the payor (Insurance or the Government), determines what is available as options and when those options may be used.

A pretty good starting point is the following article by "Blarney in Politics". " What's really wrong with the United States medical system? "


So when considering other legislative options, please advocate solutions that give more control over to the patient. This will result in better care and lower cost.

In my next blog, I will try to discuss the need for meaningful Tort (suit) reform as a cost reduction.

The Federal Government is talking alot about "Health Care Reform". As a Physician who is committed to providing great care for my patients, I do have an opinion.

First we have to ask:

1) "What needs reformed?"

The objective and honest answer to this question will determine all the suggested fixes. We get to hear a lot from the politicians about "fixing" the system. But they are short on objective and accurate information. Individuals who are interested in a government based program will quote statistics that we have a lower life expectancy then all of Europe and Canada. However, they fail to mention that when you remove deaths due to violence (murders, largely). Our life expectancy is higher than most of the world. So, if you are in favor of a system that increases our life expectancy, you should not change Medical Delivery, but should work on the social and moral climate that contributes to a high murder rate in our society.

When you consider the delivery of health care, lets consider the effects of cancer care. The United States leads the world in survival from cancer. Review the following articles: "Nationalized Health Care and Breast Cancer Are a Deadly Mix" and " Cancer Survival Rates Improving Across Europe, But Still Lagging Behind United States" From these reviews, it seems we are at least doing cancer treatment better than the socialized systems in Europe.


I will continue to post on this as I have thoughts.

You can not get off work, but your sick. With travel time and time spent in the office, you can spend up to two hours of your busy day being seen by the physician. Time is money. The time cost and actual cost of a physicians visit can be prohibitive. When you don't have time to be seen at the physicians office, what can you do?

With our new CallFHC.com , you can have a physician's visit any time of day without leaving your business or home. You can even be evaluated while on vacation. Patients at Family Health Center can log on and have a secure office visit with the Physician. The information will be sent to me securely, so no one can see it. I will then complete the visit. We can send prescription and advice, whatever is needed.

We will roll this out in July 2009. Stay up with further features of our online system by checking this blog frequently. If you like what you see, tell your friends and family!