It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of politicians. As such, I’m vehemently against increasing their involvement in our healthcare. There are many things the government could do to improve access to healthcare & lower costs for all Americans (patients, providers, developers, pharmaceuticals, etc.). All the intelligent solutions involve decreasing bureaucracy, which of course the government will never do. Instead they prefer to find a problem & increase it in the hope of somehow improving everything. Duh.
Case in point: both versions of the healthcare bill that have been approved in the House & Senate cut all or most of the funding for one of the greatest aspects of Medicare, coordinated care. Our pols are grandstanding about ‘greedy insurers’ who won’t pay for preventive care but will pay for the expensive consequences of a lack of preventive care. Well, it’s not always up to insurers or healthcare professionals to make those decisions because for the millions of Americans on Medicare, the government would be the one putting a stop to much of the preventive care.
The coordinated care model is the best model of treatment we have right now for chronic diseases. It encompasses the physicians, nurses, physical or emotional therapists, social workers, nutritionists & anyone else who can teach a patient & monitor their progress.
Patients who receive this holistic approach (i.e, we’re treating the whole person, not just a single body part or a disease) have better control over their bodies for a number of reasons: the right hand knows what the left hand is doing - Patients aren’t getting contradicting meds, advice or treatment from different doctors because they’re being treated by providers who regularly communicate with one another or share a database of the patients complete medical records. Patients have a much better understanding of how to help themselves when their healthcare touches all angles - It’s easy for a doctor to say take this medicine for BP or you’ll get very sick. But patients who also have access with nutritionists to explain & plan dietary changes will have a much easier time making these changes because they will understand not only why it’s important to cut down on sodium but also HOW to do it.
It also encompasses short but regular visits so a professional can check blood pressure or blood sugar levels, for example. These patients are way more compliant with their treatment regimen (especially taking prescriptions) than patients who just go to the doctor whenever. They get more one on one attention, learn how the condition affects the entire spectrum of their lives & have accessible, simple resources for learning & assistance. I can’t stress enough how much it increases compliance because of the full understanding, broad spectrum of available assistance & close oversight of self-care.
It’s an excellent method of care that helps millions of people manage chronic conditions & even prevent diseases. This kind of plan is what help diabetics keep diabetics from becoming amputees, helps people with heart conditions quit smoking with clinics that give out free patches or offer therapy, helps people stick to demanding medicine regimen (when many would stop taking the pills because they feel fine & there are bad side effects – many drug regimens have extreme side effects & it’s difficult to get patients to stay on them with regular visits - like those for HIV, the 6-18 month drug regimen that treats TB, anti-seizure meds & critical mental health meds, to name a few). It’s a cheap way to do a lot of preventive care, prevent unnecessary worsening of a condition, manage problems to the fullest extent & help patients cope. In short, it’s exactly what all healthcare should always be; Medicare’s cuts here are just another example of how government interference in healthcare raises costs, hurts people it could be helping, disallows preventive care, makes it harder for medical professionals to do what’s best for patients & raises the cost of healthcare for every person in this country.
Planned Medicare cuts in this arena are a glaring example of how government interference in healthcare raises costs, hurts people it could otherwise be helping, disallows preventive care & makes it harder (or in some cases impossible) for medical professionals to do what’s best for patients. Of course, for every failure in our healthcare, public or private, it raises the cost of healthcare for every person in this country which certainly hurts far more than it helps anyone.
Let's hear from anyone out there in the related professions. We need to glean our solutions from the folks who work the front lines every day. Let's hear them.
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