Jeremy Bikman’s Post

Addressing the Concerns about the rise of Concierge Medicine & Direct Primary Care. (Worth the long read). 📖 I appreciate Dr Thomas Culhane, MD, MMM, MS for voicing the concerns about concierge medicine, I’d like to address them as a Direct Primary Care Physician. 1. Subscription or Membership based care IS NOT insurance. We are the physicians who actually PROVIDE the care, so it’s paying for healthcare directly. Insurance is a 3rd party payor that provides payment for catastrophic events, not the service provider. Just like you don’t pull your car into Geico for service, you can’t walk into your health insurance office for a strep test. I repeat, Concierge & Direct Care is not insurance. It’s Healthcare. 2. The idea that the BASIS of our healthcare system, primary care, should only consume only 5% of the economic resources demonstrates our chronic UNDERinvestment in primary care. Our system is bound to break if only 5% of our resources are invested in the foundation. 3. Any physician providing care never hurts the primary care shortage, it alleviates it. The mass exodus of healthcare workers who won’t tolerate the chronic abuse and underinvestment is what causes the shortage, and who can blame them for wanting to leave when we devalue their worth. We may need to stop and learn more about those of us who choose to stay in the game & have found a way to make primary sustainable rather than oppressive. 4. Concierge & Direct Care can bypass the #ACA mandates because again, it’s NOT INSURANCE. Concierge & Direct Care are the truest form of value-based medicine & the future of primary care. I’d love to know your thoughts…let’s continue this conversation. #ConciergeMedicine #DirectPrimaryCare #HealthcareReform

Dr. Mazurek was recently interviewed by Captain Obvious's Healthcare Newsletter and said, "CMS and Medicaid paying garbage for primary care disrupts care for many. Let's put responsibility on caring for our population where it belongs. The big five insurance companies seem to be having little difficulty satisfying shareholders as year over year growth by sticking it to families with higher premiums and deductibles rakes in a lot of cold, hard cash and profits. Add higher MA reimbursements for the double extra super duper bonus prize." The rise in DPC is a direct result of a failed system. Doctors are not stupid or ignorant. They are innovative and can figure out how to get out of a locked box. Unlike Shrodinger's Cat, assume we are alive, not dead. We solve problems. CMS creates more problems.

Paying a monthly retainer for #PrimaryCare access: when your #doctor becomes a sorta mini-insurance company for the 5% of total #healthcare expense that is primary care. Doesn’t include funding or assured access for the other 95%. And it’s worsening primary care #clinician supply for everyone else. And how does #ConciergeMedicine dovetail with the #Obamacare mandate that #PreventativeCare services be provided without #patient cost-sharing? And shouldn’t these premium-charging pooled financial risk arrangements be regulated by the states as an insurance product that they appear to be?

#Medicare Advantage plans have historically provided value for hospitals.But that trend could be changing as profitability for insurers is on the decline. This article explains what this could mean for #healthcare.

#Medicare Advantage plans have historically provided value for hospitals.But that trend could be changing as profitability for insurers is on the decline. This article explains what this could mean for #healthcare.

#Medicare Advantage plans have historically provided value for hospitals.But that trend could be changing as profitability for insurers is on the decline. This article explains what this could mean for #healthcare.

#ValueBasedCare models have been at the core of #healthcare improvement efforts for decades. By improving quality of care, reducing costs, and eliminating a range of health disparities, new payment and delivery system transformation models continue to demonstrate their power to address the most intractable #healthcare challenges across public and private healthcare programs. #HealthcareValueWeek

#Medicare Advantage plans have historically provided value for hospitals.But that trend could be changing as profitability for insurers is on the decline. This article explains what this could mean for #healthcare.

#Medicare Advantage plans have historically provided value for hospitals.But that trend could be changing as profitability for insurers is on the decline. This article explains what this could mean for #healthcare.

#Medicare Advantage plans have historically provided value for hospitals.But that trend could be changing as profitability for insurers is on the decline. This article explains what this could mean for #healthcare.