Care Coordination

Juggling doctors, prescriptions, and issues is not something you should be doing on your own in health care, yet more and more people are taking on this role. As a concierge doctor, this is something I will help you with. Because I have far fewer patients than most internal medicine doctors I have the time to help you coordinate care with other doctors, whether in cardiology, oncology, dermatology, urology, radiology, or other fields. Perhaps more importantly, I will help you understand what is happening.

If you try to coordinate care providers on your own, as so many people are now, it is confusing and takes a tremendous amount of your time. Instead of leaving you to your fate I will be your "quarterback" of care. You don't manage the parts suppliers when your car goes into the shop. And you don't coordinate the food supply to the restaurants at which you eat. So why, in health care, are individuals left to tie up all the loose ends on their own?

This becomes more important as patients age because there are almost always specialist doctors working with me caring for elderly people.

Care coordination also means keeping family members in touch and in the loop, whether they live in Vermont or out-of-state. This is something I enjoy doing and have plenty of time to do as a concierge doctor.

From the Blue Cross of North Carolina web site:

Many patients, especially those with ongoing health conditions, see multiple doctors and pharmacists who don't work as a team to synchronize care. The result: Patients often receive conflicting opinions, duplicate tests and excessive prescriptions, and they incur unnecessary ER visits. Solving this problem - often called fragmented, uncoordinated or disjointed care - could save the medical system $240 billion a year. Inefficient care isn't limited to just patients with chronic conditions. Half of adults report problems with care thatÂ’s not in sync.

And, when care is not coordinated, it is not only a time drain for you, it leads to far more tests and system costs.

Here is an example from an actual patient.