Reviving the Family Doctor

It’s a way too-common experience that we’ve all been through: Sitting in a provider’s office, trying to quickly explain your health and prescription history to a new doctor who knows absolutely nothing about you. Hoping the doctor can treat the root cause of your illness today since you took it off from work, but you know it’s unlikely since they only have 15 minutes to assess you. Maybe you’ll leave with a treatment plan thrown together but chances are it won’t work since the doctor really only had time to react to your current symptoms. So you’ll endure many more appointments before finally resolving your concern.?

Physicians working in today’s fee-for-service model are incentivized to focus on the symptoms presenting in front of them, rather than working to address the whole person and prevent future issues. This model is too reactive, partly because people are generally too busy to deal with the grueling process and partly because the model isn’t set up to support the patient/doctor relationships that lead to better outcomes.

Back to our roots

But imagine if you had a doctor in the family–someone like your mom, only with extensive medical expertise–who knows your history. You’d likely pick up the phone at the onset of a symptom and be more inclined to proactively manage your health.??

We need to get back to our roots and incorporate the family doctor approach into modern healthcare and we can use technology to do so. Technology helps break down the real barriers to quality care and provides a medium for doctors to learn your history, work with you regularly and create ample space to build a trusting relationship. Utilizing technology makes it convenient too as there’s certainly no waiting more than 20 days to see your doctor.?

The outcomes are clear: Better health outcomes for patients at a reduced total cost of care. A more active and regular relationship with your doctor builds more trust which increases proactive care. That reduces disease progression and total healthcare costs. This study found that utilizing primary care as a first course of action could save up to $67 billion annually. Account for inflation and the number is astronomical.?

But how do we get there?

Today’s healthcare system in the U.S. is not set up for doctors to provide efficient, value-based and relationship-based care. Too often we blame doctors for requiring unnecessary tests or extensive procedures, but those physicians are simply responding to the incentives the fee-for-service system has presented them. Conversely, we may blame patients for going to urgent care instead of setting up a regular appointment, but those patients are also simply responding to the current system's structure. We need to stop blaming doctors for the current model of care, and we need to stop blaming patients for poor health outcomes.?

Instead, we need to challenge the system to get back to providing a model of care that emphasizes the doctor/patient relationship. The system is forcing doctors to cycle people in and out quickly while billing them in a fee-for-service model. Meanwhile, the rising cost of care has caused over a 25% decrease in visits to primary care physicians by consumers since 2008.???

The consequences are cyclical. The doctor is forced to spend an obscene amount of time coding visits to ensure insurance regulations are met and the patient’s visit is covered, and the patient is left feeling unheard and rushed. This leads to patients ignoring the onset of future symptoms until it progresses to disease. At that point, they usually seek care at an emergency room or urgent care since it’s at least convenient.??

Of employer-sponsored emergency department (ED) visits, a whopping 70% are for non-emergency conditions a primary care physician could have addressed. And while a patient may seek care at an ED, they are unlikely to receive follow-up care that ensures the concern has truly been resolved, often leading to re-emergence of the original concern.?

Technology can end the cycle

We can use technology to end this cycle and build better, more convenient access to care—and we can use this to increase the trust between doctor and patient. It’s through this mode of relationship building that we can equip patients with the resources and support they need to take an active part in preventative care. And it’s through this technology that we can equip patients with simple and fast access to care that prevents disease.?

Bringing back the personal relationship people have with their physicians, and nurturing it, is key to improving patient health outcomes.