Thoughts on concierge medicine?

HImom
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 23:08:52 +0000

I don’t know how to fix this but I have seen physicians who just don’t keep up with the latest in their field. My elder was referred to a medical device that is supposed to help his sleep apnea. I have spent the last few days trying to figure out how to reach the company that developed the device, so we can share the information with the dentist that the sleep doctor/lung doc recommended. We have a consultation tomorrow and I like knowing what we are walking into.

I had a long chat after multiple phone calls that had no answer and sent an email that had no one reply. The final answer is that the device that was recommended is no longer in manufacture because it simply didn’t work as promised and really didn’t help sleep apnea as it was supposed to, even though the successor company spent significant undisclosed sums on R&D.

I was able to get info from the successor company about the different options currently available, which we will discuss with dad, so see whether any of these might help him improve the quality of his sleep.

It really is a problem when the docs you see do not keep up with what is current, what is still available and what has been discontinued.

I also agree that when there isn’t enough reimbursement so the physicians don’t go to conferences, do CME, and attend sufficient training to keep up, that is also a problem. Rushed doctors can never do as great a job as ones that have more time to consider all issues and draw out patients who insist everything is “fine,” which happens quite often.