Healthy Outlook Blog

1. Reduce care costs and increase positive results and efficiency by making mandatory for hospital and other certifications that procedures that are the most economical, efficient, and successful in the best American hospitals be emulated everywhere.
2. Reduce the use of 15-minute pass-through medicine and use storefront clinics, nurse practitioners, midwives and other licensed medical personnel who can reduce the cost of delivering ordinary medical care and after-care in most cases, and do triage, referring only the most serious cases to physicians.
3. Implement standardized and computerized patient records, which will reduce the costs and chances of giving improper care.
4. Eliminate repetitious blood tests, MRI’S, etc. which can be prescribed to two different Dr.’s treating a patient within a week or two of each other.
5. Eliminate the use of lab work until after the Dr. or practitioner has seen the patient — not before. All of these cost-saving steps can be instituted relatively quickly and vastly reduce the cost of medical care delivery.

I agree that consumers will be leading the change but ultimately it’s the healthcare industry that has to accept, support and embrace this change. An important tenet of the healthcare system would be the empowerment and independence of patients. Patients are responsible and with help of specialists , they would have more awareness and control over their diseases.