According to a recent Kaiser Health survey shared by Health Populi, more than half of Americans put off or reduced health care due to sensitivity to copayments and deductibles as a result of the recession. Also, the rising ranks of uninsured due to mounting job losses adds to the number of patients who are not seeing doctors as a result of the recession. While the stimulus bill did provide for a 9 month subsidy of COBRA payments to offset 65% the cost of insurance for laid off employees, this will not completely offset the recent increase in uninsured Americans, and won’t encourage those with insurance to see the doctor. This decline in visits by insured patients provides much of the reason behind the recent financial troubles faced by many U.S. hospitals, such as U of Chicago, as well as the increased cost of floating rate debt due to the credit crunch.
Many hospitals are now facing the difficult decision of whether to cut their budgets in light of tightening operating margins. We expect that as the economy stabilizes and as the COBRA subsidies kick in, patients will quickly make up for postponed visits. We hope that economic recovery comes soon for the sake of patients and doctors. Additionally, we at DocAsap look forward to helping doctors see more patients in the coming months as we launch our service.
While the new President seems quite resolved in keeping his promise of expanding access to health insurance and reforming health care across the nation, the (healthcare) community seems to have a consensus on the fact that in addition to the superlative service we need a comprehensive, open and standardized payment method (Patient / Insurer -> Doctor) based on “Volume Of Service” performed by Docs too.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/business/26health.html?ref=business]
Considering that you guys are aiming at simplifying the “Doc Appointments” process, I see DocASAP a very nice fit in line with expectations of the community(There has to be +Ve correlation b/w simpler/easier/transparent Appointment process and medical appointments!).
I hope that users start associating DocASAP as a default way to schedule their medical appointments like they associate Mapquest with road navigation now. (Afterall both Portals intend to make lives easier
)
All the very best and keep posting thought provoking ‘n’ informative posts!
Cheers,
Chinmay