You’ve probably heard a lot of “rules” for losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle: You have to be active for 60 minutes a day. You have to eat five vegetables and fruits a day. You have to get at least 8 1/2 hours of sleep a night. But we believe that in reality, if you try to change too many things at once, the chances are you’re going to fail, and then you’re not going to try at all. So take it slow, you can’t change your whole life at once, but you can surely change 1 small part of it.

You have the power to decide what that first step will be. You can cut out soda for a week, or avoid bagel for a week.  There are many ways that are practical and doable. It’s a matter of being patient with yourself.

If you go on a crash diet such as orange juice/Vegetable juice diet to get into a pair of skinny jeans by a certain date, you won’t be building healthy eating habits, your body stresses out, so you’re likely to give up and gain back the weight. If your goal instead is to get healthier and reach a healthy weight for you, you’re more likely to stick with it.

So be patient, give yourself time and commit to doable short-term goals, such as walking three times a week or cutting out junk food for a week or take up gardening, as it will give you pleasure as well as burn 162 calories per half hr. If you set attainable goals, you’re more likely to achieve them — and that will fuel future successes.

You’ll feel better.

You’ll actually be happier if your goal is to eat healthy and exercise regularly, not to starve yourself. You’ll have more stamina, more strength. Your mood will be better. It’s about feeling good from the inside out, rather than the outside in.  You should do it not for other people, but for yourself.

Few easy exercising tips:

• While cooking, do calf raise stretch while waiting for your pot to boil
• During TV commercials, jog in place
• Put on music and dance as if you are teen again.
• If you’re pressed for time and waiting for something either at work or home, do ab exercises. Contract the muscles around your belly button. Then elevate your upper torso, and release. Finally, contract your buttocks for a few seconds.

You should always consult your doctor before starting any diet or workout plan.

How many of us actually understand the meaning of “Board Certification” and how many of us actually care whether our doctor is board certified or not.

Board certified officially means that the physician is an exceptional expert in a particular specialty and/or subspecialty of medical practice and has gone through the required training to practice medicine.  It also means that the physician is committed and is consistently achieving superior clinical outcomes in patient-focused setting.

It is believed that for patient like us the board certification is the best measure of a physician’s knowledge, experience and skills to provide quality healthcare within a given specialty. Is it really true?

Does this board certification actually make any difference in patient outcome? May be it does but nobody is sure. We believe that general public never cared where their doctor went for medical school.  People care for quality health outcomes and timeliness. Most of us even don’t know the difference between Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) and Doctors of Medicine (MDs). They both go by Primary Care Physician (PCP); the DO is an Osteopathic physician, while MD is Allopathic physicians.  Many don’t even care if they get timely care from a Physician Assistant (PA) or a Nurse practitioner.

So we tried to dig little more into this at American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS); a nationally recognized organization certifying doctors. After a tedious search process, we got something very interesting

“The physician certification information in the ABMS database is updated periodically with data provided by its Member Boards. Due to the possibility of reporting and processing delays, the accuracy and completeness of records cannot be guaranteed. ABMS shall not be liable to you or others for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance on the information obtained from this service.  It is the user’s responsibility to determine that the physician record obtained is that of the physician whose information is sought”

So… what now…ABMS is telling us that it’s OUR responsibility to determine… so guess we are left with our gut feel while choosing a doctor.

We are not saying that board certification or doctor credential doesn’t mean anything, Doing a background check into your doctor’s credentials is important to be sure they are appropriate and current. But there are other things in addition to credentials that patient needs to think about before choosing the right doctor, such as does the doctor communicate well and believe in building relationship? What is his methodology; prevention or just treatment? Whether he listens to his patient’s concern or just jump on the prescription?  Can doctor relate with the patient?

One’s health is his own and his doctor’s business, nobody wants to disclose health issues to public.  So please take time and research, ask your friends and family when it comes to making right choice for your right doctor…advocate of YOUR health.  We have tried to compile doctor information including reviews from the real patients on DocAsap.com for your convenience, our doctors would love to hear your concerns and they are all Board Certified…J

An insured patient checking out form the physician’s office paid $100 for just 10 minutes with the doctor.  What exactly this $100 covers? Why patients get shocked seeing this type of bill? Here is what that $100 is covering…

• First, doctor office schedules an appointment. It took several people to take the message, pull the medical record (paper charts), call the patient to assess the problem, determine the need for the appointment and schedule it.
• When the patient arrives, staff double checks the patient’s contact info and insurance details to make sure that it is updated on the file.  The nurse gets notification of the patient’s arrival.
• The nurse called the patient from the waiting area, measures blood pressure and weight.  And then patient goes into the exam room where nurse again takes vitals, make notes around the visit reason, medication, last visit, etc.
• The physician came in to see the patient, asked about any changes since last been seen, reviews history of present illness and examines the patient. He talks about the illness and the treatment plan and prescribed a medication. He updates patient’s medication list and makes a copy of the diagnosis form and hand it out to the patient for the records.  The patient goes to the check out desk.
• The physician refiled the medication reconciliation in the chart, finished documenting the visit, and placed the chart in the bin to be refiled.  The chart was filed, and the encounter form was sent to the billing office.
• At the billing office the charges and any payment gets posted and the claim was filed.  If there is no problem with the claim, it electronically gets processed.
• If payment was not denied, the payment arrives at the billing office and would be posted.
• If patient did not pay at the check-out desk, the patient-responsible balance is billed to the patient.  If the patient pays on the first statement, it has taken 45 to 60 days to receive complete payment.

The 10 minute office visit involved the work of the phone operator, the medical records clerk, the triage nurse, the check-in person, the nurse, the doctor, the check-out person and the biller.  It took 8 people, and at least 45 minutes of work to make that appointment happen.  In addition, that visit paid the expenses for the rent, the utilities, malpractice insurance, medical supplies, computers, phones and janitorial services.  We all want efficient and quality health care but it is not cheap.

Thanks to KevinMd for giving this useful insight.

The Government’s vision to create a Health Information Exchange (HIE) has the potential to provide a comprehensive patient history at the point of care. In addition to this data exchange, Internet and “meaningful use” of electronic health records will have a positive and significant impact on the delivery of healthcare and its associated costs. This new arrangement will improve the collaboration among providers and health facilities.  The integrated medical groups like Kaiser Permanente, the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are extensively utilizing technology to improve access.  These big groups are combining doctors, clinics, hospitals and often some insurance and capturing the financial savings from electronic health records.

However, despite all the benefits, adoption of technology is slow in most of the small practices.  It is surely a change in “status-quo”, and as such small practices do not get financial incentives to use computerized medical records and for some practices it is very time consuming process to convert paper records into electronic records.

“And there are privacy and patient centered concerns as well” said Dr. Donald Tavakoli; a Philadelphia based Psychiatrist. “Obviously for psychiatrists, mental health issues and therapy notes raise a major concern of “discoverability” and differ from the rest of medicine (at least in some people’s minds).  Not to mention, typing with a patient in front of you, which happens a lot with electronic systems, takes away from the doctor patient relationship.  On the other hand, legibility, access to records, and streamlining for billing purposes can increase efficiency and decrease redundancy in testing etc.”

Dr. Tavakoli said “technology being incorporated into practice is a good thing as it increases access (as DocAsap proves), increases efficiency, and decreases risk of errors.  And at the end of the day, it is inevitability.  Increasingly, I’m hearing about things like Ipad’s being considered as notepads for clinicians, which could offer simply touch screen checklist items to mark off during evaluations, this not only reduces medical error but healthcare costs as well.  And it is possible increased technology and Electronic record systems dovetails with increased “checklist” medicine.  The big concern is that in healthcare, sometimes the art of medicine can have immeasurable value, and the doctor patient relationship is crucial (and mental healthcare tops that list, especially with psychotherapy, but it is true in all of medicine).”

Please check Dr. Tavakoli’s profile at DocAsap

We recently came across an interesting article that discusses the challenges of locating the right information to help select a primary care physician.  Some interesting points:

• Determine if your insurance is compatible with the doctor’s practice.
• What is the doctor’s hospital affiliation? Is the doctor affiliated with a reputable, nearby hospital?
• How convenient is the doctor’s office to your home?

In the coming weeks, DocAsap will be launching with primary care, allowing you to find this information, and more, with ease.

An interesting NYT poll indicates that America’s growing frustration with the rising cost of care is driving them to support government-based solutions rather than those from private insurers.  Many prominent voices in healthcare seem to agree that the existing pay-per-procedure insurance model does not promote efficiency, providing proverbial wind to the Obama administration’s reformist sails until the Congressional Budget Office released costly estimates on the universal health plan.

HealthBeat argues that the government can provide universal access to care in way that does not jeopardize the country’s financial health or raise overall health care costs.  If the Obama administration can get doctors and insurance companies at the same table to emphasize efficiency-based rather than volume-based compensation, maybe the cost of care in the U.S. can decrease over time.  Still, major efficiencies will take time to materialize, necessitating tax increases to pay for the plan.

The NYT poll shows that Americans’ willingness to shoulder higher taxes is largely partisan, with Democrats supporting them and Republicans more mixed.  If tax increases are indeed necessary to bankroll universal health access in the short-term, we are likely in store for a long battle in Washington on this issue.  Stay tuned.