There have been numerous innovations in the healthcare industry over the last several years which have made it easier to treat patients. Everything from virtual reality to artificial intelligence has been used to inspect the insides of people’s bodies and detect dangerous things like tumors. Even ultrasound devices are so small now that they can fit inside your purse or pocket. So think of how innovative the healthcare system will be in the next 10 or 20 years.
What’s Next?
Innovation doesn’t necessarily mean upgrading medical technology to the latest and most advanced devices and equipment. Perhaps the true innovation we need in the healthcare industry won’t involve fancy medical equipment or technology. Instead, the innovation will refer to the simple methodology of how primary care physicians treat their patients.
Innovative long-term patient care doesn’t require a doctor to prescribe medication. All it requires is the doctor to establish a more trusting relationship with their patient by offering them value-based care rather than fee-based care. That should be the true innovation that every primary care physician incorporates into their family medical practices throughout the country. Then it would do wonders in changing the healthcare industry for the better.
Three Innovative Healthcare Tips for 2023
Modern patients are accustomed to spending little time with their doctors. Rather than have a long session discussing their health problems, patients are used to spending a few minutes with their doctors and getting a prescription for medication in the end. But if you can build a trusting relationship with your patients, you can give them practical and more effective healthcare advice that they would actually listen to and accept.
Here are three innovative healthcare tips below:
1) Emphasize the Important of Nutrition and Exercise
How many primary care physicians actually sit down with their patients and talk about the importance of nutrition and exercise? Not too many because the fee-based service model doesn’t support such advice.
However, any primary care physician who cares about their patient will advise them on how nutrition and exercise can reverse their disease and make them healthy again. Nutrition and exercise is the key to eliminating heart disease, diabetes, and the early stages of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Some medical studies have shown that patients suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia have successfully reversed their symptoms and restored their brain function to normal by following a well-balanced nutrition program.
Of course, medication can assist in treating disease, but it should not be what doctors and patients rely on the most. Instead, the best long-term solution will be nutrition and exercise every time. Imagine how many patients would overcome their illnesses if only their primary care physicians would give them this advice.
2) House Calls
There was a time when doctors cared so much about their patients that they actually made house calls. Nowadays, it would seem entirely out of the ordinary for a doctor to show up at a patient’s house and treat them in the convenience of their own home. But this would be a good thing to bring back into modern healthcare practices because high-risk patients don’t always make it to their doctor’s appointments.
It would be so helpful for senior patients or disabled patients to receive house calls because they could get treatment delivered to them without needing to leave their homes. This could significantly reduce the number of hospitalizations and other severe health consequences that would otherwise occur from missing doctor’s appointments.
Will house calls ever make a comeback? Perhaps it could happen under a value-based care model.
3) Having Longer Sessions with Patients
The fee-based service model forces doctors to have short sessions with patients rather than long sessions. But a patient needs more than a few minutes with a doctor if they are going to get the proper treatment and advice they need to stay healthy.
The value-based care model allows patients to spend more than a few minutes with their doctors. This gives doctors the extra time they need to educate their patients about how to take care of themselves better. Meanwhile, the doctor-patient relationship grows stronger and more personal while establishing trust between them. Then patients are more willing to follow their doctors’ advice, which will improve their health over the long term.
How Primary Medical Care Center Achieves Positive Results with Innovative Healthcare
Primary Medical Care Center believes innovative healthcare doesn’t require fancy technological gadgets. Sometimes the best healthcare innovation can be the most effective practical treatment, such as value-based care. If we could innovate the country’s healthcare model by transforming it from fee-based to value-based care, then it would be the most form of innovation we could ever have.
Call us at (305) 751-1500 if you’d like to learn more about how we have successfully used value-based care to treat our patients.