yourgpsdoc

A surprise medical bill is a bill for medical services an individual thought would be covered by his/her health insurance. The issue of surprise medical bills is receiving more and more attention as the cost of healthcare in the United States continues to rise. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 89% of Americans

When I had gallbladder surgery 2 years ago, I was a full-time physician working for an academic medical institution in a large metropolitan area. I had great health insurance. I went to the Emergency Department for severe abdominal pain and was in the operating room early the next morning. Thankfully, all went well, and I

My husband may not be happy that I’m sharing this but getting him to go to the doctor is like dragging a toddler out of Disney World at the end of a long day. He doesn’t kick and scream, (ok, he doesn’t cry either) but he puts up fierce resistance. He comes up with a

After one of my dad’s numerous hospitalizations, he was too weak to return home and was transferred to a nursing home for rehabilitation. The first few weeks went well. My sisters and I checked on him regularly and we were pleased with the care he was receiving. Then, during a routine visit, everything changed. I

I will never forget April 11, 2018. That is the day my pain journey began, the day I became a patient. I’ve actually been a patient a few times in my life. I delivered two babies, had my gallbladder removed, and I’ve had a couple of oral surgeries. However, those experiences pale in comparison. My

My primary care physician (PCP) is an avid user of the patient portal. Within 24 hours of a visit, I receive an email informing me there is a new entry in the portal.  He consistently updates the portal with a summary of my visit. If labs were obtained, he enters the results and includes a

One of the many things that irks me about our healthcare system is the fact that it is so unnecessarily complicated. If you become ill and need to spend the night in the hospital, the last thing you should have to worry about is your admission status. However, you do need to worry about it.

On 2/2/18, I had the pleasure of talking with Tammy Flynn, host of The On-Air Advocate Podcast. We discussed my journey while caring for my dad, who suffered from vascular dementia in addition to diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, heart disease, and depression. Caring for an ill loved one is a privilege, but it

There’s no place like home, but did you know that your senior parent’s home may be one of the most unsafe places? The National Safety Council (NSC) statistics indicate that about 1.4 million people 65 years of age and older are treated in emergency rooms each year for injuries associated with consumer products. The NSC

In Part 1 of this series, we learned that individuals are responsible for an increasing proportion of their health care costs. We also learned that there are numerous barriers that prevent one from comparison shopping for health care, including a lack of cost transparency, significant variability in cost between facilities, limited health literacy, and concerns