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Welcome to this issue of DMHC's e-newsletter, offering medical news and information we hope you find
interesting and informative.
We love to hear from our patients, their families, and the many organizations that collaborate with us.
Please read, enjoy, and give us your feedback!
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Welcome Dr. Cheryl McNeil
General Neurologist
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Dr. McNeil joins the Specialty Team at Doctors Making Housecalls with years of clinical and medical teaching experience in Neurology.
A native of the Triangle, she was an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill and a medical student at Wake Forest University. She loved medical school with a passion and discovered that leading patient care teams was truly rewarding as well. More recently, she has received numerous teaching awards at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
Dr. McNeil also finds great fulfillment in her family life, especially the time she spends with her husband and two young children. Firmly committed to healing and taking care of her patients, Dr. McNeil considers the practice of General Neurology to be fun, engaging, and life affirming. Whether she is working with patients suffering from brain tumors, ALS, or migraines, she considers the relationships with her patients to be one of the great joys of her life.
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Home Medical Care - the Killer App
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Doctors Making Housecalls
The National Leader
Did you know that Doctors Making Housecalls is the national leader in Home Medical Care? Our 24 board-certified physicians are a big part of our success. They blend the lost arts of listening and compassion with cutting-edge technology and the most recent advances in evidence-based care. Our doctors lead their treatment teams, meaning care is quarterbacked with experience and close oversight. And that care is personal. Physician team leaders take the time to develop a close relationship with their patients.
At DMHC, the physician is the patient's personal doctor and advocate. He or she works with the healthcare team (Specialists, Physical Therapists, Nurses, etc.) to make sure that care is consistent, coordinated, and second to none. As if this were not enough, DMHC doctors are also brilliant and energetic communicators who are willing to hear and respond to feedback and concerns, explain diagnoses and treatments in jargon-free language, and put patients back at the center of the healthcare encounter - where they belong!
If you or someone you know has been a patient of DMHC, this is probably all old news to you. But did you know that Home Medical Care (HMC) is also changing the practice of medicine nationwide? That's why our practice model is being called the "Killer App" of America's healthcare delivery system.
What is a Killer App? A Killer App is computer marketing slang for a program that is so needed or so surpasses all of its competitors that consumers buy the hardware or system in order to run it. "Space Invaders" for the Atari gaming system is a classic 1980's example of a Killer App. Perhaps, the Apple App Store could be considered one today. In any case, the Killer App transforms the market place by providing something that people need and want, which in turn drives their purchasing decisions.
The amazing thing about Home Medical Care in general, and Doctors Making Housecalls in particular, is that it helps patients utilize the healthcare system more effectively to their great medical and financial benefit. Patients avoid clinics and doctor's offices for a variety of reasons. Some don't like the hours of wasted time in the waiting room. Others don't like being around sick people. And some are simply too sick and feel too lousy to leave the house. Many of these patients, however, feel comfortable having a doctor visit them at home. They get the care they need, when they need it, in a comfortable environment, from clinicians they know and trust. It's so much better than getting "crisis care" in a busy emergency room or hospital.
That's why DMHC is the "killer app" of health care delivery. It's better, faster, more comfortable, and less expensive compared with the way things are done now. It could change everything.
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DMHC's Lab Partner Changes Hands
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On May 26th, Select Diagnostics, Inc. signed an agreement to join Solstas Lab Partners through a merger/acquisition. They are wrapping up the details, but expect to finalize the transaction by mid-June. Solstas is a full service reference laboratory headquartered in Greensboro, NC. It is dedicated to providing DMHC and our patients with the same level of service and laboratory expertise that we received from Select. Solstas also plans to enhance their service offerings through the combined strengths of both organizations by accessing improved technology and expanding test menus.
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Healthcare Policy Update
|  Heathcare Act in the Courts
Efforts by the State of Florida to stop the enactment of last year's Affordable Care Act (ACA), now move to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
Officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the law is frequently called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or simply "Obamacare," and was signed into law in March 2010. 26 States are challenging the ACA on Constitutional grounds, most of which concern the "individual mandate" requiring all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. It is a key component of the legislation.
Federal and State solicitors faced tough questions from a three-judge panel about how far a ruling upholding the law would expand the bounds of Congressional power and whether any precedent that was set could be confined to the healthcare context. The Administration argues that Congress acted within the bounds of the commerce clause of the Constitution, and the powers it grants to regulate interstate commerce, when it enacted the legislation.
"Everyone uses health care services," the argument goes, so the question is "who's going to pay for it." If people cannot pay for their care, the cost shifts to everyone else in the healthcare market. "It's about the failure to pay, not the failure to buy," the argument continues.
The States, on the other hand, feel this is a dangerously broad interpretation of commerce and argue that blocking the legislation is important to maintaining individual and States' rights. They argue that if the federal government can compel an individual to buy health insurance, it can compel the purchase of anything else it deems desirable. Some small businesses also object to being told to purchase healthcare insurance for their employees by the federal government.
The judges also asked questions about the individual mandate's severability from the remainder of the health care reform law - probing the lower court's finding that striking the mandate would be fatal to the entire ACA. Some interests feel that without the individual mandate the popular provision preventing insurance companies from denying people coverage because of their present or preexisting medical condition would also be cut.
The only point all could agree on is that the case will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court.
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If you wish to find out more about our practice or make an appointment, please visit DMH's Website by clicking the link, or call our office at ( 919) 932-5700. Our staff is eager to help you or you can reach me directly at Extension 301.
Sincerely,
Alan Kronhaus, M.D., CEO
Doctors Making Housecalls
www.doctorsmakinghousecalls.com
(919) 932-5700 |
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