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Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

economist.com

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Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#11

Post by rms »

chris11 wrote: post #10
Xichekolas wrote: post #2

I think retail medic clinics like those increasingly found in Wal-mart will be a hugely beneficial development. There is no reason to pay a doctor $175 to tell one of his assistants to swab your throat for strep and stick it in a machine to analyze when you can pay a technician at Wal-mart $25 to do the same thing. These services make sense for the same reason you don't take your car to an Automotive Engineer to chan…

After thinking about it, it would be really convenient to get flu shots and some vaccinations at a local store.

There is a franchise with a bunch of locations near me doing this.

http://www.anylabtestnow.com/

Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#12

Post by jumper »

lbrandy wrote: post #8
Xichekolas wrote: post #2

I think retail medic clinics like those increasingly found in Wal-mart will be a hugely beneficial development. There is no reason to pay a doctor $175 to tell one of his assistants to swab your throat for strep and stick it in a machine to analyze when you can pay a technician at Wal-mart $25 to do the same thing. These services make sense for the same reason you don't take your car to an Automotive Engineer to chan…

Except sometimes when you go to the doctor for that sore throat he notices you have throat cancer. The Wal-Mart tech tells you it's negative for strep and sends you home with some Tylenol Flu medicine.

Sadly, a test for strep will not find cancer, but nor most likely will a doctor looking for strep notice other problems... you have to watch for unusual frequency and severity of symptoms and be willing to seek second opinions, preferably from specialists in that area of medicine. The test for strep can be done fine by the Wal-Mart lab. When it comes back negative and you still have persistent problems, go see your doctor!

Of course, maybe your doctor will test you for strep time after time coming up negative, and never notice the fricking golf ball sized swollen tonsils that are making you sick almost year round until you finally demand to go see the ear\nose\and throat specialists, where upon 1 nurse and 3 doctors in a row will do a double take upon seeing them and immediately schedule the surgery to remove them.... no, I'm not bitter at all! :| At least strep tests aren't painful....

Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#13

Post by [deleted] »

Xichekolas wrote: post #2

I think retail medic clinics like those increasingly found in Wal-mart will be a hugely beneficial development. There is no reason to pay a doctor $175 to tell one of his assistants to swab your throat for strep and stick it in a machine to analyze when you can pay a technician at Wal-mart $25 to do the same thing. These services make sense for the same reason you don't take your car to an Automotive Engineer to chan…

[deleted]

Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#14

Post by etal »

chris11 wrote: post #10
Xichekolas wrote: post #2

I think retail medic clinics like those increasingly found in Wal-mart will be a hugely beneficial development. There is no reason to pay a doctor $175 to tell one of his assistants to swab your throat for strep and stick it in a machine to analyze when you can pay a technician at Wal-mart $25 to do the same thing. These services make sense for the same reason you don't take your car to an Automotive Engineer to chan…

After thinking about it, it would be really convenient to get flu shots and some vaccinations at a local store.

The only nuisance is keeping medical records straight. There's no central database to drop this information into, and subsequent health-care providers need to know exactly what you've had done in the past (regarding vaccinations). These would be good problems to solve.

Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#15

Post by nradov »

etal wrote: post #14
chris11 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After thinking about it, it would be really convenient to get flu shots and some vaccinations at a local store.

The only nuisance is keeping medical records straight. There's no central database to drop this information into, and subsequent health-care providers need to know exactly what you've had done in the past (regarding vaccinations). These would be good problems to solve.

Axolotl Corp. solved that problem years ago. Our software allows sharing medical records (including vaccinations) across a whole community of authorized care providers. http://www.axolotl.com/products/index.htm#community

Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#16

Post by kragen »

etal wrote: post #14
chris11 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After thinking about it, it would be really convenient to get flu shots and some vaccinations at a local store.

The only nuisance is keeping medical records straight. There's no central database to drop this information into, and subsequent health-care providers need to know exactly what you've had done in the past (regarding vaccinations). These would be good problems to solve.

What if they give you a sheet of paper, you xerox it there, and then store one copy next to your birth certificate and give the other copy to your regular doctor? I have an immunization record that I keep inside my passport (for yellow-fever reasons).

Re: Several disruptive innovations will soon make life harder for health care’s established giants

#17

Post by pasbesoin »

pchivers wrote: post #7
pasbesoin wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious as to what research you're referencing. I started taking a vitamin D supplement a few weeks ago at the encouragement of my father, and it seems to be making a difference in my sense of well-being, but I'd welcome a few pointers if you have any handy. (Don't mean to impose, though.)

The big study on vitamin D that got everyone's attention was this one from the summer of 2007: Vitamin D and Calcium Supplementation Reduces Cancer Risk: Results of a Randomized Trial ( http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/6/1586 ) There is also a lot of information about vitamin D research at the Vitamin D Council website ( http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/ ). That being said, I don't know if taking a vitamin D…

> I don't know if taking a vitamin D supplement would have any noticeable effect on your sense of well-being

Yeah, that was totally unexpected and is purely anecdotal.

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