Sun. Apr 28th, 2024

Amazon continues to try and patch together services to pretend they are real clinics. They are not. It’s Frankencare. And virtual is defined as almost but not the real thing. Here is what I mean:

Amazon has rolled out a new virtual medical clinic that aims to treat common conditions like allergies, hair loss and skin conditions.

The message-based virtual health service connects consumers with licensed clinicians who can diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for a range of common health and lifestyle conditions, according to an Amazon blog post published Tuesday morning.

Message-based? Virtual? Licensed “clinicians”?

You have got to be kidding me. But wait, there’s more:

“By foregoing coverage by government and commercial plans, the service is effectively fee-for-service at rates competitive with insurance co-pays. By keeping the application narrow – 20 or so specific health problems – the whole structure is designed for a specific use, making it more predictable and easier to manage. In the future, the service could incorporate stronger linkage to Amazon Pharmacy, Amazon Diagnostics, and One Medical,” he said.

Their whole plan is to pretend primary care is narrowly focused which is EXACTLY what it isn’t. Twenty problems? Yeah, I have seen that in ONE visit with a patient.

Amazon is now competing with HIMS and HERS, which uses AI and pretend doctors to give patients whatever they ask for in a few spaces (hair, anxiety, depression, ED). Will this ever be competition with Direct Primary Care?

NO.

Why do I care? Because whenever I Google Direct Primary Care, articles like these come up and I want to puke.

Ok, rant over. How is your day going?

147610cookie-checkDistilling Primary Care to Twenty Health Problems is Bullsh%t
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By Douglas Farrago, MD

Douglas Farrago MD is board certified in the specialty of Family Practice. He is the inventor of a product called the Knee Saver which is currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Knee Saver and its knock-offs are worn by many major league baseball catchers. He is also the inventor of the CryoHelmet used by athletes for head injuries as well as migraine sufferers. From 2001 – 2011, Dr. Farrago was the editor and creator of the Placebo Journal which ran for 10 full years. Described as the Mad Magazine for doctors, he and the Placebo Journal were featured in the Washington Post, US News and World Report, the AP, and the NY Times. Douglas Farrago, MD received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia in 1987, his Masters of Education degree in the area of Exercise Science from the University of Houston in 1990, and his Medical Degree from the University of Texas at Houston in 1994. His residency training occurred way up north at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. In his final year, he was elected Chief Resident by his peers. Dr. Farrago has practiced family medicine for twenty-three years, first in Auburn, Maine and now in Forest, Virginia. He founded Forest Direct Primary Care in 2014, which quickly filled in 18 months. Dr. Farrago still blogs every day on his website Authenticmedicine.com and lectures worldwide about the present crisis in our healthcare system and the effect it has on the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Farrago’s has written three books on direct primary care: The Official Guide to Starting Your Own Direct Primary Care Practice, The Direct Primary Care Doctor’s Daily Motivational Journal and Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) are all best sellers in this genre. He is a leading expert in direct primary care model and lectures medical students, residents, and doctors on how to start their own DPC practice. He retired from clinical medicine in October, 2020.

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