Whitening Teeth – The Best Consumer Guide to Tooth Bleaching Tips
In the every growing world of cosmetic dentistry whitening teeth treatments have become extremely popular. Equally demanded around the world whitening (aka bleaching) methods come in a variety of forms and budget ranges.
Popular forms include professional in-office bleaching sessions at your cosmetic dentist or at home whitening kits that can be purchased over the counter.
Bridge Out! Consumer-Driven Health Plans will Change How We Get Care
Bridge Out: A road sign you really never want to see. Its appearance in your path means that there has been a failure and that you have to find a new way of getting where you want to go. The rise of consumer-driven health plans indicates that the era of managed care failed to control the increased cost and demand for care and that many things about the way we receive healthcare in the US.
In late August 2006, Wellpoint, one of the nation’s biggest healthcare insurance providers, has gone on record stating that in 2007 they will the first insurer to have consumer-driven health plans in all states and for all types of people (from major employers to small groups to individual plans).
“Our customers who choose these consumer-driven products will have new opportunities to lead healthier lives because of this first-of-its-kind national offering,” Wellpoint CEO, Larry Glassock
The press release also goes on to share:
“we’re empowering consumers through unique and robust online tools and incentives that encourage and reward them for choosing to live healthier lifestyles… Consumers who choose Lumenos will be eligible for extensive preventive care and personal health coaching, as well as smoking cessation and weight management programs. In addition, most consumers will receive financial rewards for completing various wellness programs.”
WOW! That sounds great, right?!?!?! Well, I always read these things and think about what my parents and my in-laws know about healthcare/ health policy and what they would think.
So for those of you who are not familiar with this new type of health plan, their implementation will produce significant changes in how care is reimbursed. Consumer-driven health plans are designed to shift some of the financial decision-making and responsibility to the individuals who consume healthcare services. Health savings accounts and high deductibles are key components to this new type of health plan. The thought behind all of this is to allow patients to determine how best to spend their healthcare dollars.
If you buy into traditional economic theory as applicable to the healthcare industry, this is not a bad way of trying to control skyrocketing costs. Since the price of services has a direct impact on demand for services, in theory , this type of plan has the potential to reduce duplication of services and unnecessary utilization of higher levels (more expensive) of care. In very simple terms, if patients are required to share some of the financial responsiblity of their care, then they are more likely to choose the cheapest, most effective care.
There are at least two very big ‘rubs’ to this plan. First, in order to to be able to make appropriate choices, consumers will need to know the cost of the care. While it seems easy enough, a physician or facilities’ billing rate for a service is significantly different than a contracted rate. And a contracted rate or allowable charge is significantly differerent than the acutal amount paid for services by an insurer or other third party payer. So healthcare consumers will need to understand all of these to be able to make the appropriate choices. Also healthcare providers will need to set up a system to be able to accurately inform the consumer the costs for a service. While this seems easy enough, it becomes increasingly complex when one understands that every, single, solitary insurance plan is different in regards to deductible, copay, contracted rate and reimbursement rate.
Second, in order to be able to chose the cheapest, effective treatment, healthcare consumers will have to know and understand their treatment options. This means that they will need to better understand the science behind their illnesses as well as the science behind the possible treatments. This would be a whole lot easier if we went back to the old world model of having healthcare providers that were able to develop rapport and a trusting patient-provider relationship. In the past, providers were given the time and opportunity to really partner with individuals, understand the complexities of care and develop a truly individualzed treatment that best fit the patient/consumer’s need. However, in the days of the 15 minute visit, this becomes increasingly difficult to do.
President Bush’s recent executive order [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060822-2.html] pushing for many things including transparency of pricing information is an attempt to address the issue of understanding the financial aspects.
However, how do we make sure individuals have the information they need to be able to get the best treatment value? In reality, physicians and healthcare providers, because of their ability to understand and evaluate individual cases and circumstances, are the best resources for helping individuals make these decisions. However, they will likely need to develop new ways of doing this that are cost and time efficient. If healthcare providers do not develop these new ways, consumers/patients will be left to fend for themselves.
If consumers do not adequately educate themselves or access resources/advocates that will assist them, then this plan too is doomed. Costs will not be contained, health will not be preserved and access to appropriate, effective care will continue to be compromised.
Health Savings Accounts Are Creating Innovative Medical Services
The new world of consumer-driven healthcare is opening up many opportunities for people to save money on their medical expenses. As more people carry high deductible plans in conjunction with health savings accounts, medical providers are beginning to compete for that business in a variety of innovative ways. One way many people are saving money on doctor visits is through telephone consultations.
Many times an expensive doctor visit could be avoided if you could just talk to the doctor to discuss the situation over the phone. If you could do a quick email exchange and have a prescription waiting for you at the pharmacy, you could save time and money, and let the funds in your Health Savings Account continue to grow for your retirement. There are now online physician consultation services that allow you to do just that.
While an ER visit may indeed treat medical needs, the reality is that most visits end up being more about peace of mind. If your child’s skin is turning red in the middle of the night, you might not know if it’s harmless flushing, or a serious allergic reaction. So you rush off to the emergency room, fill out some forms, and sit in a room full of contagious people. You wait and wait, finally get to speak to a nurse, then wait some more, and explain your problem again to the resident. Then you may have a battery of tests done, wait some more, and finally leave with a prescription and a bill for $650.
All this for a problem that could have been far less expensive, and handled more simply and expediently by discussing the situation with your doctor. According to the American Medical Association, about 70% of doctor and emergency room visits are actually just informational.
However, asking your doctor a health question is rarely as easy as picking up the phone. Because insurance companies do not normally reimburse doctors for phone care, most traditional practices avoid offering such service. Instead, their objective is to get you into the office so that you can be billed for the service you receive.
Paying for that office and the surrounding bureaucracy is not cheap. A doctor’s costs may include the office itself, a receptionists, a triage nurse, someone handling insurance billing, office managers, and expensive medical equipment. All this is very expensive to maintain, so generating as many office visits as possible is critical for most doctors to even stay in business.
So you get stuck in a system that is inconvenient, expensive, and does not value your time.
Telephone Consultation Services As health savings accounts become more popular and more people are paying for their own doctor visits, several companies have begun offering inexpensive telephone and email consultations with board-certified physicians. These companies can offer dramatically lower prices because they have cut out most of the costs that burden traditional medical facilities.
Though telephone consultations are obviously not appropriate for all medical conditions, it is an accepted standard of care for many health-care problems. In fact, telephone medicine has been around as long as the telephone, and is practiced throughout the country by most doctors at nights and on weekends.
Here are a few companies that are now offering telephone consultations with licensed physicians:
Doctor on Call (www.unadoctoroncall.com). This company currently has over 240 board-certified physicians on call, with 24-hour access. The physicians with this service will not diagnose or prescribe, but they will provide information based on your questions. The price is a bargain – only $5.95/month for the family for an unlimited number of calls. TelaDoc Medical Services (www.teladoc.com). This company also provides 24-hour access to members and dependents age 12+. Telephone medical consultations are with primary care doctors who can also diagnose medical problems and prescribe appropriate medications. There is an initial $18 registration fee, and a monthly fee of $4.25 for an individual or $7 for a family. Consultations are a flat $35. Doctokr (www.doctokr.com) is a practice run by Virginia physician Alan Dappen. Though this service is only available to people who can come in to his office for an initial visit, it is a model likely to be copied by other providers as consumers become more price conscious when shopping for medical care. 24-hour access is available by telephone and email. Consultations are billed in 5-minute increments ranging in price from $15 to $22.50. A simple consultation to request medication refills costs from $10 to $15 for up to 5 medications. There is a monthly fee of $5.95.
Saving You Time and Money Not only will these services save you money when compared to a typical doctor visit, but they will also save you time. You may be able to quickly resolve routine medical issues in a fraction of the time you would spend accessing care from urgent care facilities, emergency rooms or physician offices. If you use a service that will prescribe medications, you could have your consultation finished and the medicine in hand in less than the time it would otherwise take just to visit the doctor. As telephone technology evolves, these services will add picture taking and even recording vital signs, and the scope of these physician consultations will become broader. With doctor visits approaching $100 each and ER visits in excess of $800, it doesn’t take much to justify the small monthly fee for most of these services.
Though there are certainly times when visiting your doctor’s office or the emergency room is the most appropriate thing to do, as a smart consumer you owe it to yourself to be aware of all your options. Using a physician telephone consultation service can help you avoid the expense, time, and hassles of urgent care facilities, emergency rooms, and visits to the doctor.