Whether it's encouraging smoking cessation or improving compliance to diabetes monitoring, plans are desperate for physician-led efforts that will result in better scores. Also, consider the health plans with which you contract. Use the data and examine them as well. Thus, physicians have a golden opportunity to inform patients. Not only can you engage the resources of health plans to give your patients advice on preventive care, but you can help patients familiarize themselves with the confusing world of healthcare report cards.
Patients are, after all, the ultimate customer.
Perhaps some of the insanities of our healthcare system would end if patients acted more like customers, recognizing that they are indeed the purchasers of benefits through deferred wages and taxes. Or, as Jules Verne would say, the farming. References Verne J. An ideal city. Presented at the Academie des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts d'Amiens. Dec. Translation from Yesterday and tomorrow.