I've been a patient lately. Not just for preventive care, which I've been good about getting when I was working in public health, teaching, or doing telemedicine, but which has been near-impossible to get done when practicing medicine full time. Lately it's been appointments, surgery, follow-up, radiology, specialized tests, more appointments, texts, phone calls, and lots of different and incompatible electronic medical records. It's a mess. I'm as good as an American can be at navigating the health system and advocating for myself, and it's impossible. I cannot get the medical and preventive care I need. Not and keep a job. We must stop looking at the solution as incremental change to the existing structure. None of it works. For my care to be patient-centered, here's what I need: 1. All of my medical records in the cloud, secure and accessible TO ME and, when I give them permission, to doctors, nurses, and hospitals. 2. Medical care will always start w
Chronicles and analysis on the path towards universal access to healthcare in the US Author: Julie Graves, MD, MPH, PhD, FAAFP -Public health and family medicine physician -PhD health policy, MPH health systems, University of Texas School of Public Health -MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School -Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians -Democrat