One of the major problems in the world of medicine today is the looming shortage of primary care physicians with the adoption of the Affordable Care Act. According to a recent studynearly 27 million people will be newly insured under the Affordable Care Act, requiring more than 8,000 additional physicians to meet the country’s health-care needs. So what are physicians currently doing to address this problem?
One recently adopted solution that is gaining popularity among physicians is holding group medial appointments. When this idea was first introduced in one of our class discussions, I was immediately skeptical. I, like many other patients, was instantly uncomfortable with the idea of sharing my personal medical information with a group of strangers. But what I found withfurther research was that shared medial appointments open the possibility for physicians to treat more patients, increase the time spent with patients, and increase appointment availability.
Group medical appointments are most successful when they address routine care for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. They usually involve each patient having a short one-on-one physical exam followed by a group of about a dozen patients sitting down with their physicians and asking questions and listening to the concerns of the other patients for up to two hours.
These group gatherings allow patients to spend significantly more time with their physician, expanding what would normally be a quick 15-minute appointment to up to 90 minutes of time with the physician. This time allows the physician to streamline the impartation of information. Rather then having to repeat the same information over and over for each patient with similar chronic conditions, the group environment allows extended time to provide patients with more comprehensive information that is better able to improve care.
One of the major strengths of the ePatient community we have discussed is the ability to be able to connect in online communities where people can relate and share information. Many patients who have participated in shared appointments experience similar advantages. Patients are able to openly discuss learn from the diversity of experiences and questions of other patients, creating a more comprehensive medical knowledge.
While shared medical appointments are not appropriate for every patient they provide an important example of how simple changes in standard medical practices can work to improve care.