Collaborative communication between and care by health care providers?

I don't think managed care is conducive to the team approach - they simply don't have time to call one another and consult. One occasional exception is when you have a PCP that is in a 'concierge' doctor network, who will call my specialists for clarification of a diagnosis or test result, if I ask him to do so. But I pay for this service (MDVIP) - about $1800/yr, above and beyond Medicare and Medicare supp. It also allows for a short wait time to schedule an appointment, and availability 24/7 anywhere in the U.S. Since I have multiple chronic diseases, I feel it's worth it. Otherwise, I'd spend the money in ERs. Another major shortfall in our medical system is that doctors get no education regarding side effects of drugs or cross-reactivity. Best to google any newly prescribed med before taking it to see if it will actually make your situation worse.

Margaret, Most MDs are educated on what medications your on and how they will react. There’s also a secondary safety precaution in place at your pharmacy where a computer will put out a warning if it sees a problem. The worst thing I’ve seen is if people read the literature that comes with the Rx then their to scared to take it as the side effects are listed. The thread below naming Levoquin as bad for people with neuropathy. Levoquin which I take for sinus infections are rough on the tendons. But having chronic sinus infections and it’s the only thing that works for me…..David

Not really. I thought since I had visited doctors in several major hospital systems that had electronic record keeping in the NY metro area that they might be sharing info, but no. I must constantly remind doctors of documented tests and procedures I had years ago. I now carry paper copies of some of this info with me to my visits (for all the good it does). I sometimes wonder if doctors even review other doctors notes or test results. Sometimes I also wonder if they are listening to what the patient is saying in the allotted 10-20 minutes or whether they are just following some one-size-fits-all script.

Recently, I too have found need to use paper copies of notes, labs, and reports from healthcare providers to TRY to communicate with providers. Most of the time, not all, they aren’t reading what other providers - labs say. No authentic collaborative communication.
Electronic records could be a useful tool. My experience is they appear to be a bother and time consumer. People being people is, many times, not in the equation.
Healthcare system needs healing and the leadership and management to heal. Thank you !!

It’s my understanding that during the pandemic, a program called Share Everywhere was created so doctors and hospitals had easy access to all of your doctors notes, scans, and labs. This was to help reduce paperwork burdens for transferring patients, quickly confirm past medical treatment, and of course help keep costs down by not reordering tests done recently. In the past 2 weeks, I took papers, and sent electronic reports in advance of 2 new doctor appointments in the state I just moved to. I found it was a waste of my time and trees, as they already had them. They don’t even need you to sign permission to access your information from other doctors outside their system as in the past. I am not sure if this is only with the EPIC system, but most major medical networks are linked to that I would think. I may be wrong about this system, but I know my 2 visits recently already had my records. I have a new PCP and Cardiologist in the next couple of weeks, and I am not going to dig out prior records or make copies before I go. I guess it will be clear to me then what they already have access to or what they need incrementally, and it would be better than flooding them with duplication since time is valuable. PS - I was a bit stunned when a friendly doctor nicely told me we would have to have a hard stop by x o’clock because they get written up and “docked” if they’re more than 3 minutes late to patients appt time. As a patient who enjoys tremendously when I have appointments kept on schedule, I’ve respected that and come prepared with written notes (copy for their records too) & talk fast. But I never thought for a minute that the medical business has started penalizing doctors for it. I have even more compassion toward helping them with the ridiculous time constraints now. I still would appreciate having my allotted minutes, but when they’re late, I realize they are desperate in their need to catch up to eventually get to one of their appointments on time. I don’t like to be rushed when I have reserved time, and I look forward to visits where I know I should be able to give them some of my scheduled minutes to use for the betterment of all, but what a vicious business this has become, no wonder we’re all frustrated, including our doctors.

Today I had another experience with Mayo’s collaborative culture, in addition to Mayo Connect with you all.

At the beginning of the year, I applied to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to get help.

Get help with my peripheral neuropathy that started after I was given cardio vascular medications.
And also because I discovered I needed to personally manage the communication between multiple physicians.

The help I got from Mayo back then, they could not accept my application, was encouragement to work with my local providers and the introduction to Mayo CONNECT.

After 4 months with local providers, I started searching for other local providers and have connected with new providers.

I recently applied to Mayo again because of uncertainty with the local providers and, after starting a new cardio med, my neuropathy symptoms increased, med now on hold.

This morning, after telling me they were too busy to accept me, Mayo people gave me something to do - collaboration!

They gave me a phone number for my physician to call the Mayo physicians regarding my condition.

Thank you Mayo !
Steve

Today I had another experience with Mayo’s collaborative culture, in addition to Mayo Connect with you all.

At the beginning of the year, I applied to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to get help.

Get help with my peripheral neuropathy that started after I was given cardio vascular medications.
And also because I discovered I needed to personally manage the communication between multiple physicians.

The help I got from Mayo back then, they could not accept my application, was encouragement to work with my local providers and the introduction to Mayo CONNECT.

After 4 months with local providers, I started searching for other local providers and have connected with new providers.

I recently applied to Mayo again because of uncertainty with the local providers and, after starting a new cardio med, my neuropathy symptoms increased, med now on hold.

This morning, after telling me they were too busy to accept me, Mayo people gave me something to do - collaboration!

They gave me a phone number for my physician to call the Mayo physicians regarding my condition.

Thank you Mayo !
Steve

Today I had another experience with Mayo’s collaborative culture, in addition to Mayo Connect with you all.

At the beginning of the year, I applied to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to get help.

Get help with my peripheral neuropathy that started after I was given cardio vascular medications.
And also because I discovered I needed to personally manage the communication between multiple physicians.

The help I got from Mayo back then, they could not accept my application, was encouragement to work with my local providers and the introduction to Mayo CONNECT.

After 4 months with local providers, I started searching for other local providers and have connected with new providers.

I recently applied to Mayo again because of uncertainty with the local providers and, after starting a new cardio med, my neuropathy symptoms increased, med now on hold.

This morning, after telling me they were too busy to accept me, Mayo people gave me something to do - collaboration!

They gave me a phone number for my physician to call the Mayo physicians regarding my condition.

Thank you Mayo !
Steve