Dr. A Show Tonight

Thursday, November 4th, 2010 at 9pmET

I invite you to join me for Doctor Anonymous Show 192 tonight where I will talk about my experience at the 2010 Family Medicine Education Consortium meeting in Hershey, PA. I had a fun time learning more about what great stuff Family Docs are doing out there when it comes to patient care. I got to sit in on the Health Care Innovator's network where Family Docs talked about unique health care models that not only deliver high quality care, but also do this at a cheaper price than what we're doing now.

I also was part of a panel discussion where the topic was Family Medicine and Social Media. As you know, I love talking about both these topics, and if you get a chance to check out the video, you'll see how passionate I am about these two topics. One of the really fun things was watching the REACH kids as they danced and performed during the meeting.

Following talk about the meeting, I have a little commentary about how a school - just fired a bunch of people this week - without no one in the press knowing about it. How was this able to happen? Well, they were fired on Election Day this week where the press was focused on other stories. I'll tell you what I know. And, if you have been reading this blog, you won't be surprised which school I'll be talking about.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Family Medicine & Social Media

I was very happy to be part of a presentation last weekend at the Family Medicine Education Consortium meeting in Hershey, PA. In the video above, you'll see the highlights of my portion of a presentation having to do with Family Medicine and social media. I want to apologize for the poor lighting and fair sound quality of this video. I'm still a novice at being a videographer, but I hope that the content will keep you watching.

The big picture point of my talk is that Family Medicine has a unique story to tell as far as our point of view of how we take care of patients. It is my opinion that we as a speciality have allowed others to define who we are and what we do. And, most of the time, we are on the defensive explaining why we are not the stereotype that others characterize us to me. Family Medicine needs to stand up and advocate for itself, and I hope this message came through in this talk. As always, I welcome your feedback. Enjoy!

American Diabetes Month

November is American Diabetes Month and I invite you to check out the American Diabetes Association site for more information about this. In the video above, I talk with a local TV news reporter about the risk factors, complications, and ways to prevent diabetes.

The interview was only about 2 minutes, and there is only so much info that can be covered, but the interview seemed to go ok. If you found the video helpful, I invite you to check out more of my TV interviews on my you tube channel. Happy November!

Kids From REACH at #fmecnet

The residency fair is always a popular place for medical students to be during the Family Medicine Education Consortium NE region meeting. At the 2010 meeting in Hershey, PA, there was an added bonus in that the kids from Reach, Inc in Central Pennsylvania also performed for us.

REACH is a visual & performing arts and education organization promoting Greater Academic Achievements through the performing arts. And, you'll see in the video above just how inspirational these kids are and this program is. Enjoy!

More interviews from #fmecnet

Thanks to Larry Bauer who recorded the videos above at the 2010 Family Medicine Education Consortium meeting in Hershey, PA. In one video, you'll see meeting attendees sharing why they enjoyed this year's meeting. And, in the other video, you'll see a session where people are learning to square dance. Enjoy!

Med Students at #fmecnet

It's always great talking with med students at the Family Medicine Education Consortium NE region meeting. At the 2010 meeting in Hershey, PA, I was able to speak to these three students about their experience at the meeting and why other med students should attend. Enjoy the video above!

Video: Health Care Innovators at #fmecnet

I was finally able to edit together some of the video I recorded at the Health Care Innovators network meeting here at the Family Medicine Education Consortium NE region meeting in Hershey, PA (twitter hashtag #fmecnet). I invite you to check out my full text blog post on this by clicking here. I apologize for not being able to get all the presenters on video since I had to leave the session early. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the video above!

Health Care Innovators at #fmecnet

I went to a bunch of sessions today grouped together under the umbrella of the "Health Care Innovations Network" at the Family Medicine Education Consortium NE region meeting. I'm trying to get people to tweet during the meeting (hashtag #fmecnet). That concept is pretty new here, but to follow what we have so far, you can check it out here.

The moderators for the sessions were Paul Grundy, MD, Roland Goetrz, MD, and Edward Zurad, MD. These three are also going to be doing the keynote speeches during this meeting. I really wasn't sure about what I would get out of these sessions. But, I was pleasantly surprised by what I learned.

Everyone knows the many weaknesses of the current US model of health care including more payment for procedures as opposed to prevention. But, there is very little heard about those programs who are using different models or care. The models that we heard about included "Health Access Rhode Island," and Scituate Health Alliance. We also heard of physicians who directly talk with health care purchasers (ie - employers).

Everyone in the Family Medicine community knows that we give great health care in this country. Unfortunately, there was not enough data out there to back up this claim. I'm learning now that there are pockets of the country who have been gathering this data and presenting this data to employers and insurance companies. The data shows that, when done the right way, Family Docs deliver high quality care at decreased cost.

The problem is that no one (or very few people) know about these successful health care delivery models. One of the questions that came up today was this: "Can these smaller, successful programs scale up to take care of more patients - and still maintain their success numbers." That's the (multi) trillion dollar question.

I recorded a bunch of short video clips from this morning's sessions. I hope to edit that stuff and post it up to the blog tonight. I do have to tell you though - that I feel a little out of my element in that most of the people here are academic docs who have a lot of different day-to-day issues than community docs like me. But, like other conferences I've been to this month, our main focus is still the patient, and how we can deliver the best care both on a microeconomic and macroeconomic level.

Getting to #fmecnet meeting 2010

Since I'm passionate about creating content, I recorded some video, edited it when I arrived at the hotel, and uploaded it for all of you to enjoy (hehe). It was a really nice drive to Hershey, PA getting ready for the 2010 Family Medicine Education Consortium NE Region meeting. As you'll see in the video above, the fall leaves gave a great backdrop to today's drive. I'm really looking forward to this year's meeting, my panel presentation this weekend, networking with Family Docs, and letting them know about social media.

The twitter hashtag for the meeting is #fmecnet. And, even if I am the only one tweeting at the meeting, my goal is to teach these family docs the benefits of social media and how much fun it is! Hopefully my friends out there on twitter will help me show the power of twitter in that even though you're not here on site, you interact with me and know what's going on at this year's FMEC meeting. Keep track of the blog and of my twitter feed for updates...

Dr. A Show 191 Wrap-up

Thanks to Kat for being my co-host for Doctor Anonymous Show 191. This was a typical Saturday night show where we share a little bit about our past week, talk about some news stories, and relax with our friends in the chat room. In the video clip above, you'll see the opening moments of the show.

As always, you can listen to the entire audio podcast in the sidebar of this site. Or, if you like, you can download Show 191 from the show's iTunes page, and listen any time. I also invite you to check out the show's facebook page and hit the huge "Like" button at the top. Finally, you can also check out other video segments from past shows over on my you tube page. Thanks as always for your continued support of my blog and of the show!