Excellent post Horst. Tom, Horst practices in a rural area (although by no means the remote Australian "outback") and as such has some additional problems not faced by GPs in urban areas. However, as a urban GP (part-time), I identify with and corroborate his replies to your questions/requirements. Peter Schloeffel -----Original Message----- From: Horst Herb [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, 21 September 2001 01:04 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: hum On Thursday 20 September 2001 23:55, Tom Culpepper wrote: > b) Is willing to provide a free service to maintain my medical records If I see you once for a single short encounter, you pay U$14. But I will have to keep your records for 20 years or more, depending on in which country I work. I will have to be able to prove that nobody tampered the records, and I have to protect them against anybody elese accessing them without your consent. Ad I have to keep them accessible for you as well as provide a copy on request. That is, essentially I keep your record for free as keeping them will cost me far more (in your case) as what you paid me. I am not allowed to hang a disclaimer in my practice saying "Records only kept for practice subscribers" > c) Is willing to look at other medical reports I have from other clinicians I am legally obliged to do so, and I do it all the time > d) Will continue their education of their particular discipline so that I can continue to get the best possible care for free I do not get an extra cent for continuing my medical education, I do not even get a competitive edge by doing so as our practice has a monopoly for a vast area, yet all of us sacrifice about half our holidays for unpaid medical education (we even pay for some out of our own pockets). It's called ethos and professional pride. > e) Can provide all the necessary tools of their trade to perform their job > for free Which we do quite often. When our bush hospital decided to not modernize X-Ray and rather scrap it, our doctors invested in a new equipment knowing the practice will never even come close to getting a return for the investment. Just to provide a better service to an underserviced area, to prevent that patients have to drive an hour or more by car with fractured limbs. Same with the new $100,000 high res ultrasound and a lot of operating theatre equipment for operations we rarely perform. > f) Will make sure that all my medical information can be accessed (securely) and from anyone of my care givers to ensure that I can be > treated correctly from any geographical location I may be in We are legally obliged to do so. Access might not be instant (yet), but we are working on it. For free. > g) Has implemented Quality Assurance measures so that I am assured that I am getting error free care for free again, we are legally obliged. I am getting worried. In what country do you live? Don't you have any standards? No quality assurance? No independent practice accreditation? > h) Will provide detailed documentation of all my procedures, reports, office visits, lab results, prescriptions at a level I can understand Any time. I have to. Legally obliged. > i) Along with other OpenCare Physicians can provide me a team of free individuals to perform all necessary analysis, design, implementation, evolution, modification and support in terms of medical care Don't laugh, but the majority of our "consultations" with specialists when we are stuck with a case happen via a quick phone call. The specialists do not charge for this. Never did. IN fact, I doubt there is any country in the world where a doctor can't ring a specialist at a universoty clinic and get free advice at any time of the day. It is called professional courtesy. > Do these folks exist? If so, can someone point me in the right direction? Cohuna Clinic 111 King George St Cohuna, Vic 3568 Australia > I am also looking for the following books: > > 1) Learn to be a Heart Surgeon in 7 Days > 2) Psychiatry for Idiots > 3) 7 Easy Steps to Family Practice Sorry, we do not trade snake oil. You must confuse us with another profession. Maybe you are looking for C++ in 24 hours? But you can borrow my 12 volumes of "introduction into general surgery" at any time. Horst
