Waiting for the government is an act of madness. We need to lead the innovation ourselves.
General practice (and general practice advocacy) is a reactive sport. An obsession with waiting for government to announce is born of a desire to stay at the table.
This means innovation is led by clinics. Independent clinics don’t have the size to build all by themselves so partnerships are inevitable.
So, here are my top picks for those programs and groups I want to partner with in the next 12 months.
Private health insurance
Controversial but inevitable.
So many of my patients ask me “will my private health insurance cover this”. And our interests weirdly align.
I want Kevin to lose weight because it might make his osteoarthritis better. Private health insurance wants Kevin to lose weight so they might avoid paying for a total knee replacement.
They have the money – I have the patient in front of me. I want to work with them to achieve a better outcome for Kevin.
Insurers are swimming in cash and desperate for “member engagement”. I want more funding to help consumers.
Telehealth-only providers
A putrid mix of groups in here but I think we can avoid throwing out the benefits with the bathwater.
Predatory medical certificate providers and marijuana floggers aside there are some groups here that could help me help my patients.
Comprehensive multidisciplinary weight-loss programs? Yes. STI screening programs? Yes. I want to leverage the best of them (evidence-based, scalable programs that fill gaps we can’t build in-house).
Direct to consumer testing
Another one my colleagues hate – blood tests that aren’t evidence-based; whole-body MRI; gut biome testing.
A tricky field, but honestly consumers are going to access these services anyway, and I would rather have an opportunity to discuss it with them and then help them to access this in a safe fashion that keeps the clinician in the loop.
There are also some great ones in here – groups targeting missed, evidence-based screening with at-home testing (ie, CST)? Yes.
Private access to CGM for patients at high risk of diabetes to inform choices? Yes.
Partnering with ethical providers in the space helps my consumers access this more safely and with better clinical support and oversight.
Wearables and consumer tech
Fitbit, Apple Health, Whoop – I want access to patients’ real-world data in more meaningful ways to help patients have a home for this data alongside our more clinically validated measures.
It’s a tricky one to land but consumers have already made the choice and we need to stop ignoring it.
Dr Max Mollenkopf is a GP and practice owner in Newcastle, NSW. This article was first published on his LinkedIn feed. Read the original here.
