Doctors, Patients Tell All

When doctors get together socially, it’s no secret they wax and wane about why many patients come to see them, receive their advice and then ignore it. The conundrum remains part of that silent dialogue we’ll call “What I Really Want to Tell You.”

Consumer Reports surveyed nearly 50,000 subscribers and 660 primary care physicians, and the results reveal both sides are doing “ok” in certain areas, while others need improvement. It’s all about communication.

“A primary care doctor should be your partner in overall health, not just someone you go to for minor problems or a referral to specialty care,” said Kevin Grumbach, M.D., professor and chair of the department of family and community medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.

Doctors Say

• Noncompliance bothers them; they can’t deliver the best care.
• Insurance paperwork also interferes with care delivery.
• They’re getting less respect than they used to.
• They’d like patients to bring someone along to take appointment notes, and to keep informal records of conditions, treatments, medications.
• They don’t love when patients bring in Internet research.

All of them do want to deliver the best care. It’s why doctors become doctors.

The SignatureMD model of concierge medicine encourages the return of the real doctor-patient relationship, the partnership. Personalized healthcare removes the rush and the stress from that interaction, allowing doctors to really deliver—the best care.

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About SignatureMD

SignatureMD is one of the nation’s largest firms providing initial conversion and ongoing support services to concierge medicine physicians. SignatureMD currently partners with over 200 affiliated primary care physicians and specialists across 35 states, and its network is rapidly expanding.