Sharing the Responsibility of Medical Decision Making

When you think of medical decision making, you may think of it as something that you, the healthcare provider, have to do all on your own. The truth is, however, that shared decision making, which involves patients and doctors both working together to make decisions about a patient’s needs and treatment options, can actually be more beneficial both to the patient and the doctor. Patients who understand their medical

conditions and treatment options more thoroughly are often less anxious about the treatment process.

This truth has recently been explored even further by a study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. The study looked at patients suffering from hip and knee osteoarthritis and the effect that shared medical decision making had on their experiences with the treatment process. The study found that those who were involved in shared decision making, especially when helpful applications, informative DVDs, and other knowledge tools were used, were able to make smart treatment choices more quickly and that they felt better about those choices.

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Method of Conception Plays a Role in Medical Decision Making

Mother's Love (Photo credit: Fabio Trifoni)

Doctors' advice to soon-to-be-mothers who have recently conceived is probably something that you think would stay essentially the same from doctor to doctor and from mother to mother.  A recent study published in News Medical, however, finds that medical decision making often varies based on the method of conception employed by the mother. The study, conducted by professionals from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hebrew University, found, most notably, that women who use assisted reproductive technologies are likely to  receive different prenatal testing advice than those who conceive naturally.

One example from the study- one that really shows the variations in medical decision making between the two conception scenarios- is the finding that approximately 45% of doctors said they would automatically recommend amniocentesis for a mother thirty-seven or older if she conceived naturally, while only 19% of doctors would do the same for an older mother who had conceived with the help of reproductive technologies. The exact reasons behind this variation are not yet known, though further research is expected to be done in the near future.

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Changes Rocking the Medical Community

For years, healthcare professionals have relied on the ICD-9, a comprehensive listing of 14,000 medical codes, to assist them with medical decision making and general medical billing. While the ICD-9 is far from simple to understand, most professionals are, at the very least, familiar with the listing and how to use it. Unfortunately, though, all of that is about to change.  

In October 2015, a new medical coding system will be used; it’s aptly named the ICD-10, but many are upset because it’s so much larger and more overwhelming than its predecessor. The ICD-10 will encompass a whopping 68,000 medical codes.

Obviously, as a healthcare professional, you have a lot on your mind already, and you don’t need medical decision making or billing to be any more complex than it already is. Fortunately, you can count on the super easy and accessible medical billing app available at DeductorMD.com; the app makes understanding the new coding system and using it effectively, a breeze!

If you are a healthcare clinician, are you using todays new healthcare app, DeductorMD?

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Increased Codes, Increased Costs

Medical decision making isn’t easy—no matter how long you’ve been in the healthcare industry or how well you know the codes. And unfortunately, it’s about to get even tougher. The government has created some new rules that are going to have an impact on medical billing codes in the near future.  

While healthcare professionals only have to be familiar with 14,000 codes right now, that should jump to a scary 68,000 once the changeover is complete!  

FutureofCapitalism.com recently published a news article showing some of the new system’s crazier codes, which include a code for spacecraft collisions and a code for a parrot bite during a first-time encounter with the bird.

Not only will these new codes change medical decision making for healthcare professionals, but getting the new codes set up and working is going to be quite costly and difficult for healthcare facilities.

Like it or not, the change is coming however. The best thing you can do is to make your job easier any way you can, which is something you can easily do with help from the DeductorMD app!

If you are a healthcare clinician, are you using todays new healthcare app, DeductorMD?

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Diagnostics Made Simple

Health care professionals are frequently called on to make decisions or diagnoses about what health conditions, diseases, or general ailments a person may be suffering from based on his or her symptoms. As any doctor knows, however,  a person’s symptoms are not always a reliable indicator of what he or she is suffering from.

Not everyone, for example, who is suffering from a particular health issue will manifest the same symptoms or experience symptoms at the same severity level. Furthermore, symptoms can often overlap, meaning a particular symptom or even a set of symptoms can be indicative of multiple health issues.

Fortunately, medical decision making, at least when it comes to arriving at diagnoses for billing purposes, just got a whole lot easier. Smartphone applications, such as the DeductorMD are currently available that allow healthcare professionals to put in information about their patients’ medical histories, disease risk factors, and symptoms. Such applications will then analyze this information and garner billing assistance based on the analysis. Thanks to modern technology, medical decision making for billing purposes has never been simpler!

If you are a healthcare clinician, are you using todays new healthcare app, DeductorMD?

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Seeing a New Doctor for an Old Problem

Medical decision making can often be a difficult and complex process, especially when you find yourself in a complicated situation. What would you do, for example, if a patient came to see you with the same problem that he or she had recently been to see a different doctor about?

Well, it would be your job to treat the problem as a brand new problem, providing that the other doctor the

patient saw was the same type of practitioner and that the patient had seen that doctor within the last three years. In this type of situation, healthcare practitioners are advised to treat the issue as not having been fully addressed by the other physician and as a brand new problem to be explored from all angles.

Fortunately, there are “intelligent” applications that can help you to know what to do, ethically and legally, in even the most confusing situations. Take advantage of these wonderful technological tools to make your life easier.

If you are a healthcare clinician, are you using todays new healthcare app for Medical Decision Making, DeductorMD?

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More and More People Hiring Patient Advocate

Patient advocates are becoming quite trendy among the middle to upper class sects in America. These professionals charge a fee to assist people who are undergoing or who have undergone medical treatments with a variety of needs related to their treatment.

One of those needs involves their medical bills. Patient advocates will often help people to understand everything that they were billed for and will also carefully comb over medical bills, looking for and reporting any errors that they find.

While those who work in decision support systems in healthcare are glad that more of their patients are accessing help and assistance, these professionals also realize the need to be even more careful with the billing process. These days, there are a lot of people who might be checking and double-checking those bills, so it’s wise that you not make any errors.

Fortunately for all who work in decision support systems in healthcare and related fields, there are many excellent apps to make billing and even double-checking billing a lot easier. One great app can be found at DeductorMD.com.

If you are a healthcare clinician, are you using todays new healthcare app for Medical Decision Making, DeductorMD?

Choosing Healthcare Software

Medical billing and general medical decision making are very complex in today’s world. And, thanks to the new medical billing coding system, they’re about to get even more complex. For this reason, a lot of companies that have long been satisfied with their old-fashioned ways of handling billing are deciding to switch to newer methods. Fortunately, for them, there is a lot of software out there specifically designed to help with medical decision making and related processes.

When choosing software, however, it’s extremely important to pay attention to whether the software is intended for a large or small practice. Picking software that’s not really compatible with your business size can leave you with a lot of features you don’t need, or in some cases, with software you really can’t use. The popular Epic software, for example, is virtually useless to small practices but great for large hospitals.

Also remember that, in addition to your healthcare software, it’s wise to have an easily accessible app that you can take with you wherever you go. A great app that you can quickly consult for the Medical Decision Making component is available at DeductorMD.com. With the right software and that app on your side, you can’t go wrong!

If you are a healthcare clinician, are you using todays new healthcare app for Medical Decision Making, DeductorMD?

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