Health care reform: group consultations

This week is the one year anniversary of a pilot program testing out a health care reform theory. The program allows insurance reimbursement to doctors for outcomes, not just services. So a doctor has incentive to hold a phone or email consultation with a patient, or even to call them up and remind them to exercise if that’s the prescription. Some people hope this method will cut down costs and make health care more affordable. Group consultations are also helping patients with the same condition, who can all consult with a doctor or other medical staff at the same time.

We find out what this open approach to medicine is like, and ask a doctor and a patient what the appeal is, and what the limitations are. Dr. Dave Ehrenberger practices at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Colo. and holds the group sessions because they’re better medicine. Leslee Haliburton suffers from diabetes and tells us that she’s learned from her fellow group members as well as her doctors.