The non-hospital: Putting patients at the center of care

For Melissa Hicks, it’s not the constant pain, the fatigue and the host of other symptoms that come with her autoimmune disease that make her sick. “What makes me feel really sick is all the work I have to do because I’m a patient,” she said. “Being sick became another full-time job. … When you’re sick, you can’t do two full-time jobs.” Burdens of the current health care environment       Melissa Hicks shares her perspective as a patient with a chronic disease. Hicks, who suffers from Sjogren’s Syndrome, was talking to a room full of physician leaders from health systems around the country during the 2016 AMA Annual Meeting. She described all the appointments she has to schedule over the phone, the calls to argue with her insurance company, the never-ending bills, the calls for test results, the unfilled prescriptions and canceled appointments that her insurance company refused to cover, the need to carry medical records from specialist to specialist, and the hours and days of lost work as she tries to coordinate her care. “I know there’s something called physician burnout, but I think there’s something called patient burnout too,” Hicks said. “Think what effect all this might be having on my health.” “What effect do you think that has on patient compliance?” she said. “My intentions are good, but I don’t always follow through. I can’t always follow through. The...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news