New Ideas and Projects
We are all living through the same economic downturn even though each one of us is affected to a different degree. Some may have seen the value of their homes and investments go down but are relatively unaffected otherwise. Others may have been affected to a much greater extent, seeing their incomes go down or even losing their jobs.
This is an unfortunate situation and I hope that the recession will turn into a recovery very soon. Nevertheless, because of the depth and spread of this downturn, it is possible that some aspects of the crisis may be long-lasting. For example, even when we are well into a recovery our disposable income and access to credit may still not match what they used to be.
In terms of our health, an economic downturn will not, unfortunately, mean that we stop having health concerns. It also doesn’t mean that those of us who gravitate towards natural treatments will stop doing so. It only means that we may need to be more careful as to how we invest our healthcare dollars.
In addition, holistic or natural treatments are likely to remain primarily an out-of-pocket expense regardless of whether we continue with our private health insurance system or gravitate towards European-style nationalized medicine.
The bottom line is that people like me who provide natural healthcare need to be creative and develop alternative options so that those who cannot afford the full price can still have access to our services at a more accessible cost. Unfortunately, the way that I and others in my field work is inevitably expensive because of the high degree of personal attention that is provided to each individual patient.
I love to work this way and plan to continue doing so as long as there are people asking for my services. At the same time I have a variety of ideas for ways in which I can make parts of my services accessible at reduced rates, and I plan to make these programs available over the coming months.
Those who may take advantage of these new services include people who have seen their disposable income reduced by the recession. It might also include a variety of other people who have already done a great deal of personal research and only would like my help to a limited extent to help them connect the dots. Or it may be those who are already working with another healthcare provider but would like to hear my opinion. For example I already get many such requests, mostly from parents of autistic children who live in a different state and see a doctor locally, but who would like my advice or opinion on specific topics.
Under this new system people will continue to have the option to make a new patient appointment with me and receive a great deal of individualized attention and follow-up, as always. Alternatively, they will be able to book my time in increments of 20 minutes for as long or as little as they wish. These limited appointments will be available in person or by phone and people will be able to present any situation and ask for my advice, but the appointment will end when the time they booked is over and there will be no further reports or follow-up included.
Following the consults, or independently of them, people will also be able to order lab tests through my office and receive the results from the lab together with a report from me with my interpretation and recommendations.
In addition, I am thinking of offering regular teleconferences or even videoconferences for small groups, of, say, no more than ten people. These people would all share a specific health concern and I would discuss that topic and then allow enough time for each participant to ask questions and receive some degree of personal attention.
Since this is a work in progress I also invite any feedback or ideas readers may want to offer. In this effort you may be a participant in shaping the medicine of the future.
