The PMD Critical List: An Uber for Healthcare?

Will housecalls make a comeback via on-demand services like Uber? That story tops this week’s PMD Critical List. Also making the list: Five reasons physicians fail as leaders, and what’s behind the rise in the number of osteopaths?

• Is the House Call Really Dead? (The Los Angeles Times)

A profile of Dr. Michael Oppenheim, a 76-year-old Los Angeles physician, who “has spent virtually his entire career making house calls.” The report also offers some insights into the new concept of "Uber for healthcare.”

• Myth-Busting the Modern Physician (Becker’s Hospital Review)

“Many long-standing stereotypes about physicians—especially regarding their attitudes toward physician preference items, financial relationships, and practice priorities—are simply not true.”

A survey from Procured Health punctures four myths about doctors.

• Happy Birthday to Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (The Huffington Post)

A thoughtful tribute in recognition of the 194^th birthday of “the first woman to receive an MD from an American medical school,” a landmark achieved in 1849. It’s also the day that the Physicians Mom Group has declared National Women Physicians Day.

• Nearly All Doctors Feel Burnout (PR Newswire)

According to a new survey by the Studer Group, 90% of physicians “stated they have experienced symptoms of burnout at some point in their career.” Nearly two out of three “say they sometimes consider leaving medicine” and over half think medical “leaders are not actively taking steps to prevent burnout.”

• Why More Doctors Are Walking Away From Medicare (D Healthcare Daily)

A report on “surprise billing”—how Medicare patients are “being forced to pay extra money out of pocket for scheduling a visit with their doctor if he/she happened to no longer be in the network specified by their Medicare plan.”

• A Text a Day Keeps the Doctor Away (CNN)

“A simple text message reminder can double the odds that a patient will take their medications as prescribed,” according to a new JAMA study. Does this type of texting, “found to be cost-effective, practical and adaptable,” have the potential to prevent major clinical events such as heart attacks, strokes and premature death?

• Helping Physicians After a Serious Medical Error? (Becker’s Hospital Review)

A new study in Academic Medicine “found that although healthcare institutions are increasingly recognizing the physician as the 'second victim' of medical error, more attention needs to be placed on reframing the error into a positive post-learning event, rather than a 'coping' framework." Here are seven recovery tips.

• Five Reasons Why Physicians Fail As Leaders (Forbes)

“Most physicians are smart and very talented, but despite such abilities, they fail to get others to follow them, once they take on the role of leader. As a consequence, they’re unable to get other physicians to change or improve performance.” It’s Dr. “Enabler” vs. Dr. “Derailer.”

• Number of DO Practitioners on the Climb (Businesswire.com)

The number of osteopathic physicians practicing in 12 states has more than doubled over the past decade, according to the 2015 Report on the Osteopathic Medical Profession. “Osteopathic medical schools developed during this time are strategically located in rural and underserved areas where they can significantly improve the overall health of their communities.”

• Medical Mystery with a Global Reach (The New York Times)

An in-depth report on how “a sudden increase in babies with ‘no foreheads and very strange heads’ baffled doctors in Brazil. The search for answers led to a barely known pathogen, the Zika virus.” The CDC says it’s “all but inevitable that there will be at least small outbreaks” in the United States.