Reminds me of my grandfather's office -- he was the only doctor in town and he dispensed all the drugs.
I think this is great. Like many things it can have scale problems: in countries where doctors dispense drugs directly (like Japan), prescriptions are higher. But that's hardly the problem in this case!
(After my GF died my mum collected all this stuff. He had a file for re-sharpening his needles after they had been boiled. Ouch! He opened his practice around 1930 and worked for a subsequent 50 years, through wars and foreign occupation.)
Curious, how do other nations with free health care handle the homeless that treat hospitals like a free hotel/bed and breakfast (free food and service!). Anecdotally, this is what I'm hearing from my nurse friends in the US recently.
Send them to a more appropriate healthcare provider or give them outpatient treatment if they don't have a problem that requires them to be admitted to a hospital?
> On a recent visit, Ciarlo estimated she had saved at least $100 on prescriptions for standard generic steroids and antibiotics that in total cost her $6.
Prescriptions are not the highest cost item within healthcare. [1] Perhaps it is just the title that is misleading however, because this would likely affect the number of people needing to go to a hospital or other care facility as well.
This is very similar to a new trend: Concierge medicine[1]
I know of several doctors moving towards this model. It's quite disruptive to patients who can't use their insurance for their doctor anymore, and must find new providers.
I've been thinking about writing something about 'the predicaments of doctors and patients', based on stories from my various taxi passengers.
I don't think doctors appreciate how the system is rigged against them. Patients just want to feel better - sometimes their problem gets solved, sometimes they get fed to the medical machine.
Since going to the pharmacy is a monthly deal and an expensive one, won't people be willing to settle on retail locations and density, to save significant amount of money(Maybe doing a family purchase) ? So that takes care of all the store fixed costs. And such a store would get an high density of customers, so it could always sell them something else.
And as for the cost of the pharmacists, in a well run pharmacy, with lower cost employees helping as much as they can, pharmacists can do their jobs very fast, a few short minutes per customer. And even if their salary salary is $1/min(six figures), that isn't much money.
EDIT: and btw, in Israel, with our national healthcare, pharmacies are pressed on margins by government/HMO's - and they lose money on drugs(or so the newspapers claim), but profit by selling other stuff(OTC/herbal/cosmetics/etc).
Readit News
I think this is great. Like many things it can have scale problems: in countries where doctors dispense drugs directly (like Japan), prescriptions are higher. But that's hardly the problem in this case!
(After my GF died my mum collected all this stuff. He had a file for re-sharpening his needles after they had been boiled. Ouch! He opened his practice around 1930 and worked for a subsequent 50 years, through wars and foreign occupation.)
I'd say that's practically free.
someone has to pay for it...
[1] - https://www1.aetna.com/assets_aetnaCom/images/aetnaCom_rebra...
Liability insurance for example will come under this and so will the retainer for the lawyers who will help you understand complexities of ACA.
I know of several doctors moving towards this model. It's quite disruptive to patients who can't use their insurance for their doctor anymore, and must find new providers.
1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concierge_medicine
I don't think doctors appreciate how the system is rigged against them. Patients just want to feel better - sometimes their problem gets solved, sometimes they get fed to the medical machine.
And as for the cost of the pharmacists, in a well run pharmacy, with lower cost employees helping as much as they can, pharmacists can do their jobs very fast, a few short minutes per customer. And even if their salary salary is $1/min(six figures), that isn't much money.
EDIT: and btw, in Israel, with our national healthcare, pharmacies are pressed on margins by government/HMO's - and they lose money on drugs(or so the newspapers claim), but profit by selling other stuff(OTC/herbal/cosmetics/etc).
Seems like a "business opportunity" that was missed until recently (mildly ironic statement)
Edit: I actually like the idea and hopefully it will help people priced out of health plans