Dear Editor,
With each passing day, our legislators wrestle with how to control all of the costs associated with the medical care of everyone in this country’s diverse and scattered population. No thought, though, seems to be given on how to make it the best and most efficient care possible as a means to this end of controlling expenses!
The simple truth is that everyone should learn to take care of their own body and do all they can to prevent health problems. If this simple fact could be applied to the public and they would do this, then great savings could be had and much misery prevented.
Another simple fact is that doctors just don’t know enough, nor do they have the time to educate the public during a one-to-one office visit, nor the time nor the skill needed to motivate the normal person to learn the methods of “SELF-HEALTH” much less apply them on a daily basis. All of this requires much more time and money than our system can afford if done by normal professionals (i.e. doctors, nurses, medical assistants, etc.).
The answer to these problems is on the near horizon and that is the use of computerized medical databases that would analyze the patient’s problems and come up with a list of most likely problems the person has, and a list of suggested tests and remedies for these different problems. All of this could be done today if we were to put the power of the new
Artificial Intelligence Watson type of computer and a team of professionals to work on the delivery of such a HEALTH system. This could result in FREE HEALTH care for everyone. Any of us could access the AI Health Care Database, input our symptoms and get a good idea of what our problem(s) are and what to do about them. This would help many of us from going to Emergency Rooms and to various doctor’s offices when we are just worried or undecided about what to do. If sick, we may well find out that all of our symptoms are those of the common cold that many people have in our surrounding community, since they have already checked in with the computer. In addition, complete explanations of the problems and their possible solutions would be readily available and the computer could send you follow up instructions to encourage you to do the things that will help you to resolve your problems on your own. At the moment 50 percent of our patients don’t even bother filling the prescriptions the doctor prescribed much less follow through on diet, exercise and the cessation of unhealthy habits. All of these could be encouraged much better and more cost effectively by computerized reminders.
The computerized diagnostic suggestions and therapies could be brought to the doctor if and when the patient wants to or needs to see the physician. The physician will then have no excuse not to know the latest since the patient will be handing it to them for their information. Doctors may not like this, but it will decrease billions of dollars of unnecessary diagnostic testing and unneeded treatments while providing the best chances there are for effective healing.
David A Steenblock, BS, MS, DO
Personalized Regenerative Medicine