e-Patient Dave

April 25, 2013 By e-Patient Dave 6 Comments

The reality of shopping for health insurance

I keep hearing disparaging things about what lousy consumers patients are – unable to understand how things work, unable to understand the options. Well, as I often say in my speeches, in any other industry you go out of business if consumers don’t understand you – because customers ditch you. But in medicine we consumers can’t easily do that. Heck, we can hardly get our hands on information in the first place.

Case in point: when I shopped for health insurance in 2011, I found out just how slanted the table is when companies offer insurance and consumers buy it. Here’s the true story of the information I was given.

1. Cancer? You can’t play in our market – go away.

First, Blue Cross of New Hampshire asked if I’d ever had various things. When I said cancer, they went from cordial & friendly to cold and “go away.” It was rude, frankly.

But at least I could get at the high risk pool. Some states won’t let people like me get ANY insurance without a six month waiting period. (Up yours, states. And up yours, regulators in those states.)

2. Here are your options. Figure it out yourself.

[Read more…]

April 21, 2013 By e-Patient Dave Leave a Comment

Book launch celebration is finished. Game on!

Just a quick note as the weekend ends –

The book launch celebration for Let Patients Help has finished. Over 1500 copies are in circulation now, including both ebooks and the print edition.

I’ve updated the book’s web page, with the complete list of links to all the places to buy it online, and the newest praise, which I love:

“There’s not a doctor or patient in the land who won’t benefit from reading this clear, concise manual which sets out how each can contribute and collaborate to get better and safer healthcare.”

Dr. Tessa Richards, Analysis Editor, British Medical Journal

Thanks for everyone’s support! And remember, now that the book’s finished, the real work begins: spreading the word in earnest, and getting zillions of people to know what’s in it.

April 19, 2013 By e-Patient Dave 2 Comments

Meeting organizers and practice managers: consider bulk purchases of Let Patients Help

I have a suggestion, a bold one, to go large with this cause:

Buy and distribute a pile of this book. Here.

I say that because of the strong response it’s getting. As any proud parent (or author) would be, I’m thrilled at the response to Let Patients Help. I mean, I’m little ol’ me, with no big marketing department, no publicist, etc, but in the past 11 days well over 1,300 people have downloaded the free ebook offer (which ends Saturday), and scores of people have purchased the print edition.

It’s really interesting when people buy something they could get for free. They must like it.

Meanwhile, @DoctorCaldwell here in the U.K., where I just spoke at a conference, downloaded it and already said this on Twitter:

@ePatientDave Dear Dave that didn’t take 90 mins to read!

Yes, I made it short – so it’s worth reading. He continues:

How do I get 100 copies to use with my inpatients? :-) :-) Gordon

Why not?? It reminded me of what famous doctor @Berci said on the back cover: [Read more…]

April 19, 2013 By e-Patient Dave 4 Comments

Continue the #Quality2013 discussion!

I just finished a talk at the Internatioal Quality Forum hosted by the British Medical Journal and the Institute for Quality Improvement. (The Twitter hashtag is #Quality2013.) What a thrill to talk here – making the case to Let Patients Help!

There was a timing glitch, though – they accidentally ended my talk 15 minutes early, so there was no question and answer. Attendees, if you’d like to discuss, leave a question in the comments here.

April 17, 2013 By e-Patient Dave 3 Comments

Book promotion: Awesome deals on Let Patients Help, this week only!

Updated 4/21:

This promotion has ended, with over 1,500 copies now in circulation, including print and e-books!
The links below will still let you buy, in print or ebook formats (ePub for iBook, Kindle, PDF, etc)
See also Saturday’s post suggesting bulk purchases to further the movement and help transform your practice.

The original post:

This week only – through Saturday, April 20:

1. Free e-book download!

There’s an amazing self-publishing site called Smashwords that gives me total control over distribution of my e-book editions.

Through Saturday, get it FREE on Smashwords! Not an excerpt – the whole book! In Kindle format, or ePub (for Apple iBook and others), PDF, and a slew of other formats!

Click here and SCROLL DOWN to the download list (“available ebook reading formats”).
Questions? See their support FAQ. If that fails, write to support@epatientdave.com and we’ll do our best to help.

2. 50% off on the print edition!

Also through Saturday, get the print edition on CreateSpace at HALF PRICE! At checkout, copy & paste this discount code LMQ6RVTF in the “apply discount” box.

Note: CreateSpace lets me set my own price and discounts, but they do not have overnight delivery. Right now it’s showing delivery in a week or so, depending on shipping speed. For quick delivery (at list price), use Amazon: