How the Typical Doctor Addresses Technology and Your Health

Physicians have an incredible job. The best of the doctors must constantly keep on top of everything that is happening in the medical field. They spend hours reading updated studies and the latest research. Pharmaceutical representatives show up at their door encouraging the newest medication that a doctor will want to prescribe. The strangest part of all of this is that the average doctor is very slow at adopting any new medical technology, even if it could save them time.

The technology of e-prescribing has been around for over ten years. This is a quick and efficient process of ordering prescriptions for a patient and having the prescription automatically sent to the pharmacy for you. Sadly, most physicians around the U.S. didn’t look into or even want to sign up for this fast and efficient process. While there are a number of reasons, it just came down to two: lack of interest is making any changes and the ease of doing a handwritten prescription.

As a patient, you also have to understand that doctors are very aware of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) laws. This is a Federal law that ensures complete and total privacy for you as a patient. When you get a prescription at the pharmacy, you will be required to sign your HIPAA form. All medical entities are required to keep your health information private. Physicians were initially a bit skeptical on the HIPAA compliancy when it came to the automated medical technology.

Another thing that you have to realize is that in a doctor’s office they are often not the people responsible for all of the follow up after their appointment with you. It is the people in the front office area that ensure that prescriptions are called in, follow up appointments are made, specialists are referred, and your insurance company is billed. The doctor is often there just for his or her specialty service and nothing else. It is for this reason that physicians sometimes don’t feel the need to add any technologies because they aren’t directly involved in the process.

If you are looking for a doctor, whether a general family physician or a specialist, you will also want to do a bit of research on the overall approach. Most of the old-school doctors stand firmly behind just dispensing medication and common health advice. If you want to include alternative approaches for your health, you need to find out if the doctor includes integrative medicine advisement. This will typically include a balance of medication with holistic and alternative supplements. A doctor that embraces the integrative approach is also usually more up-to-speed in technology and will be partnered with other alternative practitioners and physicians. These doctors keep up on the latest studies in a natural approach and will ensure that the counseling they give you includes advice to keep drug interactions from occurring. These interactions are not just possible negative effects between the medication that you may be taking, but include other OTC, natural, herbs and supplements that may have problems when combined with medication

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.