Finding the ‘right’ care

“Like most of my days, I am either on the phone, driving or both,” said Jeremy Green, Work Health Solutions owner and marketing director.  “During my average week, I drive by billboard after billboard, many of them are for medical offices, doctors or hospitals.  The focus of the medical billboards is generally one of three things: convenience, short wait times or ‘more care.’”

These billboards are offering convenience and ‘more care,’ but for what? Good medicine is not about more care – it is about the right care the first time. Instead of relying on the instant-medicine of today, find a provider you trust and then listen.

“Liking your provider is only a very small part of the story,” Green said. “Trusting their medical expertise is the much larger picture. You want someone that will tell you want you need to hear, not what you want to hear.”

“Shouldn’t that be what we demand from all medical providers?” Green said.

Many health care providers outline promises in their advertisements that apply to any customer-based interaction – like short wait times or convenient locations or hours. While those attributes are wonderful, here’s why they aren’t everything you should consider when picking your health care provider:

Convenience: Convenience obviously is wonderful, if paired with care that is consistent and well appropriated. However, good care from a provider you trust is worth traveling for or choosing them despite the fact that the best choice might not also be the most convenient. Quality health care is worth fitting into your life, not the other way around.

Short wait times: Going to a health care provider that prioritizes your time and values the appointment schedule is an important factor in finding the right fit for you. However, if you have a team of doctors you know is the best for you, then they are worth waiting for as well!

“More” care: More care is not usually better. Remember the days of going to see your doctor, getting a good and thorough exam and then him or her telling you what you need to do? Often times, their prescription involved getting off the couch instead of taking a pill. But, many of these old docs are retiring, and urgent care facilities are popping up on every corner while the future of medicine struggles.

“In life, I have learned there is always someone stronger, smarter and bigger than you, but the reason Work Health Solutions is successful is because we care and strive for perfection in this imperfect world,” Green said.

Instead of listening to the billboards’ advice, here are some tips on how to know how to pick a provider:

• Find and interview providers that are independent.
• Research them and work with them to take care of your family or company.
• You chose them for a reason, so trust their suggestions. And if you don’t trust them, move on.

The selection of the right provider is equally important in life as it is for occupational medicine.  “When we suggest you trust them, respect their medical expertise even if it means you didn’t get what you wanted,” Green said.  “I personally respect that more than someone that will give you what you want, even though it is not medically needed, just because you pay their bills.

“There is a balance in medicine between the patient and the provider,” Green said. “After all, you pay the bills and you are the customer, but you have to be able to rely and trust your provider to do the right thing even if you don’t like the answer. The hard truths aren’t as easy as a billboard, but sometimes quality care is enough, but also easily compromised.”