Here’s a thought.

A health service, where you could

  • seek secondary opinions when necessary from a doctor of your choice from the directory made up of top rated specialist from across the country and global perhaps,
  • seek a medical counselor to tag-long on doctor visits or the like and help you understand the whole deal i.e. the illness, treatment options, pros and cons etc in layman terms,
  • store your health records

There are plenty of ways to seek secondary opinions and a lot of people do that in today’s world since it allows them to vet the diagnosis and the treatment and let’s face it, the doctor-patient trust equation isn’t really what it used to be. It’s doable for people in the big cities however beyond that, it’s very difficult. Having your health records available electronically and having access to a doctor of your choosing electronically can however fix this.

How many of us have seen or experienced people, otherwise great at their day jobs, when into health issues especially involving a surgery seek counseling from a doctor or “wise” people in their circles. And by wise I mean people who’ve had prior experience of dealing with doctors and health issue in some form. This is usually sought as a favor. How about someone professional – a health professional with sufficient experience at your service to accompany you to the doctor on your visits or sit beside you on a doctor’s daily rounds and help you understand the choices you stand up against. You still have to make the decision, of course however, an enabler of making an informed well-understood decision.

All this would surely be riding on the infrastructure of electronic health records, a directory of health professionals, online appointments, recommendations basis yours and your family’s history.

Welcome any views on this.