Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (nCoV-2019)

[Richard White]

That's why having a (good) family doctor is so important and why moving from doctor to doctor can create problems. (And a good doc who retires should transfer all records to their successor.)

I've going to the same office since 2006. My original doctor retired around 2014 and the doctor who took over is "efficient".

Unless you make an appointment for boosters you aren't getting them. He will only do one thing at a time (whatever you came in for) and show you the door as quick as possible

 

[zang]

What I meant was the boosters I should have got but didn't.

As adults, we should be getting boosters but none of us do nor do doctors ever remind us.

Change your doctor. Mine has made sure I'm up to date, with zero prompting. Even said that in a few years I'll be getting a shot for shingles.

 

[Richard White]

Change your doctor. Mine has made sure I'm up to date, with zero prompting. Even said that in a few years I'll be getting a shot for shingles.

I'm considering it. He is focusing more on making money via walk-ins than he is patient care.

He always overbooks and rushes people out the door. His kids are the receptionists and really are not very helpful.

 

[Bayer]

That's why having a (good) family doctor is so important and why moving from doctor to doctor can create problems. (And a good doc who retires should transfer all records to their successor.)

Some years ago, I had an excellent doctor who decided to abandon her family practice to work at one of those executive health clinics. Then her replacement also left, with no warning; the family health team dumped me and sent my file to a medical records storage company, and I had to pay $120 to retrieve it.

 

[gabe]

Some years ago, I had an excellent doctor who decided to abandon her family practice to work at one of those executive health clinics. Then her replacement also left, with no warning; the family health team dumped me and sent my file to a medical records storage company, and I had to pay $120 to retrieve it.

My old doctor has my all files. He was busted for child porn and video recording men in public going to the bathroom. He's charging 100 bucks for us to retrieve our files. I'm not giving that creep a dime! Although he was a good doctor.

The doctor i have now, i think spends more time on the golf course than at the office. His hours are awful, he only works a few days a week during the summer. I feel like saying to him, go retire and give your practice to a younger physician who will work full time.

 

[W. K. Lis]

OHIP should really keep all of our vaccine records. In addition, we should be able to at least download them to our smartphone, tablets, or computers for our own piece of mind, and to remind us of the needed boosters.

 

[Northern Light]

511 new cases

2.6% positivity

ICU +5 to 116

0 deaths

 

[PinkLucy]

OHIP should really keep all of our vaccine records. In addition, we should be able to at least download them to our smartphone, tablets, or computers for our own piece of mind, and to remind us of the needed boosters.

Remember ehealrh? Records easily available? Yeah, that didn’t happen because of privacy laws and concerns.
Medical records belong to you. You can fight those charges)family member did) but it isn’t easy.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Remember ehealrh? Records easily available? Yeah, that didn’t happen because of privacy laws and concerns.
Medical records belong to you. You can fight those charges)family member did) but it isn’t easy.

At some point we have to ask the difficult question as to why it is something that most industrialized countries have mastered and whether their citizens' privacy had suffered because of electronic health records.

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

Remember ehealrh? Records easily available? Yeah, that didn’t happen because of privacy laws and concerns.
Medical records belong to you. You can fight those charges)family member did) but it isn’t easy.

At some point we have to ask the difficult question as to why it is something that most industrialized countries have mastered and whether their citizens' privacy had suffered because of electronic health records.

AoD

This blew up in some measure at the province-wide level. That's a thread unto itself.

But worth saying, many doctors and hospitals have made progress in this regard.

I have an electronic health record with my Family Health Team; though it isn't accessible to me online; but I also have one with a hospital I've been too; and I do have full electronic access to it.
My Family Health Team also is linked to said hospital. The bits and pieces are there, partially.

A long-standing issue, different providers use different charting software.

Some programs can inter-relate; but others not so much.

That decision can absolutely be forced at the provincial level; either by mandating a single provider; or by simply mandating that any charting software in Ontario must be fully able to interact with a competing program.

 

[lenaitch]

As I recall e-health, it blew up because of skyrocketing prices and still nothing to show for it. No doubt privacy was in there too. The concept of 'ownership' of our health records is not well settled. They think it is, I do not (I think I should own it. I mentioned that at an FOI conference a number of years ago and everybody looked at me like I had two heads). There was also an issue of costs to the doctors to upgrade/convert, and not much on grandfathering or easing older practitioners into whatever new system. My former family doctor was old school, with an office a sea of file folders. How do you get him to switch and digitize his existing records. My current taps into his tablet; more efficient but he never looks like he paying attention to me.

If you want to switch doctors, best to have a lock on the new one first. There is a process for being 'de-rostered' from a practice.

 

[PinkLucy]

I had a family member involved in ehealth. Squabbling over who did what and privacy were huge.

 

[afransen]

Change your doctor. Mine has made sure I'm up to date, with zero prompting. Even said that in a few years I'll be getting a shot for shingles.

Seems like it is made difficult to switch doctors unless you have a 'legitimate' reason like moving. They don't want you doctor shopping.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Having to pay the doctor to send a fax of one's medical history to another shouldn't happen. What happens in case of fire and the only information is on paper? OHIP should be the central respiratory, that can be shared by all of one's doctors (plural), including specialists and hospitals.

Why should I repeatedly state my same medical history with travel insurance companies, when I could give them permission to look it up from OHIP? I may forget something. Something that could come back when I make a claim because of a forgotten pre-existing condition.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Cholesterol-lowering drug being tested at Penn Medicine to help fight COVID-19​

From link.

Can a drug used to treat high cholesterol also treat COVID-19? It's a question researchers at Penn Medicine, in Philadelphia, are trying to answer.

Two different studies in laboratories found the drug Fenofibrate reduced COVID-19 infection by up to 70%. Doctors say if this works in actual patients, it could have a major impact by helping to slow the spread of the virus and save lives.

Cardiologist Dr. Julio Chirinos is leading the trial at Penn Medicine, testing to see if the drug commonly known as Tricor can help patients battling COVID-19. Lab studies show it blocks the virus's ability to bind to cells and replicate, which means it could prevent an infection from getting worse and spreading.

Chirinos says the research is promising, but still very early.

"If it's highly effective, it could have a major impact. We certainly hope so, but we don't have that information yet," he said.

It would have a major impact because the drug is easy to take. It's a cheap and widely available oral medication used to help lower cholesterol and fatty acids in the blood.

Chirinos says efforts to get more people vaccinated must continue, but we also need more treatments if unvaccinated people are infected or for breakthrough cases, He says we also need a backup plan.

"We also should have a plan in case certain strains of the virus become resistant to the vaccine, it's possible that will happen in the future," he said.

As for if you already take this drug, Chirinos says don't assume it will protect you - that still has to be proven. Patients should continue taking the medication as prescribed and practice precautions.

"Standard protection measures and vaccinations should be embraced and implemented even if you are taking this medication," he said.

He is hoping to have results from the trial in several months, but first, they're trying to enroll about 700 people at several sites worldwide. The trial is for adults 18 and older, within two weeks of symptoms and a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

For more information or to find out if you can enroll, visit: Penn Medicine Clinical Trial of Fenofibrate Therapy in Patients with COVID-19