- Jul 11, 2004
- 21,867
- 7
- 81
When you have a common illness or something you have to go to a clinic. From my experience this costs about $75 - 150, which is a decent amount of money for most people. Most of these common illnesses are probably pretty easy to diagnose.
So what if you had the option to go to a 'common care clinic' for say about $20. The people would not be doctors, physicians assistants, or nurses. They might have about 3 months of training and maybe a basic license. Just enough so they can determine symptoms, recognize common illness, read a diagnostic flowchart, and be aware enough to refer you to a real doctor if necessary.
Obviously you would need to sign some kind of waiver. "I recognize that I am being treated at a Common Care Clinic as defined by... blah blah. I understand there is a higher risk of misdiagnosis, etc and I waive my right to sue for malpractice in the event of a misdiagnosis, etc."
So then you would have two options:
real clinic
- $100
- real doctor
- less risk
common care clinic
- $20-30
- less trained staff, no medical school
- more risk, but probably good enough to diagnose common ailments
It seems like a good option for people who don't have health insurance. And the people with good health insurance can still go to a real clinic for their everyday common needs if they want.
Thoughts?
Edit to address problems:
- This all assumes that laws have been changed to accommodate for cheaper health care options.
- Common Care Clinic would be a legally defined thing. The licenses of the staff would be legally defined.
- Laws would be changed so that common drugs could be prescribed by a non-doctor, perhaps a PA. A PA could run the entire common care clinic.
- There would be a legal set of illness that they would be allowed to diagnose, anything else they would have to refer you.
So what if you had the option to go to a 'common care clinic' for say about $20. The people would not be doctors, physicians assistants, or nurses. They might have about 3 months of training and maybe a basic license. Just enough so they can determine symptoms, recognize common illness, read a diagnostic flowchart, and be aware enough to refer you to a real doctor if necessary.
Obviously you would need to sign some kind of waiver. "I recognize that I am being treated at a Common Care Clinic as defined by... blah blah. I understand there is a higher risk of misdiagnosis, etc and I waive my right to sue for malpractice in the event of a misdiagnosis, etc."
So then you would have two options:
real clinic
- $100
- real doctor
- less risk
common care clinic
- $20-30
- less trained staff, no medical school
- more risk, but probably good enough to diagnose common ailments
It seems like a good option for people who don't have health insurance. And the people with good health insurance can still go to a real clinic for their everyday common needs if they want.
Thoughts?
Edit to address problems:
- This all assumes that laws have been changed to accommodate for cheaper health care options.
- Common Care Clinic would be a legally defined thing. The licenses of the staff would be legally defined.
- Laws would be changed so that common drugs could be prescribed by a non-doctor, perhaps a PA. A PA could run the entire common care clinic.
- There would be a legal set of illness that they would be allowed to diagnose, anything else they would have to refer you.