The Empowered Patient: Making the Health Care System Navigable
April 26th, 2009 | 
Author: Great article with tips for patients below. As a San Diego Chiropractor I feel it is important for patients to learn how to navigate the current healthcare system as it leaves much to be deisred. Good luck Ms. Boden and Dr. Hallisy.
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by Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer
Adriana Boden was a healthy 33-year-old woman until one day in March 2007 when she felt like an explosion went off in her head. Although she went to her doctor immediately, it would take nearly a year of doctor visits, diagnoses of everything from migraine headaches to encephalitis, unnecessary drugs and treatments before a physician finally figured out what was wrong with her.
It was a relatively simple test – one that Boden, through her own research, suggested and was eventually ordered by a physician who listened to her – that led to her diagnosis of epilepsy.
Boden, a sales manager at Google Inc. in Mountain View, wants to take what she’s learned and use her technological know-how to help other patients better navigate the fragmented health care system.
Along with San Francisco dentist and author Julia Hallisy, she founded a nonprofit organization and Web site called the Empowered Healthcare Community, which will officially premiere at a conference in San Francisco on May 16.
Many Americans – even those with insurance and access to care – are frustrated by the U.S. health care delivery system.
Boden said there were many things she wished she had known at the onset of her illness that could have helped or shortened her search for a diagnosis and cure.
She formed the organization in part because most of the patient advocacy and networking groups she found were specific to certain diseases or didn’t offer her the kind of help she needed.
“I want to give people confidence and help them find the courage to help themselves,” she said.
Hallisy, the group’s co-founder, spent virtually her daughter’s entire life – from the time she was diagnosed with cancer at five months until her death in 2000 at age 10 – pursuing the treatment her daughter needed.
Hallisy last year published “The Empowered Patient” to give patients practical tips about their rights and safety issues.
“Our goal for the organization is to give patients an unprecedented level of information they don’t have access to,” she said.
Boden’s physician, Palo Alto internist Darren Phelan, said patients and doctors need to work together now more than ever due to the information age.
Doctors, he said, have a tendency to get stuck in the patterns they know.
“You can search on the Internet and find a study that will support or refute a lot of things,” he said.
The conference is open to the public and registration is $80.
Have a health advocate.
No news is not necessarily good news.
A second – or third or fourth – opinion is appropriate at any time during your treatment, not just in the early stages of diagnosis.
Be aware that federal law guarantees patients access to their medical records.
Always check your medications for drug interactions.
If you need surgery, find out information about your hospital at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site at hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.
If you are having surgery, ask your hospital to use the World Health Organization surgical checklist.
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