@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }insurance is already being disrupted – but it’s happeningfrom the inside out not the outside in……..existing stakeholders (ourcustomers) are leveraging modern mobile technology to redesign their ownsystems in skunkworks-ish initiatives. it’s a hedge against being disrupted byinnovative start-ups from the outside.we have been incredibly impressed by the intelligence of the leading healthinsurance innovators. i’d venture to say they are the some of the morethoughtful ‘for the good of humanity’ people in any industry. unfortunately,they suffer from poor PR skills and haven’t really reminded the public they arethe ones who are most excited about controlling costs in healthcare. that willcome mid-2012 when the bundled payments initiative from CMS gets into fullswing.

Thanks daveI hope to get to my email this weekend

@fredwilson:disqus there’s an email waiting for you in your inbox with the data on Direct Primary Care. I think it has the biggest single opportunity to do a reset on healthcare as a whole driven from the DIY Health Reform movement with an assist from the federal reform (one of the aspects that has bipartisan legislative support). Happy to forward it to others who want to email me – (dave at avado dot).While addressing the fundamental formula that has been proven globally (more primary care access = healthier population =  less money spent), it fundamentally addresses the underlying cause of out-of-control h/c costs. Much of what’s done in h/c is fixing symptoms (ironic isn’t it). Anything that provides care (via a for-profit model) cheaper for the individual than the gov’t’s public health facilities while reducing downstream costs 40-80% AND has Google/Apple level Net Promoter Scores demands attention in my book. Each of the DPC providers I’ve interviewed has ~ 1/3 of their patients who were uninsured (and still are incidentally since this is insurance-free). The doc at AtlasMD had a couple great comments in my chat with him this week1. “A good scalpel makes a surgeon better. Good communications makes a primary care doc better.”2. He shared how one patient lives in a storage unit, yet his $50/mth fee is less than co-pays at the local public health center so she gladly pays it to get better care/service.

the size and vibrancy of this comment thread tells me all i need to know. head turned slightly. looking in new places for new things.

great point emmet. maybe physicians are the large network we should be trying to find, at least part of it.the way edmodo went to teachers and then to students and bypassed the K-12 establishment should inform how we think about this.

keep after me on email. i am wayyyyy behind on email and miss stuff, particularly right now

send me an email and we’ll do it