7 ms·
Why do people use One Medical vs just having a doctor? Been thinking about my current medical care and wondering the advantages
by cgb223 7y ago
Why do people use One Medical vs just having a doctor?
Been thinking about my current medical care and wondering the advantages
- formercoder 7y agoAt least one large tech company has a one medical office onsite in its big campuses, and gives employees a free membership. Didn’t think the $200/mo was worth it otherwise but it was great having the doctor there at work and other offices available if needed.
- jamesakirk 7y ago* $200/yr
- tyoma 7y agoSame day appointments, booked via usable app or website. Doctors who took their time with you. No waiting after you show up at the right time. I could go on.
- disillusioned 7y agoThey get a few things right, mostly in terms of practice management and pseudo-vertical-integration that make the experience far nicer than a traditional doctor's office. It's nothing world-shattering, but 99%+ on-time appointment starts is a big deal. Their online platform is very UX-focused. The app is nice and easy to use, and makes things like firing off a quick message to your PCP for an Rx refill super super simple. My old primary care doc had nothing of the sort. It was the old 1990s way of doing things. Try to get scheduled... by phone... a month out... for a refill of a skin cream I've used for 20 years. I get that they want me in yearly, but that's inconvenient and annoying. OneMedical's practice management/online tool for patients makes scheduling dirt simple. Their offices are REALLY nice. It's a little touch, but it's trying to raise the bar on that. And they offer their own teladoc services as well, which are then obviously integrated into their EHR for your PCP services, so everyone is on the same page. OneMedical tries to combine PCP with some urgent care services, so they have a same day component, as well as some specialty services. Just a lot of small but meaningful ways in which they're better than a traditional PCP office. They're also apparently offering practice management and holiday support for existing practitioners, which is interesting from the perspective of the S-1. If their EHR/PMS software is as nice as their app, I imagine that's a welcome change.
- dcow 7y agoTotally agree. For people who are proactive, I’ve found One Medical is excellent. However, if you’re not keeping your own tabs on your, or someone you love’s, health, it’s easy to fall through the cracks. I wish they would improve on actual active management of subscribers‘ health. I’ve had or discussed many experiences where people expect follow ups that never come. Have an uncommon condition? Make sure you keep bugging someone to schedule the visits and lab work you need to maintain good health. With a $200/yr subscription on top of any insurance you pay I feel like these type of maintenance tasks should be handled for you. It feels more like each visit is an IT ticket/case which gets resolved shortly after your visit. It would be nice if it felt more like One Medical were managing a personalized care plan for your health profile.
- kbar13 7y agoi think that's a valid take, but i have the inkling that One Medical is prioritizing making the most common use case (just going in to see a doc for a temporary ailment) as great as possible. likely this is one of those things where you might be better served by another company that's targeting your use case?
- dcow 7y agoI think it’s more that I’ve had better, more attentive, care without the $200/yr (and certainly not 1800-30k/yr as the sibling comment suggests). But that was when I lived in the less dense Midwest. Personally I’m fine and I take time to research and followup myself if needed. I’ve seen friends struggle to make sense of their own health and because they didn’t get a followup weren’t aware they needed to continually monitor or schedule specialist visits etc. It makes sense to me if they need to prioritize other things first. I hope that one of the advancements they can make is better management of cases because technology should make that possible.
- uberduber 7y agoActive management is expensive. I've seen it for $1800/yr and the rate of followup was still poor. If you want a doctor to take care of you like family the rate seems to be $7500-30000 annually depending on what's wrong with you. Seems like it might be cheaper to hire a healthcare advocate though most of them are more about geriatric and end of life care.
- foobiekr 7y agoI have the same question. Especially since the site is extremely vague about the value of their service. I'd pay $200 a year to never face a surprise medical bill, for example, but it is otherwise unclear what the big advantage is for someone healthy.
- BurningFrog 7y agoFinding a doctor is hard...
- jowiar 7y agoTheir logistics are absolutely phenomenal. The general practitioners I attended before One Medical always was overcrowded, any appointment required sitting in a waiting room for an hour past the appointment time until I finally got in. For One Medical, it’s super easy to stop by for a 10 minute “something isn’t quite right” appointment, last minute travel immunizations, etc, and, at least in NY, it’s likely there’s an office within 10 mins of where I’m going to be in the city that day. I think a specific practitioner makes a lot more sense if you’re often sorting out several long-term issues and having a long-term affiliation with one specific practitioner is important, but if you’re a yuppie in generally good health where you’re mostly looking for annual physical, and fantastic availability for quick “I’m sick and may need a prescription” visits and std tests and such, One Medical is perfect.
- yellow_postit 7y agoI use them as my GP. When my last one retired I looked around and One Medical won out for 1) location, 2) ease and availability of booking via app.
- 29athrowaway 7y agoYou can schedule an appointment very fast.
- nate 7y agoWhen I was using a typical doctor it would take me at least a month to get an appointment. But OneMedical I can get super fast response times. The staff is fast to reply to questions you text using the app. Recently I had a problem that was urgent, and I got a quick appointment with doctor at a OneMedical office. Their staff then got me a same day appt with a hospital for an ultrasound (through what sounds like calling someone they have a personal relationship with in a scheduling department). So just a nice touch I'm not used to with the normal doctors office routine. OneMedical docs are on-time, spend time with you, and super personable. It's been a nice change.
- not_a_moth 7y agoI used One Medical for a year and quit, because their medical practitioners are low quality in my opinion. Probably why they are cheap. I would book appointments and I would only ever see nurses, and then when needed I would be referred to one of their doctors. For my shoulder injury they sent me to their sports medicine doctor, who was not only rude and rushed, but told me I was fine just common tightness in shoulder. Was still in pain for a year until what I consider a real doctor correctly diagnosed it as a mild shoulder dislocation. Thanks One Medical SF. If you have money to spend on healthcare, I would not bother with them.
- TuringNYC 7y ago>> Probably why they are cheap. I'm not sure why you think they are cheap. They charge insurance just as any other doctor. The annual fee is on top of that.
- jessaustin 7y agoInsurance is the second-cheapest way for physicians to be paid. People who can afford higher quality care regularly go to physicians who charge far more.
- TuringNYC 7y agoIf the GP comment is comparing OMG vs a true concierge practice, I totally agree. A $200/yr membership vs a true concierge membership is not a good comparison. My assumption was -- the GP is thinking that "cheap" meant the $200 Annual Fee is how they get paid. No, the Annual Fee is just for the system they provide, the care is a typical insurance paid practice.
- fraaaam 7y agoI agree on the notion that the doctors feel "cheap", especially in their LA offices I've been to. It seemed like I wasnt getting a thorough evaluation and upon going to Cedars Sinai and UCLA, I felt I received much better care. In the DC offices Ive been to, I do not feel the same. Instead I feel like I receive top quality care compared to other local doctors. Overall, I generally use OMG when I need fast and convenient care, not necessarily quality. Sidenote: I like how going to OMG is always in-network regardless if I'm home or traveling (for my insurance plan anyway).
- TuringNYC 7y agoBecause of so many reasons: 1. When I was a crazy-busy and overbooked professional, I could simply not afford lateness in my schedule. With OMG, I can leave my office at X:52, be at their office at X:59, be seen between X+1:00 and X+1:15 and be back at my desk by X+1:23, and be confident of making my next meeting. When the chief variability is how long an elevator takes to arrive, you know this is a serious operation! 2. Because many doctors front desk booking services tend to become authoritarian and making booking way harder than required. I can do everything electronically w/ OMG. 3. Because they do everything electronically, which saves everyone time -- including them 4. Because they provide detailed records of everything for FSA/HSA purposes as well as for your records. 5. Because they offer multi-tier service (NPC, PA, MD // video/email/inperson) so you can save everyone's time for minor things. 6. Because they do lots of things in one place (vaccinations, bloodwork, etc.) rather than you having to go to many places
- chucky_z 7y agoMy answer is "Why doesn't everyone use One Medical and have a doctor?" To laser-focus on the peninsula/south-bay in the bay area; going to PAMF or Stanford Medical typically results in a 2-3 day wait to see a Dr. If you're sick, you want to see a Dr asap. I have a doctor at PAMF, a doctor at Stanford Medical, and One Medical. If I am sick, I simply book an appointment at One Medical usually 30-min ahead of time, see them, get whatever treatment I need and go back home and be sick. When something is truly wrong I start at One Medical for temporary help, and immediately book either at PAMF or Stanford depending on who is available sooner.
- maxerickson 7y agoThe barely viable hospital here in po-dunk has a ~25 minute wait at the walk in clinic. Most affiliated PCPs will do same or next days.
- chucky_z 7y agoRight, because there aren't a million people living there; that's why I specified peninsula/south bay, bay area. I would probably not use One Medical if I was still living in central FL, where I never encountered these problems.
- nradov 7y agoPAMF has several walk in urgent care clinics. You can also often call in and schedule a same day appointment with a primary care doctor (although perhaps not your regular PCP).
- chucky_z 7y agoI should add a caveat that One Medical is basically always the same price. I've had really bad experiences with anything labeling itself an "urgent care clinic," and pricing.
- mnutt 7y agoOneMedical used to be that way in NYC, now the Manhattan locations often have no appointment slots for a few days and you’ll have to go out to a Brooklyn location to get same-day or next-day care.
- 1auralynn 7y agoI had a UTI at 4pm on a Friday, used their app to do the virtual appointment thing, and literally was home with antibiotics at 5:30.
- blaisio 7y agoMajor advantages: - integrated online doctor visits, so you often don't need to go in - you can message someone with any health question and get a response within 24 hours - you can go to any location and they automatically pull up your full medical history, no need to fill out a form - it is easy to get an appointment the same week or same day if you need it - you can come any time without an appointment for lab work
- dmode 7y agoHonestly, this sounds like Kaiser. I guess One Medical is an HMO experience on top of your PPO plan
- chimeracoder 7y ago> Honestly, this sounds like Kaiser. I guess One Medical is an HMO experience on top of your PPO plan Kaiser provides an HMO plan, but Kaiser's HMO is not typical of most HMOs because most HMOs aren't integrated practices owned by the health insurer (for better or for worse).
- mshroyer 7y agoFor me, one reason is that One Medical's doctor/patient communication platform is secure and provides a solid customer experience. This might sound like a nit, but the previous primary care doctor I went to in the Bay Area emailed me a follow-up message in the form of a Word document—which mistakenly included several pages of someone else's medical information, too.
- ageitgey 7y ago> This might sound like a nit, but the previous primary care doctor I went to in the Bay Area emailed me a follow-up message in the form of a Word document—which mistakenly included several pages of someone else's medical information, too. This happens all the time with archiac or manual systems, but it is not a minor nit. That's a hairs edge away from being a reportable HIPAA breach and thus a headache for the doctor. If you made a fuss about it, they would have to report it. Having good data security processes is not something a doctor's office can afford to ignore. That's definitely an advantage of a more technologically focused approach like One Medical.
- muststopmyths 7y agoFor minor issues it can take weeks to get an appointment from a single doctor. One Medical solves that problem. I use my PPO plan to get a specialist directly if I need one (usually sports medicine/getting too old for this shit). If I had chronic/serious health issues I might seek out a regular PCP and use One Medical for the routine stuff (physicals, vaccines, cough/cold/flu etc.) Depends on if you have PPO or HMO plans of course. Their raising fees every other year is beginning to stick in my craw though.