3 ms·

Forward went from being great in 2020 when it launched in Washington DC to absymal these days. Lots of MD/DO turnover, really poor follow-up, and you have to ar

Forward went from being great in 2020 when it launched in Washington DC to absymal these days. Lots of MD/DO turnover, really poor follow-up, and you have to argue with them to get an appointment within a reasonable time (no, I don't want an appointment 5 weeks from today for what is a very painful ear infection today, thank you very much). They've also dropped the ball several times for me when referring to specialists. Forward's 'body scanner' thing and 23andMe results interpretation are both embarrassing farces, imo. The former much more so than the latter, but even the docs will admit that their use of genetics information is basically a dog and pony show that rarely if ever impacts how they approach care. I've given up and joined a concierge medical practice attached to a local hospital instead. It's only ~25% more expensive than Forward.

nerdjon 4y ago
I don't like the genetics or that weird scanner side of Forward. For me Forward has primarily been an anxiety thing. I have really bad anxiety largely around health issues. (Real or not) and I have found that since being with Forward that at least the idea that I can talk to someone at any point helps with that anxiety. I do recognize that a lot of that is placebo, but being able to help with anxiety without medication is preferred to me. That being said, they are only just now opening up in Boston so it will remain to be seen how they actually perform in person and not virtual. But their competition here is... its a low bar to be better.
- orzig 4y ago
  Thanks for the details, I was surprised at the 23andMe outsourcing of genetics. I didn’t want to give mine to that company and (while I’m sure that was in the fine print) I assumed I was only going to be dealing with the company I actually signed up for. Forward outsources a lot of their clinical stuff, so the service ends up being much less premium
srockets 4y ago
It's as if for-profit health isn't really useful for quality of treatment.
- sithadmin 4y ago
  For the population in general, no, probably not. Especially not for basic primary and preventative care. But it's also a matter of perspective. As someone that is privileged enough to shop for improved healthcare quality and access, I've jumped from an old-school cash-basis solo practitioner, to One Medical, to Forward, to about the highest end concierge practice available in my metro region. Every time I've increased my spending, the quality of care and accessibility has generally increased. One Medical and Forward were still improvements over what I'd had access to previously even though I chose to move on and pay more money elsewhere for an improved experience.

nerdjon 4y ago

I don't like the genetics or that weird scanner side of Forward. For me Forward has primarily been an anxiety thing. I have really bad anxiety largely around health issues. (Real or not) and I have found that since being with Forward that at least the idea that I can talk to someone at any point helps with that anxiety. I do recognize that a lot of that is placebo, but being able to help with anxiety without medication is preferred to me. That being said, they are only just now opening up in Boston so it will remain to be seen how they actually perform in person and not virtual. But their competition here is... its a low bar to be better.

orzig 4y ago
Thanks for the details, I was surprised at the 23andMe outsourcing of genetics. I didn’t want to give mine to that company and (while I’m sure that was in the fine print) I assumed I was only going to be dealing with the company I actually signed up for. Forward outsources a lot of their clinical stuff, so the service ends up being much less premium

srockets 4y ago

It's as if for-profit health isn't really useful for quality of treatment.

sithadmin 4y ago
For the population in general, no, probably not. Especially not for basic primary and preventative care. But it's also a matter of perspective. As someone that is privileged enough to shop for improved healthcare quality and access, I've jumped from an old-school cash-basis solo practitioner, to One Medical, to Forward, to about the highest end concierge practice available in my metro region. Every time I've increased my spending, the quality of care and accessibility has generally increased. One Medical and Forward were still improvements over what I'd had access to previously even though I chose to move on and pay more money elsewhere for an improved experience.