I started going to this practice when it was Iora Medical Care, I believe it was for regular…read moreMedicare patients. I had read about them in "The Price we Pay", by Marty Markary, MD, retired Johns Hopkins surgeon and critic of America's health care system. He saw Iora as a light in the dark and dirty world of medical greed and profit. With optimism, I joined, happy to leave my conventional (read: too busy and careless) old line practice of two decades. There was the Piedmont primary physician who had ignored my husband's out-of-whack liver results for weeks until he be specialist sounded the alarm that he needed emergency surgery, all indicated by the blood results the primary had ignored, despite numerous unreturned phone calls. We both left that practice that had been characterized for years by the doctor's tardiness and unresponsiveness. I tried Emory's Primary Care. This time I got a newly minted MD, marking time in primary care until she could qualify for one of the lucrative specialties, like cosmetic surgery. She misdiagnosed a chest x-ray and had an assistant call me and casually ask what I wanted to do about my aortic aneurism! When I requested a call from the doctor, I was told she was out for the week, but wouldn't talk to me on the phone anyway, so I had to make an appointment. A minute before, the non-physician, had wrongly informed me that I had a deadly condition that might rupture without warning and kill me. I got a recommendation for yet another old-line practice that I didn't know was being bought out by private equity, expanded to multiple strip mall locations, all of which were bare bones - a doctor, receptionist, nurse, and equipment to take vitals - which I have at home. There was another that was by subscription, requiring use of an app. Silicon Valley trying to uberize, gamify and degrade another business.
Now comes Iora, for which I had hopes. After about a year, most of the care involved nurse-practitioners giving ridiculous, inappropriate and useless advice probably gleaned from Instagram influencers. The first problem, and it's a big one, is that they have none of the important diagnostic equipment that medical practices used to have as standard. So the basically healthy patient ends up spending all their time making appointments at hospitals and imaging centers. But at least everyone was friendly and pleasant. Their advertising touts an employee called "health coach" which also sounds like an Instagram influencer.
I didn't like the location, a long, complicated drive, but at least it was a free-standing building with plenty of parking in a big box store mall. I was greeted immediately and waited only a few minutes. The doctor was a very pleasant young woman. My history was taken by a third person, who typed the conversation into the computer. It was better that the doctor wasn't focused on entering data instead of looking at me. So far, so good. I had no medical complaints, but just wanted to have a base visit. Then the phlebotomist tried to draw blood. She was terrible. Had to stick me repeatedly, ignored my instruction that my right elbow vein can't be accessed. I was black and blue and she only got half the blood required.
I stayed for two years. One day I got a letter that Iora is now One Medical, purchased by Amazon for $3.9B. Next visit, the office was even more stripped down. No stenographer, no health coach. Just the doctor and me. She's taking notes, just like in the past. There was still no ECG or ultrasound, no bone scan equipment, no vein-finder (which Amazon sells at a low price, and could have made the blood draw easier. I am driving 30 miles each way in heavy highway construction for no reason. The doctor orders normal annual tests at a hospital complex. It was left to me to spend hours navigating what was likely the world's worst phone system. One Medical had no employees to handle this burden.
Forgot to mention that I did come in once with swelling and pain in my leg. The Nurse suggested physical therapy, with no diagnosis. Then she suggested an x-ray. Of course they have no x-ray machine, something available at most medical offices, even urgent care walk-ins. I had been sent on several missions for imaging, only to find there had been no change since the last one. I'm becoming suspicious that One Medical has a financial relationship with certain specialists and facilities. I have moved to a concierge practice, which I've visited once and was rushed, wasn't given 24-hour contact info or a list of services as promised and my first complete physical will only take 30 minutes. US medical system is all profit and little actual medical care. No wonder there are so many Instagram stars.
