I got a very sweet email from a fan today asking for more information from me about my practice, how it’s going, what my experiences have been, etc..  

Thank you.

 I’m writing to fill in those who are wondering.  

 I’ve been offered quite an opportunity that I simply couldn’t turn down.  While I will maintain my practice as best I can, I will be devoting much less of my time toward seeing patients over the next six months.  In six months, I will return with a vengeance.  As of tomorrow, I am officially Chief Medical Officer of Myca, a company based in Quebec.  You can visit the website but very little of what we are doing is on the site.  I’m not going to explicitly state our plans.  Rather, I will be posting on this blog links, quotes, thoughts, and other random hints about the service we will be launching in NYC over the course of the next 6 months.  If you live in NYC, keep your eye on property in or around Union Square, Soho, the West Village, or the Flatiron District.  Something revolutionary will begin to take shape.  Think the Apple Store, FedEx, Toyota Lean, Eugene Debs, 1984, The Fountainhead, Experience Design, continuous quality improvement, iPhones, video chats on your mobile phone or computer, IMs, emails, text messages from your doctor designed to respect your time that say “Your appointment is in 20 minutes, please make your way to the office and enter room 3,” evidence-based medicine, cost-consciousness, free generic medications, and a powerhouse of some of the most talented thinkers, businessmen, marketers, programmers, software architects, graphic designers, graphic user interface specialists, interior designers, architects, and some of the best physicians the world can offer all smiling in triumphant admiration.

We’ve got quite a team, folks.  We’ve got the talent and the funding to make this happen…not only to make it happen…but to make it shine.  It’s starting here in NYC.  But it will never end.

Most importantly…accessibility means affordability. 

My favorite quote from a friend I’ve told the plans to within the Industry:

“We’re not going to know what to do with you.”

That’s right.  You’re not.  Keep up your bureaucracy.  Continue your slow as molasses “innovation.”  Keep funding all of those three year long studies that conclude “Email seems to be a viable way for patients to communicate with physicians.  More research needs to be done.”  Continue with your lack of price transparency.  Continue with your hidden fees that take advantage of the sick when they are willing to pay anything just to get back on their feet.  Continue with your 4000% markup for generic medications.  Continue to fail to provide incentives to physicians to provide customer service and communicate like every other professional in America.  Continue to keep physicians in the dark about how much each of their orders cost.  Continue with your paper records.  Continue with your “consumer directed healthcare plans” when your “consumers” aren’t even spending their own money to purchase healthcare.  Continue with your HMOs.  Continue to offer the pony express when the American consumer demands FedEx.  See where all that gets you Dr. Industry.

Happy New Year to all.

2008 will be a very bright, communicative, healthy year.  Hello Health.  Hello 2008.