Off topic, sorta. What do you know about Iora Health?

In truth, until about 10 years ago I didn't know much about dealing with USA Healthcare. Except for innoculations, I never bought into the whole "preventive medicine" deal. Blessed with excelllant health, years passed between visits. I was willing to take responsibility for my own well-being and knew I could do more to maintain my health than physicians could.

Times have changed. Today, juggling the sometimes conflicting recommendation of four specialists, I could really use the advice of someone who could look at the whole picture, and knows more about medicine than I do. Theoretically, that would be my PCP. But...

I think he's a good doctor but I never feel like he knows me and I don't like the practice. I find myself vaguely dissatisfied, anticipating that any visit will be a hassle--minor, never a deal breatker--for one reason or the other. The more often I see them, the more I wish for something different.

A flyer came from Iora Health which takes only Medicare clients and promises a different approach to geriatric care. I'm cynical. I'm not sure how much wiggle room the US healthcare system has. I also wonder, in my cynicism, if it's fancy-dressed scheme for milking Medicare.

There's a lot of collective wisdom here at Pacemaker Club. So, I'm asking. Anybody here with experience with Iora? Is it different? Good?

Any thoughts?

4 Comments

I feel your pain

by AgentX86 - 2019-10-01 11:11:18

I have no experience with IORA Health but I did look it up on Glassdoor. The workers, particularly the lower level direct client facing employees seem to be pretty stressed, though not at the mutiny level. I'm not sure I like the business model.

I find my PCP fairly useless. I had one who was excellent. He knew, and when needed, got me in to see the best specialists in the area. Very well connected. Because of Obamacare,  he closed his practice and joined a concierge medical practice. My current group just fired my doctor (my assumption based on the circumstances) and only has female doctors now. I really need to find another but I'd like my PCP to be affiliated with the same hospital that my cardiologist and EP are affiliated with. The choices are slim and none (one is 65 and I'm not very interested in starting a relationship if he's about to retire).

And what is wromng with...

by donr - 2019-10-02 02:03:44


...female doctors?  My #2 daughter is a PCP in MS.   I know a whole bunch of them.  They can be just as good amd just as bad as male doctors. T heir skill & knowledge are what count, not gender.   My college roommate married one - she became the president of the VA Medical Assoc a few yrs back. She was probably the top plastic surgeon in the National capitol area.  I've seen my Daughter take on impossible cases that others would not touch - & successfully treat them.  She did nearly 15 yrs as an ER Doc & never lost a heart attack victim that made it to the ER alive.  One of them had three SCA's after arriving there and had to be airlifted to another hosp 50 miles away because her hosp had no capability to handle heart attacks.  She once treated a burn patient burned over 75% of his body - 100 miles from the nearest burn center.  Took her 6 hours to prep him for movement.   He made it successfully - the burn center was amazed he made it.

President Eisenhower said it - "It's the size of the fight in the dog, not the size of the dog in the fight that determines winners."

I'll give you two choices -  both are urologists.  You think you may have prostate problems.  Who will you choose?  The 125 lb woman or the man who attended college on a football scholarship as an offensive center.  I've been to both - the answer is a Hobson's choice.

Donr

what...

by ROBO Pop - 2019-10-04 01:35:35

Don, Don, Don...you should realize that being the head of the VA medical association is not a comforting endorsement.

Still, your primary point is valid, I've had three female doctors, two Primary care doctors and a Cardiologist, they were all superior to any of the more numerous male doctors I've dealt with. And they were far better to look at

I've never used IORA healthcare. As I recall, it's relatively new on the scene (esp with Medicare) and a bit new for ratings but what I've heard from a couple friends has not been positive

I'm still looking myself...

by Elisabet - 2019-10-06 06:02:47

Unfortunately I have decades of experience with doctors of all sorts even though I'm still way to young for Medicare. I don't know anything about IORA but I share your feelings about my PCP. I ended up there because the small primary care practice I'd been with for twenty years and three doctors closed unexpectedly while I was in the hospital with a critical illness. The two PCPs I loved there had each eventually semi--retired into a no-insurance practice, and the third was no longer on my plan at her new practice. I ended up in a large practice that is great for the occasional needs of my husband and son but not really adequate for myself, as I have several big issues. Mostly I see them as providing the referals needed to see the specialists I actually do have relationships with.

The best recommendations I have gotten are from these other doctors who I like. I've assembled a pretty good team with a few outstanding doctors. So far I've struck out finding a primary because when I do get a good PCP recommendation they haven't been taking new patients. But I keep asking! Meanwhile I've stayed with the practice that's really hit-or-miss but at least has good hours - and a couple of doctors I like even if they can't be my official PCP. 

What I do miss is having someone who can help me prioritize and who can advocate on my behalf when needed.

Also: some of my very best doctors have been women, including the person who designed and directed my radiation treatment for cancer back in the eighties. She was actually a pioneer in her field. She ended up in the institution I was treated at in part because the head of the team there in the 1950s was willing to hire women. That was a win for me!

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