Dr Jeffrey Brenner talks about how to change our approach to healthcare costs. He points out the issue related to the Medicare coverage, where doctors are payed more if they treat patients by hospitalizing and ordering advanced imaging and get payed less if they talk with the patient. This approach drives more hospitalization and procedures and as result the treatment costs is increasing tremendously.

Dr Jeffrey Brenner emphasizes the importance of building a good preventive care system that can lead to remodeling of the fragmented healthcare problems. 

In your opinion what actions can be taken in order to decrease the health care costs and increase the community health care coverage? What is your point of view about the government needs to pay for preventive care?

Dorothy Roberts talks about treating patients by race. She gives a good example with GFR on how it is interpreted by race—GFR is calculated differently for African Americans because they are “supposed to have more muscle mass than other races.” Dorothy speaks on how race can blind doctors of family illnesses, patient history and the patients own illnesses by categorically treating patients only because of race. Do you feel like specific people of color/races are more vulnerable in your practice community?

Dorothy Roberts talks about it being easier and more lucrative to market a specific medication towards a specific racial class. Do you feel like you see that in your line of practice?

In your practice, does your department utilize any digital technology to communicate with their patients? If so, how do they use it? If not, do you think it would be beneficial for your department to use something like this? 

Also, she talks about patient’s being able to call in their sign and symptoms to the doctors instead of seeing them in person. Do you feel like if everyone started to utilize digital technology for communication that we would lose touch of what is happening to our patients?