By Michael Redmond The Packet Group
There’s a book just out which I suspect many health care providers and insurers really do not want you to read. It’s a modest paperback by name of “Medical Tips from the Inside … Things You Need to Know” (Merit Publishing, 144 pages), it costs all of $13.95, and it provides a roadmap through and around that obstacle course otherwise known as the U.S. health care system.
The authors of “Medical Tips” are two insiders, both from Central Jersey — Patricia Raya, R.N., MBA, president of PAR Enterprises: Legal Nurse Consultants, and Corine A. Mogenis, a medical malpractice paralegal and medical investigator.
“Our goal is to provide you with as much information and assistance to ‘level the playing field’ between you and health care providers,’” they write.
“This book will explain … why information about the quality of health care is important, how to gather information about physicians and other medical providers, and how to analyze and pinpoint your own health care situation.”
There are valuable chapters dealing specifically with the health issues of women, children and the elderly, but any one of the broader based chapters — “Preventing Medical Errors,” “What to Do if You Are Diagnosed with an Illness/Disease,” “What to Ask Your Doctor before You Have Surgery” — is alone worth the book’s cost.
My personal favorite is “Obtaining Your Medical Records.” We have a legal right to them, you know, “and do not allow anyone to convince you otherwise.” The book tells you exactly what to do when a health care provider refuses to provide them.
“Medical Tips” is a real eye- opener. Every home should have a copy.
ISBN 978-1-873413-39-5
On the Web: www.meritpublishing.com or through amazon.com