With the increasing trend toward health-care consumerism, more patients than ever are interested in the cost and quality related to their care. Even in the information age, however, many patients still face uncertainty or even anxiety around how to ask their own physician whether a test or procedure is medically necessary.
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, in conjunction with Capital Blue Cross, is offering a free seminar to employees and their families to help them make the most of their visit to the doctor and ask insightful questions about their own care. The event takes place from 7 to 8 a.m. Wednesday, April 5, in the medical center's Hospital Auditorium.
William Bird, vice chair of patient care in the medical center's Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Tom Curry, medical director for Capital Blue Cross, will lead a candid conversation about how to help patients have better communication with their doctors and make the most of a visit with any care provider.
Topics will include: how to prepare for a visit to the doctor; how to get the best results when trying to schedule an appointment; what kinds of questions to ask a care provider and how to ask them; and how to find out if a test or treatment is medical necessary.
The session will include time for audience questions and answers.