UpToDate provides a summary of research based on disease. i.e. for this disease, these treatments are recommended because of study A,B and C and physiological facts D, E and F. There are counter-indications and risks from these treatments because of x,y, and z. Unfortunately, I can’t reproduce one of their reports here, but its not just a huge literature dump, its summarized and treatment options are graded.
Looking at the metamed concierge report on Gout (linked to elsewhere in this thread) its formatting appears to be very much like an UpToDate report- the most recent literature is digested and summarized at a decently high level, but it doesn’t strike me as better than (or even different from!) the UpToDate recommendations. Given that 90% of academic hospitals already have paid for UpToDate, and honestly in most cases it will be better for the physician to interpret the report, I can’t see very much for metamed to bring to the table.
Also worth pointing out- the people who write the summaries for UpToDate are most often researchers in the field of the illness. Near as I can tell from their webpage metamed’s researchers are often medical students, or non-medical phd students (the point being that with metamed you are paying for something general called “expertise” and in many cases not actual field-relevant medical expertise).
What’s the price difference between metamed and going out of your way to go to an academic hospitals? Am I wrong in thinking most hospitals are not academic hospitals?
Probably depends on your insurance (i.e. if you are with an HMO, you’ll be locked in to the network unless you get a referral). Outside of HMOs, I’m not aware of an insurance that has a copay difference between going to an academic or community hospital. If you go to a community hospital with something complicated, you’ll almost certainly end up transferred to an academic referral center anyway.
UpToDate provides a summary of research based on disease. i.e. for this disease, these treatments are recommended because of study A,B and C and physiological facts D, E and F. There are counter-indications and risks from these treatments because of x,y, and z. Unfortunately, I can’t reproduce one of their reports here, but its not just a huge literature dump, its summarized and treatment options are graded.
Looking at the metamed concierge report on Gout (linked to elsewhere in this thread) its formatting appears to be very much like an UpToDate report- the most recent literature is digested and summarized at a decently high level, but it doesn’t strike me as better than (or even different from!) the UpToDate recommendations. Given that 90% of academic hospitals already have paid for UpToDate, and honestly in most cases it will be better for the physician to interpret the report, I can’t see very much for metamed to bring to the table.
Also worth pointing out- the people who write the summaries for UpToDate are most often researchers in the field of the illness. Near as I can tell from their webpage metamed’s researchers are often medical students, or non-medical phd students (the point being that with metamed you are paying for something general called “expertise” and in many cases not actual field-relevant medical expertise).
What’s the price difference between metamed and going out of your way to go to an academic hospitals? Am I wrong in thinking most hospitals are not academic hospitals?
Probably depends on your insurance (i.e. if you are with an HMO, you’ll be locked in to the network unless you get a referral). Outside of HMOs, I’m not aware of an insurance that has a copay difference between going to an academic or community hospital. If you go to a community hospital with something complicated, you’ll almost certainly end up transferred to an academic referral center anyway.