Kadhim Shubber reports:
A doctor and former programmer is using bitcoin’s revolutionary payment system as a new way to protect his patients’ privacy.
Earlier this year, Dr Paul Abramson’s private practice, My Doctor Medical Group in San Francisco, began allowing patients to pay for their care with bitcoin.
The decision has meant that people who want to keep their healthcare private can hide their medical payments from their bank.
Read more on CoinDesk. The article mentions other practices that are also accepting bitcoin for payment. To be honest, I’ve never considered it in my own practice, but maybe I should.
Thanks to Worth Godwin for this link.
The value of a Bitcoin can drop 50% within a 24 hour period. Why would you ever accept it as payment? Unless you were dealing in drugs or assassinations?
Good point! And no, although some of young patients complain I’m killing them with their therapy homework/exercises, I’m not in the assassination field. 🙂
I subsequently posted a link to another article on the use of Bitcoin in the healthcare sector that you may want to see: http://healthitsecurity.com/2013/12/12/assessing-bitcoins-benefits-security-risks-in-healthcare/
My focus on this blog is patient privacy, so I’ll link to/point out news or items readers may want to know about. And I’ll think about them, too. Doesn’t mean I’ll use them. 🙂