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Ohio Podiatrist Jeff Oster Featured in Daily Newark Advocate as a Doctor...



Jeff Oster, DPM has created Myfootshop.com which offers help on foot and ankle problems in articles and discussion forums by experts and patients with similar problems.



It's expensive to get sick. Co-pays and deductibles are up. Fewer and fewer services are considered covered services by your insurance company. Or even worse, you have no health insurance at all. With or without health insurance, it seems that any time you are sick, you still pay your own way.



How can consumers act to control their healthcare costs More and more patients are finding that the Internet can help them become savvy consumers of healthcare services. For example, West Virginia resident Mary Ann Reece suffered with foot pain. After several frustrating months of doctor and hospital visits, she got online and found Myfootshop.com a Web business focusing on foot and ankle information and products (www.myfootshop.com).



Mary Ann joined the discussion forums on Myfootshop.com asked a lot of questions, and learned about her foot problem from the board certified forum moderator and other forum participants. So, after learning all she could about her condition on the website, she drove the two and a half hours from her home in West Virginia to meet the web doctor face to face in Ohio. The outcome She had her surgery and was back to work in thirteen weeks. "I couldn't believe that Dr. Oster would take the time to answer ten if not hundreds of emails," said Reece. "I really appreciate finding someone like that."



The profession of medicine is changing. The traditional relationship between the doctor and patient is taking on new forms. Care is no longer the purview of just doctors, but is provided by a host of healthcare specialists that includes nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and Internet based specialists. "The key to this new form of healthcare delivery is finding care that is commensurate to your problem" said Dr. Jeffrey A. Oster, a practicing podiatrist and medical director of Myfootshop.com. "A smarter health care consumer is going to heal faster and spend their health care dollars more wisely. We've found a unique way to integrate Web-based care and hands-on local care. In fact, we often recommend patients jump on the Web site before coming to see us in the office," Oster said in a recent article in the daily newspaper, The Newark Advocate.(1)



Dr. Oster said that a decade ago he began to see that the profession of medicine was becoming decentralized. What used to be the sole turf of doctors was changing. Concurrent with this change was the increase in the cost of healthcare. "I had a choice. I could clutch my stethoscope and resist change or I could embrace change. I chose to embrace change and diversify the way that I practice. That was the genesis of Myfootshop.com."



At the heart of the decentralization of medicine is the cost of care. Employers are shackled with increasing costs and find it impossible to provide traditional medical plans for their employees. Consumers of healthcare are caught in the middle, often desperately looking for affordable healthcare when they become sick. And if solutions can be found through effective communication, the Internet is a logical starting point for many patients to begin their search for answers.



As the wealth of information available on the web increases, this kind of self-help medical research has become more and more common. In 2006, The Pew Research Center reported that 80% of internet users surveyed looked for health and medical information on the Internet. (2)



With the ranks of the uninsured and under-insured growing, more consumers with health problems are first going online to research their problem and potential solutions before going to the doctor. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on out-of-pocket deductibles and co-pays, many have turned to the internet for free information and less costly products that may alleviate their pain.



Oster cautions consumers to be wise shoppers of Internet based healthcare services and products and offers the following suggestions:



1. Do your homework - take your time to learn about your problem.


2. Speak with others - join forums and share your thoughts with others who may have the same or similar question.


3. Seek reliability and confidence - search for medical web sites where you feel comfortable.


4. Avoid sites with aggressive sales or questionable information.


5. Search for credentials - who are the people who operate a web site Do they have credentials in their field of expertise



Dr. Oster founded www.myfootshop.com in 1999 to help educate people about their foot and ankle problems. With articles on over one hundred different foot and ankle conditions as well as discussion forums with hundreds of posts by other consumers, Myfootshop.com offers people a way to improve their health with knowledge and choices.



(1) http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=2008804250310



(2) http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activities_2.15.08.htm






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