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851 points swyx | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.222s | source
1. jjk166 ◴[] No.25847890[source]
Instead of marketing this as a tool to better select drugs, I would market this as a tool to better justify drug selections.

When I go to the doctor part of me is always skeptical - are they prescribing this because it is actually best for me, or did they just prescribe me the default and don't care if I have to schedule another appointment in 2 weeks to get a different prescription? Between insurance politics and the difficulties of keeping up with research, there are a lot of perverse incentives out there. I'm certainly not alone in this. Even if I knew for certain the Doctor's interests aligned perfectly with my own, the fact is I am a non-expert and putting my faith in something I am unfamiliar with and don't fully understand is scary.

Now imagine if a doctor could instantly put my fears to rest. When I start asking questions, he can instantly put a nice looking piece of paper in my hand telling me why his decision is the best option for me, personally. Maybe I don't totally get what all the numbers mean, but I see my readings, my symptoms, there's a graph on it and the drug prescribed to me has the biggest bar. If that were an option, I'd never use a doctor who didn't do that. Even if it didn't lead to more patient referrals, certainly it would save doctors time answering all the "but WebMD says..." questions, and a doctor's time is worth a lot.