As he underwent treatment, Alan found that he and his family spent more time dealing with a complex and confusing healthcare system — coordinating physicians, insurance companies, medical billing agencies and hospitals — rather than concentrating on fighting the disease.
Usually, general practitioners (GPs) act as coordinating physicians: they enrol patients into the program, organize patient training, and negotiate individual treatment goals with patients [ 5, 6].
The GP as coordinating physician decides about a patient's suitability for the programme.
Dr. Pongtorn Kietdumrongwong took care of the patient and helped coordinating with physicians from various departments and wrote the paper.
I had no siblings, and so I had to immediately take the lead in coordinating with physicians and hospitals and dealing with all sorts of bureaucracies.
Families were asked for permission for study participation by the coordinating physician who also observed the patients.
A coordinating physician is assigned to each hospital to organize evaluation, inclusion and follow-up of the patients for the duration of the study.
To be part of the project, the director, the coordinating physician, and the responsible for the nursing of each institution signed a formal agreement and letter of support.
In addition, because of budget cuts, most private institutions units are managed by a coordinating physician and daily on-call physicians; each physician is usually responsible for eight beds.
The ATHENA observational cohort has been made possible by the participating patients and through the collaborative efforts of the following physicians working at Netherlands HIV Treatment Centers: '∗' denotes site coordinating physician.
