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Health care must be built on a strong patient-provider relationship


The following is an excerpt from an opinion piece written by our co-founder, Christine Bechtel, and published in USA Today:


I'd never cried in a doctor's office. But there I was, a few weeks back, sobbing in the exam room.


As a new resident of Fort Myers, Florida, I was trying to establish a relationship with a local primary care physician. From the start, the doctor's focus was her computer, not me. She stared at a screen, while I stared off into space.


She challenged me on why I had an inhaler prescribed by a previous doctor. I explained that

hay fever leaves me short of breath. But her screen said I needed an asthma diagnosis, which I don't have. Then she asked why my blood pressure was so high – a first for me.


Bewildered, I said I'd ended a lifelong friendship the night before. Sidetracked again: It turns out there is no software code for that. I needed a dose of kindness and some clinical insight. I got clicking and keystrokes instead.


The tears flowed soon after. All I wanted was a human connection, but the doctor-patient

relationship – the most important element in all of health care – was dead on arrival.


Read the full article


Learn more about 3rd Conversation and how X4 Health is working to infuse relationships, empathy, and human connection back into the health care system

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