u/RD_JC87

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I'm looking for advice from people who've made a similar upgrade.

Current Mac:

- 2019 13" MacBook Pro

- Intel i5

- 8GB RAM

It's still functional, but it's definitely slower than when it was new.

Current performance:

- Cold boot: ~28 seconds

- Chrome opens: ~10 seconds

- Heidi AI app: ~4 seconds

- Practice Better website: ~4 seconds

- ChatGPT takes longer to load than it used to.

- Switching tabs and opening apps has a noticeable delay.

The important thing is that it hasn't affected patient care yet. Zoom is stable, no crashes or freezes. It's more like lots of little delays throughout the day.

My workload:

- in private practice

- 70–80% Zoom telehealth

- 20–30% in-person visits

- Use a EMR/patient portal site

- AI transcription during appointments

- ChatGPT/Claude throughout the day

- Lots of browser tabs, PDFs, email, and Office apps

The laptop stays in my office almost all the time, but I can't use an external monitor because I use the laptop during in-person appointments and often turn it toward patients.

I usually keep Macs for about 6–7 years.

If you were in my position:

1. Would you keep using this Mac for another year, or replace it now?

2. If you would replace it, which would you choose and why?

   - 15" MacBook Air M5 (24GB RAM)

   - 14" MacBook Pro M5 (24GB RAM)

   - 16" MacBook Pro M5 Pro (24GB RAM)

I'm less interested in benchmarks and more interested in real-world experience from people who use their Macs for work all day.

Looking for a public access track that can be used and open to public.

Improving follow-up attendance for Medicaid / lower-income patients in outpatient care

I work in outpatient care with a large Medicaid population referred from primary care for chronic disease management and behavior-change support.

I’m trying to improve follow-up completion. Many patients are respectful, interested, and engaged during the initial visit, but follow-up attendance drops off quickly compared with commercially insured patients.

I’m trying not to reduce this to “lack of motivation.” My assumption is that a lot of this is life friction: work schedules, transportation, childcare, competing priorities, low perceived urgency, appointment fatigue, health literacy, and whether the referral was framed as medically important versus optional.

For clinicians who work with Medicaid, lower-income, or blue-collar populations:

What have you seen actually improve follow-up attendance and engagement?

Specific questions:

• Is it better to schedule multiple follow-ups in advance, or schedule one visit at a time?
• Does PCP framing make a major difference? For example, “I want you to complete 3 visits” versus “Here’s a referral if you’re interested.”
• Do warm handoffs or same-day scheduling improve follow-through?
• Are shorter, more frequent visits better than longer visits spaced farther apart?
• What reminder systems, scripts, or workflows have worked?
• What mistakes do outpatient specialists make when trying to engage Medicaid patients?
• How do you make follow-up feel like part of treatment rather than an optional extra?

I’m not looking for generic “build rapport” advice. I’m trying to understand the operational, behavioral, and clinic workflow pieces that make follow-up more likely in real outpatient practice.

Any perspective from physicians, NPs/PAs, nurses, MAs, care coordinators, social workers, case managers, or clinic managers would be appreciated.