Banner Medical Clinic implements new care model
TORRINGTON, Wyo. (Aug. 4, 2009) - Banner Medical Clinic has recruited two new providers to offer better care for their diabetic, hypertensive and other chronic disease patients.
Michelle Hunter, certified physician assistant and Natalie Beck, family nurse practitioner, have been added to the staff.
With the addition of Hunter and Beck, Banner Medical Clinic will be able to focus on disease management, treating people with chronic conditions through regular appointments rather than seeing them when the person is sick or in need of immediate attention.
At Banner Medical Clinic there will be specific days scheduled for patients with diabetes and hypertension to see Hunter and Beck. These providers will work closely with the patients’ regular primary care physician at the clinic to help patients live with and manage their health concerns on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
This model of care is a win/win situation for providers and patients for many reason:
- Long-term patient outcomes tend to be better
- There is significant cost reduction to the patient
- Data and test results are closely monitored
- Patients can learn about their conditions when they are feeling well and can focus on the information.
- Appointments will be more convenient
- This can free up physicians to provide urgent and wellness care
Patients can schedule appointments for the diabetic clinic starting Aug. 11, 2009, and the hypertension clinic after Labor Day.
The visits will be billed and paid by various insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid like other clinic visits. Patients participating in this model will be given forms to track their blood test results and other vital information, for use by both the patient and the healthcare providers.
“We are not trying to divert patients from their usual family doctor,” says Marion Smith, MD. “The physicians at BMC have felt in the past that they were managing chronic disease on a crisis-by-crisis basis.''
"What I really like about this new model is that patients with these diseases will be getting care for their chronic disease at specific visits, so when they come in for a visit that isn’t related to their hypertension or diabetes, we will be able to handle the urgent need, and spend the time on getting them treatment, without also having to focus on the other issues,'' he said.
Through the use of the Electronic Medical Record that the clinic implemented two years ago, we will have a health and disease maintenance record to glance at for the history and logs of diabetes or hypertension tests, but we will focus the visit for that day on the problem that brought the patient in to see the physician.”
Dr. Smith has been working with the State of Wyoming and the Consultec program on pilot programs. With the addition of Hunter and Beck, who are committed to health maintenance and disease management, she feels the clinic is now ready to make this change.
Banner Medical Clinic successfully tested out this new model when it started the Coumadin clinic one year ago.
