Now more than ever, employers are searching for solutions for improving health and wellness. Healthy workplaces benefit both employees and their employers by reducing health care costs and absenteeism while creating a safer, more enjoyable and more productive working environment.
Whether the conversation surrounds busy clinics, financial constraints or access to care, our country’s evolving health care system often creates more barriers than it removes. To meet these significant challenges, a growing movement of primary care doctors practicing more personalized comprehensive medicine without the burden of insurance is emerging to serve employers seeking better care for their employees.
Advanced primary care removes fee-for-service influences from the primary care ecosystem and injects a reliable doctor-patient relationship, advanced technologies to maintain health and lower primary care costs and a patient advocacy program that ultimately allows patients to access medicine the way it should be.
Medicine the way it should be
Though there have been amazing scientific and technological advances over the years, America’s health care system has become very impersonal. Escalating costs and the advent of health insurance to cover the risk of medical expenses spawned the modern fee-for-service model in which doctors are too rushed filling prescribed daily quotas to deliver compassionate care.
Some Americans recall when physicians made house calls. Others have childhood memories of our doctor asking us about our favorite class at school. Classic medicine used to be personal. Doctors had smaller practices and built relationships with their communities.
Patients feel like they’re being processed versus cared for, while physicians feel a disconnect from those they hope to serve. And more than friendly conversation is lost.
“A good relationship fosters better communication, which improves diagnosis. It also encourages people to tell their doctors about symptoms they might not otherwise disclose,” said John Kelley, Ph.D., a psychologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital and the lead author of a 2014 study that found improving the doctor-patient relationship can produce health effects as beneficial as some common treatments.
Today, the average primary care doctor has a panel of 3,000-4,000 active patients. These massive groups of patients mean physicians only see each patient around three times a year and spend between just 7 to 12 minutes with them per visit. Such limited contact means the relationship between patient and physician has become a thing of the past. However, a recent American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) study revealed the average direct primary care (a precursor to advanced primary care) providers’ target panel size is just 596 patients, cementing the movement’s dedication to developing personal relationships.
Technologies
Today, the wealth of available data and IT-based systems are just beginning to enable more patient-centered, connected care. In advanced primary care, practitioners have the freedom to embrace technology more fully — and in more creative ways. As technology takes on an increasingly larger role in health care, the value of time and access grows increasingly apparent.
Proprietary innovative technologies in advanced primary care allow practitioners to track population health and address it with solutions — like programs to reduce Type 2 Diabetes. Combine the technology solutions with patient advocates who build relationships with patients and families, and the patients are propelled down the path of health and wellness.
Cost savings
According to a 2019 study, health care spending in the U.S. rose nearly a trillion dollars between 1996 and 2015, equating to rising costs for most patients. Through periodic membership fees, one-on-one patient advocacy and strong doctor-patient relationships, advanced primary care covers all of the basic primary care services, including a laser focus on disease prevention or management, as well as reduced prices on prescription drugs and other care services.
Although primary care isn’t exactly known for saving patients money, a recent study proved advanced primary care does.
Enter Proactive MD
Proactive MD is a Greenville-based advanced primary care company practicing medicine in a compassionate, committed and comprehensive manner: classic care with modern medicine. The company works with employers to provide employees access to the personalized, convenient care of the past while reinventing the primary care experience. On-site Health Centers employ board-certified physicians committed to reclaiming the physician-patient relationship. Through smaller patient panels and a dedicated on-site patient advocate, Proactive MD is building genuine trust and community with the people it serves.
Proactive MD is built to provide health and care to any employer group. The company has experience serving organizations of all sizes — including churches, nonprofits and municipalities — and is opening a near-site clinic in Mauldin to continue expanding access to care. The world-class facility is equipped with spa-like examination rooms, a community-oriented open hall and a kitchen for nutritional discussions and cooking classes. There, patients can receive concierge health care, including unlimited no-wait doctor visits, 24/7 access to practitioners, patient advocacy, laboratory services, immunizations, prescriptions, physical therapy and more.
Proactive MD’s advanced primary care solutions offer improved health and create value, per the Validation Institute, an independent, objective, third-party organization focused on changing health care. VI recently confirmed Proactive MD’s Care Beyond the Wall model saves patients money, finding members engaged with the Proactive MD health center after two years cost $42 less per member per month (PMPM), while those that did not cost $129 more PMPM than they had at baseline.
Discover how Proactive MD’s physicians and clinical care team provide total health care solutions to reduce risk, flatten rising health care costs and create better outcomes for patients. For more information on the near-site clinic in Mauldin, please visit http://proactive-md.com/nearsite.
