Old school medicine vs new age vs "how you you pronounce that?" healthcare.
These days there are so many options for health. But interestingly, not so many for care. Urgent care centers seem to be on every corner, even 24 hour stand-alone emergency centers, then there are the health clinics in schools and at work and we have to mention the advent of telemedicine, where you can talk to your provider on your phone or computer from virtually anywhere.
To be cared for is a rarity these days. According to Medical Economics Study, 71% of patients felt a lack of compassion by their Provider and another 73% felt rushed. This leaves more than 43% not returning for care. This is not a surprise to me as this year marks 18 years as a nurse and 19 years in healthcare arena. I have seen all aspects of care from a CNA level of perception and the multi-step approach as LPN, RN, baccalaureate level, nurse practitioner level, and even Doctoral level in varied settings, from home care to hospice.
Integrative and Functional health care are arenas of care that dig down to the root of the problem vs treatment. Lets say, you walk in your providers office for a simple complaint such as a sinus infection. During the visit, they briefly mention your weight and note your high blood pressure. After a 7 min-face to face interaction (yep, thats right, the average visit time with a provider is 7 mins), you walk out with several prescriptions, including one for high blood pressure, with no instructions or education on how to take it or even a long-term plan to get off it. What do you do? Throw the script away or get it filled, just to never take it.
In integrative and functional care, the goal is find the root cause of the blood pressure issue, is it weight related, is stress a contributing factor? Do you have healthy, supportive personal relationships, are you personally satisfied in your life, what role does spirituality play, how is your eating and sleep cycle to name a few. If your condition warrants a prescription, one can and will be prescribed for you, however, the ultimate goal is for care and healing, not immediate treatment with artificial or man-made products.
When building the concept for our practice, we took into account the idea for real healing to occur, a patient-provider relationship had to be built. We then took into account what is required for a relationship to sustainable and successful. Trust was at the forefront.
For us, trust is grown and honesty is given.
We place high value on honesty, mutual respect, compassion, giving, and treating our clients like family. To do this, our new patient appointments are 60 mins, follow up and sick visits are 30 mins. We also only accept a limited insurance to provide more face time for our patients and not so much arguing with insurance companies about payment. Did you know the average health insurance in Delaware for one person is $558/mo. Multiply that x 2 or 3 to cover an entire family. A solution for this problem, we offer Direct Primary Care (DPC) where patients pay the practice directly at rates starting at $25/mo for kids and $80/mo for adults, a literal fraction of the price of traditional insurance and includes all the bells and whistles plus more including telehealth, same or next day appointments, point-of-care dispensing-no wait at pharmacy for $10. we keep some meds in stock, nutrition and integrative consult, discount on other wellness services, to keep you healthy and disease free.
Access to healthcare has always been a determinant of outcomes. However, I'd like to take it a step further and acknowledge that maybe its not the access to health, but the access to true care. We are accepting new patients both for primary care, direct primary care, and also patients seeking a different approach to manage their chronic illnesses with integrative care. Check us out and see what makes us #morethanprimarycare. If you are interested in becoming a patient of the practice, please visit our website and you can schedule your appointment online at https://www.affinitywellnessconsultants.com/