Services
Multiple services will be available including on-site laboratory services, email consultation, email lab reporting, on-site generic pharmacy services, etc. These will be phased in and may not all be available when the clinic opens.
Practice Philosophy
My goal at Family-Centered Healthcare is to establish a medical home for those residing in Hillsborough and surrounding communities. My impetus in starting this clinic is manifold. I hope that in creating this enterprise:
- Health-care disparities are lessened in the community. Too often, one’s socio-economic status, ethnicity/race, education, and insurance status, creates a barrier to healthcare and related services. I want to establish a business where all are welcome.
- Establish a family atmosphere, which is shared, contributed to, and maintained by staff and patients alike.
- Render exceptional medical care in utilizing evidence-based, personalized, and patient-centered care.
- Establish relationships with families and the community, which will serve to promote and encourage stellar care.
- To care for all individuals, as if they were part of our families.
- Provide courteous care, even in the midst of adversity. It is important to remember that we are all human and people in pain or distress, often, lose their temper and say things that they later regret. We are in the business of caring for people and igniting a smoldering fire is not helpful for the patient or our organization.
- Maintain satisfactory off-site training and education. As healthcare providers, we are required to further our medical knowledge through conferences, on-line seminars, or other means to meet our organization’s continuing medical education (CME) mandates.
- Provide care in an efficient, yet productive manner. Small clinics are plagued by poor insurance re-imbursement, high overhead, and ongoing pressures to see more and more patients. Many clinical entities seem like factories to patients, where they are herded in and out. We want to ensure that our patients feel heard and cared for, while allowing us to expedite care.
- Like all businesses, we have to maintain ourselves financially. This translates into requiring fair and prompt compensation for the care we give. This includes, but is not limited to requiring co-pays before visits, pursuing late payments in a reasonable manner, coding appropriately, and being aggressive on billing to insurance companies. Negotiating fair insurance reimbursement is the cornerstone to a strong financial foundation.
- Provide services that patients have been unable to get at other health facilities. Though all will not be instituted at the outset, we hope to offer limited house-call services, email medical requests and responses, community outreach, group nutrition and activity classes, on-site laboratory services, on-site pharmaceutical services, select evening/week-end/early morning appointments, nursing and/or breast-feeding classes (virtual or in person), access to pregnancy Lamaze courses (at a discounted rate), same-day appointments and on-site diagnostic testing.
- To motivate patients to make life-style changes that will positively affect the quality and quantity of life.