Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every time you called your doctor’s office for an appointment, particularly when you’re sick, you were able to get in that day? Even on holidays and weekends? After all sickness doesn’t take a day off. Now let’s take that a step further – wouldn’t it be nice if that medical care came to you at home or at work 365 days a year?

Bottom line: Americans want access to care, defined as the ability to get an appointment or other service with our chosen provider at the time we choose.
Unfortunately, this kind of access is rare in the United States due to our fragmented health care system and a growing shortage of primary care clinicians.

Yet, access to primary care clinicians can reduce costs through improved management of chronic diseases and reduced emergency department and hospital use.1

Thankfully, health policy experts are aware of the problem and have identified options to improving care. One of these options is the patient-centered medical home (PCMH).

First, a definition. A PCMH is a team-based model of care led by a clinician who provides continuous and coordinated care throughout a patient’s lifetime to maximize health outcomes.

In a PCMH:

• Primary and principal care clinicians partner with patients to ensure that their care is managed and coordinated effectively, and to help patients manage their own chronic diseases to prevent avoidable complications.
• Offices use innovative scheduling systems to minimize delays in getting appointments.
• Clinicians use evidence-based clinical decision support tools at the point of care to ensure that patients get appropriate and recommended care.
• Patients have access to non-urgent medical advice through email, telephone consultations, etc.
• Clinicians have arrangements with a team of health care professionals to provide a full spectrum of patient-centered services.
• Clinicians are accountable for the care they provide, by using health information technology to provide regular reports of quality, efficiency, and patient experience measures.

Is WhiteGlove a medical home? You bet. WhiteGlove addresses all of the elements defined above and provides access to medical care that comes to you in-person or over the phone 365 days a year from 8am to 8pm. WhiteGlove is a Mobile Medical Home, giving its members access to high quality medical care that costs less and provides an award winning healthcare experience.

Bob Fabbio
CEO
WhiteGlove Health, Inc.

A recent article in the NY Times (June 26, 2011) “U.S. Plans Stealth Survey on Access to Doctors” generated a lot of commentary about the ethics of such a study, and what it would actually accomplish. There was not much feedback on the fact that the survey is apparently going to document what already seems to be known, nor any constructive suggestions on how to fix these commonly accepted problems.

The article throws out some alarming statistics and statements:

• In Massachusetts, “53 percent of family physicians and 51 percent of internal medicine physicians were not accepting new patients. When new patients could get appointments, they faced long waits, averaging 36 days to see family doctors and 48 days for internists.”

• “In many states, Medicaid, the program for low-income people, pays so little that many doctors refuse to accept Medicaid patients.”

• “Federal officials predict that more than 30 million Americans will gain coverage under the health care law passed last year. ‘These newly insured Americans will need to seek out new primary care physicians, further exacerbating the already growing problem’ of a shortage of such physicians in the United States.”

• “Everybody with a brain knows we do not have enough doctors.”
At WhiteGlove, we have created a simple and elegant solution to the twin problems of not enough primary care doctors to go around and the ever decreasing reimbursements that cause doctors not to accept new patients.

How Does WhiteGlove Work?

WhiteGlove is a membership service. We have both Mobile Primary Care and Mobile Chronic Care Membership Services. All of our services are available 365 days a year, in all of our service areas, with same day response.

If you want a visit, a Nurse Practitioner will come to your home or office, from 8 am to 8 pm. Need to speak to a physician? Our direct-pay members have access to telephonic diagnosis and treatment with a board-certified physician, wherever they are in the U.S. We charge a flat $35 per visit, whether in-person or over-the-phone. And, we do not file claims against your health plan for our medical services.

At WhiteGlove, we don’t believe that anyone should wait 36 days to receive healthcare. As a service-driven healthcare organization, our membership model delivers high-quality medical care to your home, work or phone, 365 days a year –for a low annual membership fee, and a flat visit fee. Visit our website to find out more. www.whiteglove.com.

A member’s story this Easter weekend talks about what we call the WhiteGlove experience. Emily, the author describes their visit.

“James (the nurse practictioner) arrived right on time.  He was professional and very friendly, though possibly a tad overwhelmed by his captive audience.  All 6 kids, a neighbor, Moody and I were sitting around simply amazed at what was taking place.  We may need to get out more…….ok, so he comes in and first hands Hill a Get Well Kit.  Seriously? A goodie basket!  It had a can of chicken noodle soup, crackers, apple juice, a Gatorade, jello, Tylenol, Advil, cough drops, kleenex and a whole lotta love.  He proceeded to ask Hill some questions, does a strep test, a mono test and then hands us our medicine.  No trip to the pharmacy. Nope.  We love you James.” Read Emily’s entire post here.

And more fun happens in the comments people have about the WhiteGlove service.

I’ll leave you with Emily’s summary, “If you haven’t spent the hours that I have waiting to schedule an appointment or waiting in very small examining rooms with way too many children, you might think that I am over reacting here……….but seriously this is BIG people.  :)

They aren’t in every city, but check to see if they are in yours.  You are welcome.”

Thank you Emily.

John McElhenney
Director of Social Marketing – WhiteGlove

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