A Three Year Checkup for the Patient Centered Medical Home at GBMC

I am a pediatrician and all good pediatricians know the importance of checking the child’s development at regular intervals. So, you may remember that I interviewed a few patients on their perception of our advanced primary care patient-centered medical homes three years ago and included the interviews in the blog.

http://ahealthydialogue.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-do-our-patients-really-think-about.html   
Well, I think it’s time for another checkup.

The patient- centered medical home is our design for being accountable along with the patient for his or her health. We began building them when we created our transformational vision in 2011. At that time, we knew that we had to change our design of primary care if we wanted a different outcome. We wanted everyone to get what we wanted for our loved ones: the best health outcome with the best care experience at the lowest cost (with the least waste) and with the most joy for those providing the care.

So now in 2017, what do our patients think about our patient-centered medical homes?

Earlier this week, I interviewed Dale Cernik. For more than a year now, Dale has been a patient of Dr. Peter Burkill and his team’s nurse care manager, Anne R. Conrad, at Family Care Associates, our advanced primary care office in the North Pavilion on the GBMC campus. Dale, 66, came to us with symptoms of increased thirst and urination. He said that “basically I felt like my body was out of sync.” There was no history of diabetes in his family, but Dale did have a history of high blood pressure.

Dr. Burkill diagnosed Dale with diabetes and he prescribed medication and connected Dale with Anne. She began to check in with Dale by phone two times per week to make sure that the symptoms were improving and that Dale understood and was following his diet and exercise plan. Dale made lifestyle changes and followed the plan.Today, Dale’s blood sugar levels are normal, his high blood pressure is under control and he is now exercising six times a week!  Dale now feels that because of the care he has received from Anne and Dr. Burkill he’s been able to get his life back.

We had a nice conversation and Mr. Cernik made it a point of letting me know how happy he was to tell his story and how the “FCA staff is professional, kind and caring and how everybody is sincere in their actions.”

Click the video below to hear what else Dale had to say about his care from the team at Family Care Associates.

I am so proud of Dr. Burkill, Anne and the rest of the FCA team including the care coordinators, medical assistants, and patient service assistants. They are all willing to be held accountable to working with patients, like Dale, to help them improve their health.

I think our patient-centered medical home passed the checkup with flying colors!

I want to also express my gratitude to Mr. Cernik for sharing his experiences and story with me. The GBMC HealthCare System is moving closer to our vision of providing to every patient, every time, the care that we would want for our own loved ones.