Success has its downside.
We have received many inquiries from those wishing to join our practice. Our primary goal is to optimally care for those already enrolled, by capping our practice size to approximately one half the size of a traditional practice. The good news is that our model has proven successful: the bad news is that we must occasionally put a hold on enrolling new patients. This is generally for a brief time, if at all. We then welcome new members as our capacity allows. Please see the “enrollment” tab under the “INTRODUCE” tab on the home page for more information.
Access your medical record, schedule an appointment, and pay your bills via our new Patient Portal
In 2017, after months of careful consideration, we made an important and significant shift to AthenaHealth as our Electronic Medical Record and billing partner. This provides our practice with state of the art tools for enhancing communication and data/test sharing securely with our patients. It also allows us to provide a summary of your visit with us and may include additional advice for reference after your appointment. In addition, AthenaHealth employs efficient billing tools, as interacting with insurers has become even more complex. We hope you will enroll in the Patient Portal and take advantage of this important tool…be it reviewing your medical history, medications and immunizations for accuracy (please be sure to contact us if you find any discrepancies!), self-scheduling an appointment, asking a question or viewing and paying a balance.
In the news.
Dr. Bloomer was named the “Top Family Doc” in NH Hampshire Magazines annual readers poll for 2014 and again in 2016. Dr. Bloomer was thrilled to receive this honor. Of course, no Doc is an island and a great deal of the credit goes to our wonderful providers, Susan McKernan, Kareen Worrell and Casey Bloomer; and of course (as all small business owners know) the staff who are really the ones keeping us on track. Kudos to Lisa, Peggy, and Erin, our ‘co-directors’ of first impressions!
Dr. Bloomer was featured in the Medical Sunday section of the Seacoast Sunday Newspaper in a June 2016 article by Susan Laurent titled “Health Management. Engaging Patients Provides Better Outcomes”. The article explored health confidence and how understanding this important concept can lead to improved outcomes for our patients.
YourMedicalHome was cited in the British Medical Journal (Britain’s equivalent of the New England Journal of Medicine) in a Spotlight Analysis “Patient-reported outcome measures in practice” in February 2015. The article comments on our use of the HowsYourHealth Survey as an important tool for patient care and an example of a PROM (Patient Reported Outcome Measure).
YourMedicalHome featured in Transformation Times, Anthems national monthly newsletter. This monthly newsletter focuses on ways to improve medical practices.
Dr. Bloomer was interviewed for Seacoast Online Article, Anthem Program Rewards Quality Patient Management, which was published in October 2014. Anthem has been working closely with our practice to provide the highest quality care to all of our patients, providing us with new tools and expertise usually only available to very large healthcare organizations. This has allowed us to ‘act big’, while ’staying small’.
We continue to monitor insurance contracts.
We continue to be directly contracted with Anthem, Harvard Pilgrim Health Plans as well as TUFTs Health Plans offered through the exchange. Given all of the uncertainty in the health insurance marketplace, feel free to call the office should you have any questions or concerns.
A number of our patients are covered by insurances with whom we do not directly contract. Most recently we have reviewed a contract from CIGNA, as a number of school districts have switched to these plans. Regrettably, the reimbursement is considerably lower that Anthem and Harvard Pilgrim, and we are not able to contract with them without more favorable terms. On the positive side, many employers offer a POS (point of service) plan, which allows members to see any physician. Should you be covered by a CIGNA plan, a call to your administrator can’t hurt to let them know we are willing….just not willing to compromise our care.
YourMedicalHome continues to participate in Ideal Medical Practices.org collaborative.
This is a group of innovative practices from across the country with the goal of radically improving the way we deliver Primary Care. Supported by experts associated with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Dartmouth Medical School faculty, these small practices strive to give patients “exactly the care they want (and need), exactly where and when they want (and need) it”. This “collaborative” works toward this goal by sharing ideas and expertise gathered from around the country, using the latest in technology, all wrapped around an optimal Physician-Patient interaction.
Online Scheduling is Here!
We are the first practice in our area to allow patients direct access to our schedule! 11 AM or 11 PM, no need to wait for the office to open to select a time that works for you.