Compassionate Primary Care focused on Seniors that gives you MORE than 7½ Minutes with your Doctor!

Show Transcript:

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Our producer, Mr. Darin Willhite, the man behind the camera, Dave Thiessen. We are here today on America's Healthcare Advocate. We thank you for joining us and making us one of the most listened to talk shows throughout the United States.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter at America's Healthcare Advocate.  Also, I want to remind you, I do this every show and you probably wonder why I do it. I do it because I keep getting asked, where are you on. Okay. So the podcast platform is that we are on Spotify, Stitcher, Spreaker, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon, RSS, Pandora, Google Podcasts, Audacy, YouTube, Apple, Pocket Casts, Overcast and Rumble.

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We greatly appreciate you if you have questions or comments. America's Healthcare Advocate dot com is the website. Send me an email. I'm happy to get back to you. Also, if you are chronologically challenged, one of those seasoned citizens like me and you are looking for Medicare coverage, you want to reach out to the lovely ladies, Carolee Steele or Joyce Thompson at RPS Benefits by Design.

00;01;35;07 - 00;01;59;05

Cary Hall

Anywhere in the country they can help you. 877 385 2224. Also, if you are looking for group or medical insurance for an employer, they can also help that. Maria Ahlers is the one you want to contact there. That again, that phone number is 877 385 2224. And the website RPS Benefits by Design Inc dot com. All right. We've got a unique show today.

00;01;59;11 - 00;02;20;15

Cary Hall

Joining me in studio is Dr. Stephanie Ikeme. She is the Regional Medical director for CenterWell. And here's why this is different. I had a great lunch meeting with with Drew Hare, who is the president of CenterWell here in the Midwest. And I was amazed by the way they do what they do, which is provide primary care for senior citizens.

00;02;20;16 - 00;02;29;03

Cary Hall

It is a unique practice and very unique in the way they deliver health care. And their results are significantly different. So. Welcome to the broadcast, Doctor.

00;02;29;05 - 00;02;30;14

Dr Ikeme

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

00;02;30;15 - 00;02;58;28

Cary Hall

Well, and you know, I really appreciate doctor being here. She in addition to being the regional director, she still sees patients, if you can believe that. So a little bit about Doctor Dr. is the CenterWell Regional Medical Director, supervises health care services that monitors patient experience with health care outcomes to ensure each one meets their quality of health care standards, The RMD builds strong relationships with specialists and providers focused on serving seniors to establish a referral network for patients.

00;02;58;28 - 00;03;21;25

Cary Hall

In addition to the RMD she oversees CenterWell’s Wellness Program. Stephanie Ikeme is a doctor of Osteopathic, originally from Long Island, New York, but attended Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where she received her undergraduate degree in biology. She then earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, now known as Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine.

00;03;22;02 - 00;03;28;07

Cary Hall

Dr. Ikeme completed her residency and training at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia, P.A. Once again, welcome.

00;03;28;07 - 00;03;28;21

Dr Ikeme

Thank you so much.

00;03;29;00 - 00;03;45;00

Cary Hall

You know, when I when I had lunch with you and I started listening to what you all do, and I've seen center all around town, but I really wasn't aware of all of how your program worked and how you're delivering primary care. I guess the first thing that is remarkable to me is that it's only for seniors.

00;03;45;00 - 00;03;45;26

Dr Ikeme

Only for seniors.

00;03;45;28 - 00;04;02;25

Cary Hall

Okay, So that's a little different when you walk into the waiting room at at a center world clinic. Right. Versus when you walk into a primary care clinic and there are 35, 36, 40 people sitting in a waiting room of all ages and types, you're doing nothing but talking to seniors. Talk about why that is.

00;04;03;00 - 00;04;22;04

Dr Ikeme

Well, you know, we hear the special part of your life and it requires more attention. And we feel like you can't get that in a regular doctor's office. Visits are 15 minutes and you get about, like you said before, about 7.5 minutes to see the doctor when you were a senior. And you have all these chronic conditions that need more attention in special detail.

00;04;22;07 - 00;04;41;03

Dr Ikeme

You need to have more time with your provider. And so that's what we want to focus on. We want to be good and focus on taking care of our seniors with the specialty that their needs and needs to have that attention. And so we can only do that if we have doctors who are have the resources, who are trained specifically to help care for our seniors and their needs.

00;04;41;09 - 00;04;59;12

Cary Hall

So let's go back to the permit. You said you said 15 minutes. The average the average time, as you mentioned, with actually with the doctor, this is seven and a half minutes is what you get. Think about that now. Now, contrast that with you know, when I said our true he said you're spending 45 minutes to an hour with the patient when they come in to sit down.

00;04;59;14 - 00;05;00;28

Cary Hall

That's hugely different.

00;05;00;28 - 00;05;20;07

Dr Ikeme

Yes. Because we want to treat the whole person. Health is not only just the disease and the medication. There's lots of factors we need to know, you know, how they're living, how who's taking care of them, what resources do they have? Are there barriers to how they can take care of their health? That takes time. That takes getting to know the patient.

00;05;20;10 - 00;05;33;00

Dr Ikeme

And you can't do that in seven and a half minutes. You can't do that when you have a panel of thousands of patients. Our job is to get to know the patient in every aspect of their lives, to make sure that we give them the most success, to have better outcomes for their health.

00;05;33;02 - 00;05;49;10

Cary Hall

You know, that's just radically different than the fee for service model because and you said it, what happens to the you know, to the average physician or primary care model that's a hospital or a large primary care practices, what are they saying? You know, they've got a patient load of 1000 patients or more typically.

00;05;49;14 - 00;06;06;13

Dr Ikeme

At least they have a he have a patient load at least of a thousand 1500 or 2000 is what you typically see. And ours, we find that around 500, maybe 600 patients per provider is what we find to be the most effective in taking care of our patients.

00;06;06;16 - 00;06;26;22

Cary Hall

That's like one fourth of what the fee for service model is. So obviously, you know, it's funny, Drew told me that, you know, he has a waiting list of doctors that want to come to work at Sutter. Well, and I think I just figured out why, right? I mean, you get to do what you do, right? You get to actually sit down and treat the patient, not buzz in and go, here, we're checking this.

00;06;26;23 - 00;06;34;01

Cary Hall

Oh, here's a new prescription. Boom, boom, boom. You know, and we're done. And they're out the door again. This is a totally different way to do this.

00;06;34;01 - 00;06;50;04

Dr Ikeme

When doctors go to med school, we are trained to take care of the whole patient, and we can't do that if we're seeing them for 8 minutes. So this is an actual model that actually prepares the doctor to train how they were trained to take care of patients. So where else are you going to find where you can take care of the patients?

00;06;50;07 - 00;06;56;23

Dr Ikeme

You get 40 minutes to an hour visits for the patients and to find out what other barriers they have that affect their health.

00;06;56;25 - 00;07;24;09

Cary Hall

And you that's interesting because you say that, you know, it's I think it's important to understand that what you're doing is you're actually sitting down and talking to the seasoned citizen, as I lovingly refer to myself and those of us, I'm 74, you know, to understand what are the underlying things that are dealing with, you know, if you're only in there and out of there, you know, in the very quick 70 have 50 minutes, whatever it is, okay?

00;07;24;11 - 00;07;42;05

Cary Hall

You're not going to have time to go. Well, tell me about what else is going on in your life. What else are you dealing with? Are you dealing with anxiety or dealing with depression? Are you dealing with, you know, mental health issues? Okay. You know, it's I just had a friend of mine who lost his wife after being married 38 years.

00;07;42;08 - 00;07;56;22

Cary Hall

He is going through a very difficult time right now. And I'm like, Mike, you know, you need to get into some kind of grief counseling. It's a because I remember when this was gone, he goes crazy. I know what I'm going do. She's my whole world. Well, I've been married 38 years, and if I lost my wife, I don't know what I would do.

00;07;56;25 - 00;08;08;16

Cary Hall

So But things like that happen. Okay. In your practice, that's something that that person coming in to sit down could talk about. And then you would do what? Get them into.

00;08;08;17 - 00;08;32;15

Dr Ikeme

Well, so we provide services that we know affect seniors. So in our in our own organization, we actually have behavioral health nurse practitioner and so she serves on just our patients. So I mean, with COVID life happens, things change in our lives. And so sometimes we have a hard time coping with that. And so we need to provide those services for our patients that, you know, it's difficult to get into a psych doctor now.

00;08;32;16 - 00;08;36;17

Cary Hall

Oh, it's almost it's virtually it's extremely difficult to get in.

00;08;36;18 - 00;08;52;24

Dr Ikeme

And so some things cannot wait. We need to make sure that we're treating this as soon as we can. So now we provide that behavioral health service for our patients so that they don't have to wait and then they can get the care that they need while while they're taking care of their other problems. And your other health care conditions.

00;08;52;24 - 00;09;13;07

Cary Hall

You know, this is I said, you know, when we started this, you're going to find this to be very, very different and you're going to find this model to the way they they they do health care for seniors. It's just something I've not seen before. There are other clinic models out there, but there's not one that is completely focused on seniors that does what they do, like this behavioral health issue.

00;09;13;13 - 00;09;34;26

Cary Hall

I mean, imagine you don't you're not going to get the referral here. You need to go see a psychologist or psychiatrist to talk about your problem, your grief, or whatever the case may be. COVID, you know, a child, whatever it is, we've got somebody right here. And that that to me, first of all, you know what happens when you tell somebody that versus sending him out to a referral?

00;09;34;29 - 00;09;49;14

Cary Hall

It's they're going to make the connection. When you do the referral, those numbers drop like a rock. And that's one of the differences with this program. So we're going to continue this conversation with Dr. Stephanie Ikeme when ee come back from the break. If you want to learn more about what they do, go to the website centerwellprimarycare.com

00;09;49;14 - 00;10;07;27

Cary Hall

CenterWell Senior Care dot com Well, senior well, where? Excuse me. You think I did radio sent CenterWell Senior Care dot com. Go to the website or call 913 914 8202 and they'll be happy to chat with you. Stay tuned We've got more right here on America's Healthcare Advocate.

00;10;08;00 - 00;10;41;05

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00;10;41;08 - 00;11;09;09

Steve Kuker

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00;11;09;11 - 00;11;28;17

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting. Coast to coast across the USA. In studio with me today, Dr. Stephanie Ikeme. She is the regional director of her CenterWell Senior Primary Care. You know, this is a very different way of getting primary care. And if you're a senior citizen out there and you're how do I access this?

00;11;28;17 - 00;11;47;29

Cary Hall

Well, if you're on United, if you're on that and if you're on Cigna, if you're on Humana, you have access to these clinics. There are seven A throughout the Kansas City metro. Is that right? I got it right. That's right. For that up. Okay. So if you if you want to just learn what they do and if you're looking for a different kind of primary care, maybe you're sick of that seven and a half minutes.

00;11;47;29 - 00;12;07;14

Cary Hall

You'd like to really be able to sit down with the doctor and talk about some issues. Maybe it's a sleep issue, maybe it's neuropathy. I mean, who knows, right? This is an opportunity to do that. And it's all in one place and it's very, very convenient. Their website CenterWellPrimaryCare.com, CenterWell Primary Care dot com, that is the website.

00;12;07;18 - 00;12;31;12

Cary Hall

If you just want to call them and chat with them. 913 914 8202. So, Doctor, let's talk a little bit about, you know, what I think really stands out here is you have a dedicated care team. So typically in a typical primary care model, you see that doctor, if you need to see a neurologist, if you need to see an ortho doctor, if you need to see, you know, whatever the case may be, you're going to get referred out.

00;12;31;12 - 00;12;47;03

Cary Hall

You have to go someplace else and then you get to make the appointments. That's always a lot of fun. Okay. You sit on hold and go to 14 voice problems. Yeah. And so talk about how this is different, the way you do it and the fact that you've got a care team who is on that team.

00;12;47;09 - 00;13;05;13

Dr Ikeme

Right. So of course, the is always I call the quarterback, right. Because they run the team to make sure that they provide the services for their patients. So one of the best persons that we have to help with our patients is the referral coordinator. If you need an x ray mammogram, DEXA scan, they are there to help you make those appointments and get that started there.

00;13;05;13 - 00;13;11;10

Dr Ikeme

Also, make sure that is covered by your insurance. Nothing's worse than actually going someplace and finding out it's not even covered.

00;13;11;17 - 00;13;27;00

Cary Hall

And you know, that happens especially on labs, right, and that kind of thing. You show up at at at a particular lab facility and you had the lab done. Then you get the then you get the bill in the mail saying, oh, that wasn't covered. Right. Oh, because they're out of network. Well, how were you supposed to know that?

00;13;27;04 - 00;13;27;27

Dr Ikeme

Exactly.

00;13;27;27 - 00;13;36;18

Cary Hall

So so you're basically you're doing all this for your patients as they come in. As I said, you know, life just got a lot easier. Right? Okay.

00;13;36;19 - 00;13;43;16

Dr Ikeme

If we want our patients to be compliant of what we want them to do, we have to make it easier for them to do it. Why put those obstacles in front of them? Yeah.

00;13;43;18 - 00;14;02;17

Cary Hall

Here's the other thing. So I mentioned this the last segment we're going out. So you're told to go see this doctor. Go see that doctor. Go see another doctor. Well, how many of those patients on a percentage basis don't really follow through with that or they try The first time they get to doctor's office, they leave a voicemail for the nurse typically or whoever.

00;14;02;17 - 00;14;16;20

Cary Hall

Okay, the scheduler. And then maybe they get a call back. And if they missed the call or don't recognize the call, now they're trying to cycle through it again. And then you're like, this whole rigamarole, what you're doing is you're going we're going to take care of that.

00;14;16;21 - 00;14;18;11

Dr Ikeme

Right? Exactly. It's a different.

00;14;18;11 - 00;14;19;05

Cary Hall

Way of doing this.

00;14;19;05 - 00;14;35;26

Dr Ikeme

It is. And ensures that what needs to be done is done. And not only that, you just don't leave the patient to the, you know, the specialist to say it's an orthopedic and we don't know what happened. How am I supposed to take care of you if I'm not knowing what happened at these visits? They have to close the loop.

00;14;36;01 - 00;14;42;25

Dr Ikeme

And that means getting the consults from those doctors so we know exactly what's going on with the patient when they see their specialist as well.

00;14;42;26 - 00;15;01;29

Cary Hall

And so, so okay. And I've gone through this with my wife. I've talked about her issues before, where she goes to see a doctor and then she has to go up and pull the medical record from the doctor and get them over to the next doctor. You're saying that your care coordinators, your referral coordinates, care, care, they handle all this right?

00;15;01;29 - 00;15;17;29

Dr Ikeme

And we don't want we want to send our patients where they're feeling they're taking care of, and they have great specialists that knows what they're doing and also taking care of the patients, how we want to take care of the patients. So how are we supposed to send you to someone who never gives us anything or we don't know what's going on?

00;15;18;02 - 00;15;27;07

Dr Ikeme

That's not good care? And so we want to make sure that not only are we giving you to people that we trust and then we have a good relationship with that, we know they're taking care of you, how you should be taking care of.

00;15;27;10 - 00;15;51;20

Cary Hall

So you're closing the loop, you're dotting all the I's, crossing all the T's now. So as that relates, because I've seen some of the numbers to effectiveness, that's got to improve that patient experience and those outcome based ratios of, hey, we got that neuropathy problem handled or oh, we got that neurological problem handled or whatever or the sleep study done or that has to change that outcome.

00;15;51;20 - 00;15;52;05

Cary Hall

Yes.

00;15;52;08 - 00;16;11;13

Dr Ikeme

And of course, I mean, let's say you're seeing the cardiologist. He made changes to your meds. I need to know those changes because that is critical to the care that you're giving. What if I gave you something that contradicts or interacts with the medication that they gave you, or I'm giving you something that's not effective and we're wasting time on trying to treat this particular disease.

00;16;11;18 - 00;16;30;00

Cary Hall

You know that that brings to mind an interesting situation I had where Lorrie was prescribed a medication and when I went to the pharmacy and picked it up, the pharmacist came to the window and said, Look, I want you to understand something. We don't think she should be taking this med. And he gave me the sheet of the effects of the Med with something.

00;16;30;00 - 00;16;52;20

Cary Hall

The other things she was already taken and I was like, Well, she can't take this. And we went back to the doctor. The specialist who had written that prescription said, good thing the pharmacist checked this because this would have been a real problem if she had taken it. She would have had a very difficult medical situation. So what you're doing here is you're avoiding all of that by keeping everything in one place.

00;16;52;20 - 00;16;53;03

Cary Hall

Right?

00;16;53;10 - 00;17;12;08

Dr Ikeme

Right. And so it's critical in order for us to have the best care for our patients and making sure we have best outcomes that we need to know exactly what's going on, who no matter who sees the patient, whether it be the specialists, whether to be us, whether it be a pharmacist, we all have to be involved. It's a team effort to make sure we're taking care of the patient correctly.

00;17;12;08 - 00;17;31;02

Cary Hall

Yeah, I guess the other thing that's interesting is because this happens as well is, you know, is this going to be covered by Medicare or is it not going to be covered by Medicare arm? Are you going to get a secondary bill for this? This has happened to me where you have something done and then you find out, oh, that wasn't covered by Medicare, but it was ordered and you had it done.

00;17;31;02 - 00;17;35;07

Cary Hall

Now you get to pay for it. So you're taking care of all that upfront, right?

00;17;35;07 - 00;17;53;28

Dr Ikeme

Exactly. If I'm ordering something, there's no point of ordering. If you can't afford to get it right. And so this is why we have our we have a resource coordinator as well to making sure that if they're social, if there's their services that the patient needs, we want to make sure that you guys are it's affordable for you and you guys can get that.

00;17;54;00 - 00;17;57;16

Dr Ikeme

So let's say you have a CT scan. All those require prior auth’s

00;17;57;16 - 00;17;57;29

Cary Hall

Right.

00;17;58;12 - 00;18;19;26

Dr Ikeme

Right, right. So I don't know if you have a co-pay. I don't know what's covered. What's not covered. Let's get that done prior to you getting that so that you're not wasting your time going there. And you can't even afford to get that. And so that is why it's important that we have this team, we have the referral coordinators making sure that they do that job first before you get that stuff done.

00;18;19;29 - 00;18;38;14

Cary Hall

You know why that's important? Because every one of these Medicare Advantage plans, which is typically what the kind of folks that they are servicing at at these clinics, every one of these plans has different co-pays and different out of pockets. So you may have a $350 copay to do a CT scan or you may have a $10 co-pay.

00;18;38;19 - 00;19;00;02

Cary Hall

It depends on the plan. Yeah. And No. Two are the same. No, no. Everybody's got a different way of doing it. And and especially if you have change. Let's say you went from Blue Cross plan to Humana or Humanity United, while the benefits all changed. You know, if you're trying to go through and figure that stuff out, that's a lot of time and effort and maybe you'll get it right, maybe you won't.

00;19;00;02 - 00;19;02;16

Cary Hall

But here they don't have to do that.

00;19;02;16 - 00;19;12;19

Dr Ikeme

No, that we take that off of you so we make sure that that's not something you should be worrying about. That's something that we should be doing and so that you can focus on taking care of yourself.

00;19;12;22 - 00;19;32;19

Cary Hall

You know, this is really a different way of delivering care to seniors. And one of the things I wanted to do today, we'll come back from the break and the next time we'll talk a bit about this. If you are part of the sandwich generation, you've got a mother, father, grandmother, grandfather out there, and you're responsible for their care and you're shuffling them off to the primary care and you're shuffling them off for this or that or whatever the case may be.

00;19;32;23 - 00;19;49;02

Cary Hall

Maybe it's the spouse, whatever the case may be. This is a different way of doing that. That will probably simplify your life. And I would strongly suggest that you take a look at what the center well is doing. If you've got, you know, one of those folks on a Medicare Advantage plan, Medicare Suppliment plan, they can certainly help you.

00;19;49;07 - 00;20;14;09

Cary Hall

The website is CenterWell Primary Care dot com, the phone number 913 914 8202. If you just want to call, talk to them and find out what they're about. Call them. They'll be happy to chat with you. Stay tuned. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA radio network Coast to Coast across the USA.

00;20;14;09 - 00;20;39;06

Cary Hall

The doctors in the House , stay tuned. Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates Show, broadcasting coast to coast across the fruited plain here on the radio network, My producer, Mr. Darren Willhite, the man behind the camera, Dave Thiessen, we are coming to you, Dave. The Audacy Studios joining me in studio, Dr. Stephanie Ikeme. She is the regional director, medical director for CenterWell Primary Care.

00;20;42;03 - 00;20;57;14

Cary Hall

You know, this is just a very different way to get if you're a seasoned citizen out there, you know, like me and you're looking for primary care or maybe you're not happy with what you're where it's going, maybe you're tired of sitting in a waiting room of 35 or 40 people and getting that seven and a half minutes.

00;20;57;14 - 00;21;18;11

Cary Hall

This is a different way to receive care. I met this on the way out a minute ago. If you are one of the sandwich generation, it's your mom who's 90 years old or your dad who's 85, whatever the case may be, and they need help. I talked to somebody the other day in Illinois, 85 eight no, 77 years old, in a wheelchair.

00;21;18;14 - 00;21;37;12

Cary Hall

He's a vet. Agent Orange is crippled him. He's in a wheelchair and his wife is responsible for everything. You know, he he's got all these different doctors he has to see. What difference would it make if they could go to some place like center? Well, the center. Well, clinics are very, very different. What they do, there are seven of them in and around Kansas City.

00;21;37;12 - 00;22;03;28

Cary Hall

If you want to learn more about it. CenterWell Primary Care dot com, centerwellprimarycare.com, you just want to call them and have a chat. 913 914 8202. So let's just do this intake. So I have to go. Walk me through how this works. I show up there, this is my first time I got the appointment online or I called and got an appointment.

00;22;04;00 - 00;22;05;04

Cary Hall

What's going to happen now?

00;22;05;08 - 00;22;31;01

Dr Ikeme

So let me tell you, the first thing we do is all of our staff meets in the morning. We have huddles, so you'll go through my schedule and we'll talk about every patient I'm going to see down to why they're coming in, If there's any referrals that need to be done. If the labs I have to follow up with any preventative screens that have to happen, if they're not if we need to refill any medications for the patients, we go through a thorough investigation of all our patients on that schedule.

00;22;31;06 - 00;22;34;28

Dr Ikeme

So by the time you come in, we know exactly what we have to do with you.

00;22;34;28 - 00;22;39;00

Cary Hall

Well, right out of the gate, people, that's a lot different than what you typically experience.

00;22;39;00 - 00;22;52;18

Dr Ikeme

A lot of thing that goes behind the scenes. We don't want to drop the ball on any aspect of your health care. And so we have the referral coordinator, we have the medical records, people who participate in the huddle, we have our integrative pharmacists who work with our higher risk patients.

00;22;52;20 - 00;22;54;26

Cary Hall

Okay, stop right there. You have an integrated pharmacist.

00;22;54;26 - 00;23;13;13

Dr Ikeme

We have an integrated pharmacist. We'll work with our high risk patients, our patients who are going to the hospital a lot or who have uncontrolled diabetes or uncontrolled congestive heart failure. These are our most vulnerable patients. We have to make sure that we're providing as much as we can medication wise, making sure that they have the conditions under control.

00;23;13;16 - 00;23;21;17

Dr Ikeme

That's a very important aspect of their health. So we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can with especially what our most vulnerable patients that we're taking care of them correctly.

00;23;21;19 - 00;23;26;06

Cary Hall

So now you have got you've had the huddle, here I am, I show up. So what's going.

00;23;26;07 - 00;23;38;02

Dr Ikeme

On? So when you first come in, you're going to see the waiting rooms. Not busy, it's not full. We definitely make sure that we want to keep our waiting room safe. More people, more chronic conditions, more when you can catch things.

00;23;38;02 - 00;23;39;00

Cary Hall

That's exactly right.

00;23;39;00 - 00;23;53;00

Dr Ikeme

Yeah. And so we want to make sure that doesn't happen with our patient. You guys are already vulnerable as it is catching those things. So, no, we keep our waiting rooms as as as less patients or less people as possible so that we can keep you guys healthy the minute you guys come in, the front desk already knows what's happening.

00;23;53;00 - 00;24;09;15

Dr Ikeme

They participate in the front huddles, they know who you are, your insurance, making sure you sign all the correct forms so we can get all the information as easy as possible. Because you are a new patient. We want to make sure we gather everything that we can from every specialist. Your previous primary care doctor, once you come in, you know, so you don't sit too long.

00;24;09;15 - 00;24;26;07

Dr Ikeme

Our nurses coming in or our medical systems coming to get you bring you back into the room as fast as we can. Put you in the room, too, asking all the critical questions. What medications are you taking? Did you bring them with you? What chronic condition do you know you do have? Are you living by yourself? You have a caregiver with you.

00;24;26;10 - 00;24;38;12

Cary Hall

So if so, here we go to caregiver again. So now the daughter or the son, like my daughter goes to the doctor with my wife every time we go, Right. Okay. They get to come in.

00;24;38;13 - 00;24;57;29

Dr Ikeme

They get to come in. Okay. We have seats ready for them. If they have a caregiver, we if they we prefer if they're there. Now, more people involved in the person's health care, they're better. Right? Because sometimes you need two or three perspectives on how to take care of the of the patient. Yeah, they'll ask, you know, your surgical history, your your your past medical history.

00;24;57;29 - 00;25;11;10

Dr Ikeme

They'll ask if there's any specialists that you're seeing. Who are they? When was the last time you you saw them? We want to gather as much information as possible because we know that if I know as much as I can about you, then we can provide the best health care for you.

00;25;11;10 - 00;25;13;21

Cary Hall

So they got all that up front. Now you walk in the room.

00;25;13;21 - 00;25;29;07

Dr Ikeme

So I walk in the room. We get to know each other. Hi, I'm Dr. Ikeme I tell you a little about myself. Then I ask you any questions about, you know, your health, any concerns that you have, any barriers that you have, who's taking care of you? There's anything you want me to know. Is there any refills on your medications?

00;25;29;07 - 00;25;42;16

Dr Ikeme

You have any recent labs? Anything that's ongoing that I should know about, Anything new that's popping up. We get into a thorough investigation of what's going on with our patients so that we know exactly what the next steps are and how to treat the patient.

00;25;42;20 - 00;25;52;10

Cary Hall

Now, do they get that? So now they've got this team, they've got you, they've got the caregiver, they've got all these people. Yeah. Do you get to stay with that same team or you get shuffled around?

00;25;52;10 - 00;26;10;22

Dr Ikeme

You know, Are all our centers have one team so you know who your referral coordinator is. You'll know who your your medical records person is. You'll get to know we even have care coaches. Let's say you got sick and you went into the hospital. My you my care coach will call you or your caregiver and saying, oh, wandering your hospital.

00;26;10;22 - 00;26;26;10

Dr Ikeme

I have my care coaches. I've seen them call my patients in their beds. They will call them when they're in the hospital, talk to their they talk to the doctor. They're talk to the nurses. They're I mean, that's how involved and invested we are to make sure you're okay.

00;26;26;11 - 00;26;30;20

Cary Hall

That is really different people. I mean, that that is that is really, really.

00;26;30;25 - 00;26;49;23

Dr Ikeme

In the hospital. If we can get access to you, we absolutely will, because we need to know what's going on. What's happening in the hospital to your care doesn't stop when you leave the doors. Your care continues when you leave. We have to know what's going on. We even even when you leave the hospital, your discharge guess was calling you our care coach, making sure that okay, we need to have a follow up.

00;26;49;27 - 00;26;57;01

Dr Ikeme

What medication changes that they do? You need to know exactly what happened. So you're aware. I'm aware. And we know how to move forward.

00;26;57;04 - 00;27;15;20

Cary Hall

Okay. So we've got about 4 minutes left in this segment now, let's just focus on one issue here. You mentioned this earlier. There is an epidemic of diabetes in this country of of pre diabetics, type two diabetes and type one diabetic. So let's just say I'm a type one diabetic or type two, that management of that care is critical.

00;27;15;20 - 00;27;36;15

Cary Hall

Getting those A1C’S, X number of times a year, which you're supposed to do, checking to make sure your insulin levels are right, you know, prescribing, etc.. Talk about how that may because I know there's this program for it. I saw it when I was going through your material. There's a specific program for managing diabetes. Yep. And how does how does all that work?

00;27;36;16 - 00;27;54;01

Dr Ikeme

Well, first it starts with me, right? Your diabetes not under control. I got to make sure I'm putting you on the right meds and how to take those meds to make sure that we get it under control. But this is very confusing. There's pills, There's injections. You're checking the glucometer now. There's, you know, continuous glucometer. So we're all trying to figure out how to best manage this.

00;27;54;04 - 00;28;05;11

Dr Ikeme

So once you leave those doors, you have your care coach who also does chronic management program. So she's calling you 2 to 3 times a week. Hey, care, what's going on? How's your sugar? Did you check.

00;28;05;11 - 00;28;05;23

Cary Hall

Times?

00;28;05;27 - 00;28;23;12

Dr Ikeme

Yeah. Making sure you know if you need it. We need to be contacting you more just to have any questions. We're here for you. We want to make sure you have a good control of your diabetes, because we know if it's not controlled, it leads to other things. It leads to kidney failure and to co-morbidities in the hospital.

00;28;23;12 - 00;28;35;22

Dr Ikeme

I mean, people die from complications from diabetes all the time. And so we want to make sure that you definitely understand how the disease process works and how to how to take control of taking care of those diabetics so.

00;28;35;22 - 00;28;43;16

Cary Hall

They miss the A1C, Yeah, and they don't get it done. Is your care coordinator calling saying, Hey, yeah, you got to get that A1 si done, You're two weeks off.

00;28;43;17 - 00;28;58;08

Dr Ikeme

She has access to Medicare, I'll just say, and she'll call me doctor Kimmy, Karis, Carrie Sugars. We're out of control. We need her. When you offer the check for diabetes to check the blood sugar, log on to glucometer. Let's see what's going on. Perfect. You come in, I talk to you and say, Look, let's tweak this. Let's start you on this.

00;28;58;10 - 00;29;19;03

Dr Ikeme

Talk to the care coach. I started him on this. We're checking in four times a day, making sure make sure you call and see how his sugars are. D Yeah, you check your sugars. We have to do whatever we can to get that blood sugar under control. We have to. Hence it's intense. But once we get it under control, then we can talk about, okay, maybe me three times a day or two times a day.

00;29;19;05 - 00;29;25;17

Dr Ikeme

But the key is to get it under control because we know the detrimental effects of what happens when you don't have it under control.

00;29;25;18 - 00;29;48;18

Cary Hall

That is radically different people than than diabetes management in a typical primary care practice and the way that it's done. And here's the other thing. I'm going to go back to this again. If you're the caregiver and you're hearing all this, hey, your dad missed his A-1 C or hey, your dad's blood sugar levels are all over the place and we need to get him in here and take a look at his insulin and see what we're doing.

00;29;48;22 - 00;29;55;18

Cary Hall

Maybe we need to get him on an insulin pump or maybe we need to get him on insulin pen or something. So data is being shared back and forth.

00;29;55;18 - 00;30;08;22

Dr Ikeme

Back and forth between the provider and the nurse who is trained in way. They're trained to do diabetes. That's what they do. So they are there to help to make sure you're eating right. You're you're checking your sugars, you're taking your medications correctly.

00;30;08;25 - 00;30;12;08

Cary Hall

It's so they're specifically trained for in diabetes management.

00;30;12;08 - 00;30;14;19

Dr Ikeme

Yeah. You're passively trying to do diabetes management.

00;30;14;26 - 00;30;29;28

Cary Hall

That's remarkable. This is a very, very different way to deliver primary care. And I hope you're saying why I wanted to do this show today, because, you know, we try to do things here that that inform and educate and give you a better way to take care of your health. It's called America's Healthcare Advocate for a reason.

00;30;30;05 - 00;30;51;02

Cary Hall

We're advocating for you to do what's in your best interests for health. I think you're going to find this is going to be quite a remarkable program if you take the time to look into it. The website is centerwellprimarycare.com center. Go up online, make an appointment, go in and see Dr. Ikeme or one of her associates and find out what this is all about.

00;30;51;02 - 00;31;18;06

Cary Hall

And again, if you're a caregiver, you really ought to take a look at this phone number 913 914 8202 to give them a call if you just want to chat. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate. Coast to coast across the U.S.. Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA.

00;31;18;06 - 00;31;48;03

Cary Hall

In studio with me today, Dr. Stephanie Ikeme, she is from CenterWell Primary Care and we are talking to her about primary care. For those of us that are chronologically challenged, if you're in the Kansas City metro, they have seven clinics. I'm going to name them. They have one on a later one on State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, one in Grandview, one in Independence, Missouri, one in Midtown, over on 301 Armor, one in Raytown and one in in over in the Truman Medical Center in Independence, Missouri, over by Truman Independence, Missouri.

00;31;48;09 - 00;32;07;11

Cary Hall

So there are seven of these with access in Kansas and Missouri. No reason you can't find one and no reason you can't go to one again. You know, if you're looking for a different way to receive primary care, maybe you're not happy with what you've got or maybe you're one of those people doesn't have a primary care doctor, you might want to take a serious look at center.

00;32;07;11 - 00;32;28;23

Cary Hall

Well, the website is CenterWell Senior Primary Care dot com and the phone number 913 914 8202. If you want to give them a call and chat, let's talk about some of the other things that you do, you know, so this is unusual. Same day appointment. Is that for real? That is.

00;32;28;23 - 00;32;39;10

Dr Ikeme

For real. Now we know access to health care is a barrier for people and we want to make sure we provide that access and make it easy for patients. So, number one, we provide transportation to our office.

00;32;39;18 - 00;32;41;00

Cary Hall

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up.

00;32;41;07 - 00;32;49;19

Dr Ikeme

You do one, we provide transportation for patients to our office. We don't want any barriers to why we can't see our patients. So if you need a ride, we'll provide that for you.

00;32;49;19 - 00;33;03;21

Cary Hall

You're hearing this. They will pick you up and bring you right back again to the caregiver. You're the caregiver. You don't have to go get mom or dad and take them or grandma. They'll bring them in. You could and you can join in person or you can probably join virtually.

00;33;03;21 - 00;33;28;01

Dr Ikeme

We can join virtually, too. Absolutely. And we know things happen. We know there's emergencies, acute things that happen. So all provide a schedule. We leave same day appointments. We have to protect that time, too, just in case someone needs to be seen. It could be upper respiratory infection, a urinary tract infection, those things that could be easily treated in the office and not go to the emergency room where they're waiting around sick people.

00;33;28;06 - 00;33;34;13

Dr Ikeme

Why can't why they can't come into the office and we can treat that. We have to provide the time for our patients for those things.

00;33;34;15 - 00;33;55;20

Cary Hall

You know, I I've had serious problems this year with upper respiratory issues. I had COVID, RSV, some of these other things happened and trying to get I went to the E.R.. Yeah, that's exactly what I did, because getting in to see the doctor was like, not going to happen any time soon. So this is a completely I could have gotten a same day appointment and been.

00;33;55;20 - 00;34;05;09

Dr Ikeme

In and in and out. You avoided Wait, wait, wait. Long times in the E.R. and you're not around all these sick people and you got treated when you need to get treated.

00;34;05;10 - 00;34;16;02

Cary Hall

I got up on a Sunday morning at 6:00 and went to Advent Emergency room because I knew I could get in and I was really sick, but I couldn't get in to see primary care. So it was the next best thing.

00;34;16;09 - 00;34;21;13

Dr Ikeme

It's unbelievable. And it doesn't have to be. It's the proper way to use it.

00;34;21;14 - 00;34;27;15

Cary Hall

No, it's not. It's the worst. It's actually the worst way to receive care is an ADR from a doctor who doesn't know.

00;34;27;17 - 00;34;43;22

Dr Ikeme

You know, you he doesn't know what your chronic conditions are. You know what medication will work best for you. I mean, that's our job to do. So we always leave room for our patients in our schedule for same day. And not only that, we have on call services, we push, you know, call us.

00;34;43;24 - 00;34;51;03

Cary Hall

All right. So that's another one. You're too after hours and you've got 24 hour care, 24, seven phone access. Talk about.

00;34;51;03 - 00;35;10;10

Dr Ikeme

That. Yeah. So if we can if we can get sick from 9 to 5, in a perfect world, that would be great. I think that would save everybody a lot of heartache and pain, right? I mean, things happen at 3:00 in the morning. It's life. And so we want to make sure that you have access to somebody who's a medical professional who can help you with, Is this an E.R.?

00;35;10;16 - 00;35;31;11

Dr Ikeme

Can I wait till the morning? You know, can I try something that I have in my house? You know, you don't know what's happening. And so we want to make sure that you call us first to know exactly the proper way to treat this emergency or urgent, urgent condition that you may have to make sure that we treat that as best possible instead of having to go to the E.R. for everything because of time constrictions.

00;35;31;12 - 00;35;38;09

Cary Hall

So if you know, if there is something can wait, then there's a bridge said that gets you to that so you can get in that day and see your care.

00;35;38;09 - 00;35;50;06

Dr Ikeme

To give you that reassurance. Like, look, okay, you know, it's going to look like you're going to be okay. This is what you need to do. And I'll and then we can I can contact your provider that's saying, you know, I'm at State Avenue, but your doctor's are Truman. I can contact your providers like, look, care is my feeling.

00;35;50;06 - 00;36;00;09

Dr Ikeme

Well, think may have upper respiratory infection. He needs to be seen today. Perfect Front desk calls you care. Let's get you in. We have a same day. We need to make sure the doctor checks you out and see what we need to do.

00;36;00;12 - 00;36;18;06

Cary Hall

That's pretty remarkable. So talk a little bit about the online and live video. So you got live video television now that now I use this and my wife's use it extensively. Yeah, it's really kind of a cool thing because you can do the visit right there without ever leaving your home. Right. Talk about.

00;36;18;06 - 00;36;35;19

Dr Ikeme

That. So our our EMS will call you first. They're like, okay, care. You have a video visit at this time, you know, anything you want to talk about it. They prep me, making sure that I know you check your blood pressure, your blood pressure cover. Check that if the temperature to check that and we can make sure that we're addressing everything that we need at the video visit, you get to see my face.

00;36;35;19 - 00;36;46;26

Dr Ikeme

I get to see your face sometimes when you guys come into the office, Just seeing you tells us a lot. It's good to see how the patients are looking. It's a that is a picture is a thousand words.

00;36;46;26 - 00;36;52;25

Cary Hall

You know you know the line most senior Jews, they say, hey, it's great to see you in this heat because they says it's good to be seen.

00;36;52;27 - 00;36;55;14

Dr Ikeme

Yeah.

00;36;55;17 - 00;37;12;22

Cary Hall

As you as you age, right? Yeah, right. Yeah. So that's interesting. It, it it is it is important, I think, for that face to face context, whether it's in the video. Right. And you know, you can see how the person's reacting, behaving what they look like or whether it's an in-person visit.

00;37;12;22 - 00;37;17;15

Dr Ikeme

And the benefit is, I know you, I know you well. Okay.

00;37;17;21 - 00;37;18;21

Cary Hall

So I'm very, very.

00;37;18;22 - 00;37;40;17

Dr Ikeme

Different because you're my patient. I don't have, you know, 1500 panel. I have my small panel who I know my patients really, really, really well. So I know when something is going on. If you're you know, something's not being told or I'm like, well, let me dig into this a little bit more. Something's not right. And so this is why we have to provide all these different types of access to our providers so that we don't miss anything with you guys.

00;37;40;17 - 00;37;44;04

Dr Ikeme

And there's no excuse to not have a communication with your provider.

00;37;44;08 - 00;38;10;05

Cary Hall

You know, I really appreciate you doing this today, Doctor, because this is I think this is going to surprise a lot of people. What? Oh, I don't think I've ever heard anything as in-depth in term terms of dealing with medical issues and care for seniors as I've had today. This is a remarkable program and I hope we get you back here to do more of this, because it is very, very different the way that you're delivering health care and the model and how it differs from the fee for service model is night and day.

00;38;10;07 - 00;38;10;20

Dr Ikeme

Oh, yeah.

00;38;10;24 - 00;38;33;25

Cary Hall

Thank you again very much. And yes, you know, again, if you're looking for a better way to receive primary care and you'd like to have the convenience of one place to go to with care coordinators and all these other things provided for you right there in the facility. You probably also take a look at CenterWell Senior Primary Care at CenterWellSeniorPrimaryCare.com, that is the website.

00;38;33;27 - 00;38;49;02

Cary Hall

And you can go up there. They've got seven clinics all over town in and around the Kansas City metro. Or you can you want to call them, call them 913 914 8202. To once again thank you very much doctor.

00;38;49;05 - 00;38;49;09

Dr Ikeme

Me.

00;38;49;15 - 00;39;15;17

Cary Hall

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with this thought from Dr. Martin Luther King. Americans must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or we will surely perish together as fools. Truer words were never spoken. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate today broadcasting here on the HIA radio network. Coast to coast across the USA, Goodbye America.