spend limited health care dollars responsibly?

streamline the patient’s & Providers experience?

enjoy your work and spend more time with patients?

Practice the Medicine you Were Trained To practice?

think “outside the box?”

TechNology Integration

In the Willow Family Medicine office (WFM), you won’t find land lines, fax machines, or charts, as cloud based technology has replaced these administrative relics. The office space is utilized efficiently, and deliberate attention is paid to organization and setup to help facilitate both the patient and provider’s experience.

Online booking and appointment reminders replace phone appointment booking. Patients receive secure emails with results, sent directly from their provider, rather than a third party staff member. These are templated messages that take providers seconds, not minutes, to complete. Templats also reduce error and can include important information as well as, are customizable to each patients needs. Visits are streamlined by previsit patient questionnaires that are integrated into the EMR. Therefore, during the appointment, there is more time for face-to-face discussion. Patients can’t misplace prescriptions, as e-faxing is utilized for prescriptions. Patients can access their provider via email, during business hours, for any administrative task, and these requests can be responded with the help templates.

Software Recomendations

Below are a few products essential to the WFM micropractice. All below products have been approved for Canadian use and meet current privacy legislation requirements. While there are many other useful products, many have not been approved for use in Canada or trailed by our office.

• Accuro by QHR Technologies - Electronic medical record & online scheduler

• Medeo Healthmail - Secure, EMR integrated messaging

• Ocean by CognisantMD - Secure, EMR integrated patient questionnaires and forms

• Unite Communications - Remote, EMR integrated cloud based fax

• Cliniconex - Appointment reminders

• Squarespace - Website

• Line2 - VOIP phone service

• TextExpander - Multi platform, multi user smart phrase manager

Outcome Measures

How can you tell if micropractice improves outcomes and patient experiences? Data analytics. Since 2017, WFM has utilized anonymous patient feedback surveys. These surveys not only ask patients to rate their experience with office technologies and/or systems or report health outcomes, but also rate their satisfaction with a provider. While the former has become common in traditional medical circles, the latter often remains an unpopular concept, about which opponents say, “you can’t please everyone.” While this is true, feedback plays an essential role in identifying areas of growth and potential solutions for system improvement.

Resources

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. MacGregor offered practice mentorship and consulting services to clinic owners, students and physicians in a number of virtual talks. Presently, she has stepped back from consulting projects, however, the following may be helpful.

• “Family Medicine - Should I Just Quit.” A two-hour presentation geared towards those not yet established in their career or those embarking on starting a new clinic.

• Alberta Medical Association One Nail at at Time Podcast - Streamlining Your Practice - Part 1 & 2

For those looking to dig a bit deeper but not ready for consulting;

• What is Mircorpractice - Dr. Meghan Elkink MD

• Slow Medicine - Dr. Victoria Sweet MD PhD

• Atomic Habits - James Clear

• Dissident Doctor - Dr. Micheal Klein MD

• Ideal Medical Clinic - Dr. Pamela Wible MD

• The Happy Doc - Dr. Yami Lancaster MD

• Better Now: Six Ideas to Improve Health Care for all Canadians - Dr. Danielle Martin MD

• When Less Becomes More - Emily Ley

• BC Virtual Medicine Tool Kit

A few examples of other micropractice or ideal medical clinics;

• Full Circle Women’s Clinic - St. Albert, Alberta

• Evergreen Family Medicine - Edmonton, Alberta

• Sage Family Clinic - Cochrane, Alberta

• River Valley Pediatrics - Chester, Connecticut

• Little’s Pediatrics - Portland, Oregon

Next Step

The micropractice model can be incredibly rewarding. However, for those used to a traditional delivery of primary care, it can be daunting, especially in the beginning. If you are a health care provider interested in streamlining your office efficiency and/or introducing technology into your practice, consider working with Sage Micro Practice. Dr. Meghan Elkink and her team can help any clinic, big or small, develop and execute their practice vision.