Amarillo Clinic for Seniors Only
It’s not something your accountant would advise you to do if you are a physician or health care practitioner or professional. In fact, your account, financial advisor, closest friends and others would most likely strongly –very strongly – advise against making such a move.
But all business decisions are not simply made for profit only. Some are made because there is a serious need to be filled and there are people that are willing to go the extra mile to fill it.
The news is filled with stories every day regarding senior citizens who need health care and can’t afford it. Many of them receive Medicare benefits, but can’t find a doctor willing to be paid at Medicare’s lower than normal rates and even slower than normal payment pace.
A group of doctors in Amarillo, Texas decided to go the extra mile and help seniors in the area by opening a clinic that provides health care only to seniors with Medicare benefits, Medicare Supplements or enrolled in Physician’s Health Choice, which is a physician owned health plan which provides seniors with more coverage than Medicare.
The clinic, which recently opened, is designed to provide medical care to seniors, but that is not its only purpose. Doctors feel that if seniors had access to more information and accurate information regarding prevention and maintenance of health issues, they could maintain better health, therefore having to visit the doctor’s office for treatment less often.
The Amarillo Senior Care Clinic was established to address the fact that seniors face obstacles in receiving care because fewer doctors are willing to take Medicare for payment, and many will no longer accept new Medicare patients. As a result, seniors have less access to quality care, often exacerbating conditions that, if cared for regularly and properly could be controlled by medication and other interventions with less office visits, keeping more seniors out of emergency rooms, hospitals, long term care and nursing homes, because their conditions would be managed and not get to the point where they were out of control.
Many physicians say that this is a losing proposition financially; however the Amarillo Senior Care Clinic, though cautious, is not worrying. They feel that by stressing prevention and providing education, their patients will feel better and their health will stay more stable.
This is an innovative and exciting idea, and it would be great for physicians throughout the country to keep an eye on the Amarillo Senior Care Clinic and see how well it works. There are seniors in every county in every state who need this type of help to live longer, healthier lives.
