Health-conscious individuals have an option available in Conway for a complete health history and assessment to determine their risks for disease.
Prime Care Medical Clinic at 1014 Harkrider St. has opened Prime Care Wellness Clinic in the suite next door. The wellness clinic opened Aug. 10 and is taking appointments now.
Eric Booth, business manager, said, “Next door (at the medical clinic), we’re taking people when they’re sick. That’s really how all American health care is set up. We’re trying to move on to the proactive side of that. We bring people in, do a full assessment, health history, labs, physical exam … take an extensive look at your health.”
Patients spend about 45 minutes with a nurse and physician assistant Amanda Diles. Two weeks later, during a second visit, the patient is presented with potential hereditary concerns, lab results and other information, forming “a picture of your health; what should you give thought to, what have you worried about that you should relax about,” Booth said.
Using evidence-based questionnaires, supporting labs and history, Diles can screen patients for more than 60 conditions, Booth said. For the patient, it can be a step toward preventing chronic disease as well as determining risk factors.
Those interested need not be a patient at Prime Care to make an appointment, Booth said. He added the clinic can send patients’ results to their family physician and upload them to Google Health with a password so the patient can access them at any time.
“Our concern is not nabbing you as a patient. We feel if you come to us, we will give you our best.”
Booth said while family physicians can do wellness checks, “In the real world, you have 20 people in the lobby with flu-like symptoms. … What has helped us is setting up a separate clinic so we don’t have competing interests – someone here for something urgent, versus someone here for something very important that’s going to take a lot of time.”
Diles said during the second visit she presents patients’ results, along with education on their conditions, and a plan for immediate and long-range goals. If the patient returns the following year, she can graph their progress.
In the future, she plans to add group and individual counseling on conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, as well as programs including walking classes and cooking classes, she said. As an added educational component, Diles has set up a small mock grocery store at the clinic so that she can review nutrition labels with patients who need to watch their diets.
Kathryn Davis, office manager, said she always checks patients’ insurance before the visit, because visits can be expensive, depending on what is needed. However, some insurance companies want to pay for the visits because wellness checks can help avoid chronic diseases, she said.
Booth said, “Most group insurance will pay and you owe a co-pay or nothing. They look at the risks and they’re convinced.”
Prime Care Wellness Clinic is seeing patients on Tuesdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. To make an appointment, call Prime Care Medical Clinic at 501-327-7100.