AIM Health Sets Sights On Better Healthcare Through Membership
PORTLAND, OR – April 20, 2016 – Dr. Amy Gillcrist founded AIM Health to provide an affordable membership level to bring the concept of concierge medicine to a wider range of patients.
“We started this practice because we believe physicians can better serve patients by giving them more time and access,” said Dr. Amy Gillcrist, medical director and internal medicine physician at AIM Health. “According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in seven adults suffers from chronic disease, and many are preventable. Today’s bottomline-focused healthcare system falls short of providing the physician time needed to help patients manage behavior change. At AIM Health, the core ingredient is time. Time to research, care and become a true partner in managing their health.”
Concierge medicine, the idea where patients pay a monthly fee to gain better access to their physician, has been on the rise nationally, with more than 4,500 physicians practicing in the U.S. According to a 2014 Kaiser Health News article, today’s traditional fee-for-service healthcare model rewards physicians for seeing patients in bulk, thereby reducing time spent and the physician’s ability to manage more complex issues in a typical 15-minute doctor visit. This is compounded by the millions of consumers now entering the system due to the Affordable Care Act.
“By all accounts, short visits take a toll on the doctor-patient relationship, which is considered a key ingredient of good care, and may represent a missed opportunity for getting patients more actively involved in their own health,” Kaiser Health News.
AIM Health plans to combat this issue by keeping the patient load smaller for the clinic overall. This way membership patients get more time and attention from their physician. “Lowering the patient load enables us to spend valuable time researching and better understanding our patients’ conditions so we can practice better medicine. This luxury of time is not something traditional clinics can do when a physician is seeing in 25—30 patients a day.”
AIM Health’s membership gives members longer, more personal visits, same day or next day appointments, and 24/7 access to their doctor by phone or email.
“Patients love being able to just pick up the phone and call me,” said Dr. Gillcrist. “I’m able to answer questions and help discern the need for a visit right over the phone.”
Office visits and services are billed to insurance just like traditional medical clinics.
AIM Health is currently accepting new patients. AIM Health accepts most insurance plans and, contrasting another national healthcare trend, AIM Health actively accepts Medicare patients.
ABOUT AIM HEALTH, LLC
AIM Health is a primary care medical practice located in Portland, Oregon, and was founded on the belief that better healthcare is possible. The desire to go back to the way it used to be when your doctor was more like family; before profit became more important than patients. AIM Health has a team of highly skilled physicians who guide patients through a range of health issues from advising on preventive care to complex chronic disease and medication management. The clinic is unique in that it offers both traditional and membership based payment options. Membership is an upgrade fee per month that provides 24/7 access to your physician. Find out more at aimhealthnw.com or call (503) 908-1590.
