Texas "medical home" provides personal and coordinated health care

Jun 21 2009

The Houston Chronicle reports on a medical philosophy that focuses on providing coordinated care and personal care to older patients, mostly indigent seniors. The paper examines Select Senior Clinic, a Texas facility that ascribes to the medical home concept.

Dr. Clive Fields founded the clinic where doctors "use 'concierge-style' medicine - a service usually found in affluent areas - to give the patient improved access to physicians. Their aim is for patients to spend less time waiting for their appointment and more time actually speaking with a doctor. Patients will be able to call physicians when they are not in the office and, on occasion, doctors will make house calls... Patients can use the clinic's Wellness Center to exercise on senior-friendly machines and attend talks on health issues."

"There will be one physician for every 800 patients-a number that is six times lower than the caseload of the average primary care physician," Dr. Clive Fields, one of the clinic's founders, told the Chronicle. Trevor Rabie, a doctor who works at the medical home, "said he also hopes to bring in other specialties, such as a dietitian or exercise physiologist."

The clinic accepts only Medicare, Medicaid and the TexanPlus Medicare Advantage Plan (Winchester, 6/18).