Plano resident Amy Morrison has recently made a medical practice model that few might have imagined might be built, particularly in the state of Texas. Yet today, the Morrison Clinic on Preston Rd in North Dallas, a facility owned and operated with a solo physician assistant, stands as one example of the practice of future medicine.
Amy herself never likely to be considered a pioneer. She had planned to become a doctor when she entered Butler University on the soccer scholarship in 1999. It was there that they became conscious of the doctor assistant (PA) program, and quickly realized the deep impact of these professionals on the lives of patients. Her timing was perfect. The health care industry had begun to widely embrace using nurse practitioners and physician assistants to reduce costs and also to provide better take care of patients.
Amy completed the graduation requirements on her Bs degree at Butler and later received a master's degree with the University of Nebraska. Her first full-time position came at the University of Texas Southwestern within the ms clinic. The daily management of patients whose bodies were slowly deteriorating left Amy with an aching desire to use patients who had hope of recovery. However the position held a hidden blessing. It had been there that Amy was initially drawn to psychiatry, an area where needs far outweigh the accessible providers.
A number of other positions followed by which she gained invaluable experience dealing with psychiatrists. However, she struggled to simply accept the business types of those practices, which seemed to concentrate on the quantity of patients rather than the quality of individual care. In some instances, Amy was handed only 15 minutes to manage medication for a patient with whom she had no previous contact. Understandably, this restrictive environment managed to get hard to determine and treat the root issues of patients struggling with emotional and mental distress. Patients often felt short-changed without success to improve even if doctors prescribed additional medications. No work went toward relating to the patient as part of the care team.
At another practice, Amy encountered an inefficient pen-and-paper system that made it even more difficult to properly assess and evaluate patients. Amy often raised a voice of concern concerning the level of care she felt her patients deserved. This led to frequent conflict inside the politically charged clinic. Red carpet many years of employment, she was discharged because the perpetual troublemaker. Amy now describes that day as \”Liberation Day.\”
She had long dreamed of opening her own clinic to \”take care of people the way I may wish to be treated.\” She quickly completed her remaining research on guidelines and contacted a former colleague, a counselor who had been also looking to create a alternation in her practice. The 2 setup an office-share arrangement, and Amy purchased the equipment she would need, including electronic tablets on her patients to check into the clinic on their own.
As soon as word spread that they was opening her own practice, a lot of her former patients made appointments to continue the health care she had initiated. Today those patients constitute about a third of her practice, with another third coming from patient and professional referrals, and the remaining third from those accessing her website.
Although insurers Cigna and Blue Cross were prepared to move her credentialing towards the new location, other insurers have balked at having a single provider in their networks. She's also severed ties with one major insurer due to poor reimbursement, and she doesn't participate in Medicare or Medicaid. Cash minute rates are at a reasonable level to accommodate people who need to be treated out of network.
The typical patient at Amy's practice is definitely an adult between 30 and 50, although Amy treats patients as young as 18. The individual may suffer from the variety of issues, including adult ADHD (attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder), depression, PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome,) anxiety, insomnia, bi-polar disorder, and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder.) By the time the patient is seen in-clinic, each one has already worked with an off-site assistant to verify insurance policy when needed, complete necessary forms, pre-authorize services, and also to be sure that the patient is not a likely candidate for hospitalization.
Upon arriving at the office, the individual checks in via the patient portal after which completes a self-evaluation to assist Amy determine the actual reason behind the visit. Often, it's not what the patient had initially anticipated. The initial 60-minute evaluation is really a series of \”nit-picking\” medical questions to rule out what's not wrong using the patient. For example, someone may arrive with a self-diagnosis of \”racing thoughts\” and suspect that they may be suffering from bi-polar disorder. Amy's expertise helps the patient to see that those racing thoughts may be the result of disorganized thinking, which may be addressed through self-help techniques, rather than a mental illness needing medication.
If needed, prescriptions are ordered, however in smaller amounts and combinations than prescribed through the typical doctor. Those meds are supervised in subsequent visits. However, rather than simply addressing the mental or emotional problem with drugs, Amy works together with each patient to resolve the personal issues behind the illness. Over the years, she's honed her interviewing skills to ask questions in only the right way to discern the behaviors that some would consider abnormal. For example, she may inquire if the patient is irritable with members of the family, has trouble concentrating, or sleeps and eats not enough or too much. If that's the case, what were the triggers behind that behavior? The answers to such questions often permit the patient to re-gain control of their actions before they plunge into full-blown depression or paranoia. The procedure turns into a bi-lateral effort, involving the patients in their own individual recovery while relying on Amy's compassion and knowledge.
Under Texas law, a health care provider need not be a co-owner or to be present in the clinic to provide supervision. Rather, the supervising physician for Morrison Clinic is definitely available for consultation should a need arise. She meets monthly with Amy to go over patient care and sometimes reviews Amy's electronic chart notes and e-prescriptions. That arrangement has benefitted Amy's practice by ensuring that a physician, who may have a far more comprehensive medical perspective on the case, is really a committed member of they helping the patient overcome his mental or emotional illness.
Another advantage in operating her own practice is the fact that Amy can set her own work hours. She sees patients on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Other days during the week are allocated to support of her practice, particularly on her behalf website at morrisonclinic.com and her Pinterest page at morrisonclinic. Unlike others who may outsource this function, Amy has created and maintained her own website and Pinterest page from the beginning. Patients and the public will find a wealth of materials posted to the sites, including information about her services, patient forms, helpful tips written by others, as well as articles written by Amy herself. Also for auction on her website are testimonials of her capability to connect deeply with patients to help them resolve their issues. For example, one patient left the next rating:
Amy went far above! She's very welcoming, extremely simple to talk with, and remarkably knowledgeable in Psychiatry. I've been going to her for more than 24 months now and she or he has always shown curiousity about her patients. Should you or anyone you realize are experiencing any mental disorders, I would unequivocally recommend her!
This work schedule also allows Amy time for you to devote to her two grade-school age children. Her therapeutic skills often spill to the dining room table when each family member relates one good event and one bad event in the day. Amy then helps her children to see the emotional impact of those daily experiences.
Even after twelve years treating patients, Amy is still constantly gaining knowledge from them and from collaboration with professional therapists who co-manage her patients' treatment. For instance, one of patients constantly picked in the skin on her hand. Amy re-directed that habit having a group of adhesive labels. Each label was inscribed with mantras such as \”No bad feeling lasts forever.\” This unique patient would attach the label to a hard surface and then pick it off while constantly repeating the typed mantra. That approach worked so well that a colleague suggested placing a bowl of stickers in the office for patients to consider the place to find use when needed for their diagnosis. Now a lot more patients are being helped.
Amy acknowledges that her unique type of care may not work for every physician assistant. For instance, some kinds of care may require expensive special equipment. Additionally, establishing a medical office can entail an enormous initial financial commitment. Other PA's might not be capable of finding physicians who're willing to supervise without draining the PA's resources. Finally, there are those who find that employed by a doctor or medical group that can provide insurance and benefits is really a much more comfortable fit for them.
Of course, those are all important considerations. But because her North Dallas practice keeps growing, Amy is dedicated to its success. And she leaves a word of recommendation to other physician assistants who're entrepreneurs at heart. \”Never,\” she says, \”be afraid to live your dreams. You might be astonished to see what you can do.\”
The Morrison Clinic
17746 Preston Road #100
Dallas, TX 75252
972-656-9532
morrisonclinic.com