3rd All Practice Letter

Dear patient of HFM,

GREAT NEWS.  HFM is adding Elizabeth Forman Serdar, MS, ARNP as a new Nurse Practitioner. “Betsy” has worked in many capacities as a well-respected RN before completing her training with Seattle Pacific University and receiving her ARNP. She treats men, women, and children with competence, patience and compassion. Please help grow her practice. Tell your friends. We are looking forward to being “forced” by growth to increase our evening hours to 8 p.m. from two days per week to four days.  

Betsy joins Richard Faiola, MD (founder of HFM) and Lynda Stafford, DO. Dr. Stafford offers full-spectrum medical care, plus relief from various aches, cramps, and pains using Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy.  

NEW PATIENT REWARD. With the additional capacity offered by adding Ms. Serdar, all of us are again open to new patients: men, women, and children. Consequently, we are offering this incentive:  

If you refer a patient to HFM—who brings the enclosed (click here) coupon with them—we will waive their first co-pay and waive yours, too, at your next visit. (Note: Offer limited to those with co-pays to waive – the commercially insured)

WE WILL MISS HER. Pat Davis, ARNP, is retiring after years of excellent service. We congratulate her, but are sad to see her go. Those she has treated will find in this package (see lower left column for Pat's letter), her note of gratitude for the privilege of serving you. Other providers at HFM will be pleased to continue your care. PLEASE NOTE:

If you are insured by Soundpath, Tricare or Molina you must contact your insurance and change the preferred provider from Pat Davis to the one of us you wish to see in the future.

ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS (EHR).  With a strong coercive push from our federal government, we are making the switch to a formal EHR (Praxis) and a new billing system (in house, by our own staff) to be fully in place by the new year. Please be patient with us as we get used to the new system. We expect it will create more functional records. We are less confident that it will contribute to your health care. That takes human interaction, not a better machine. At HFM, we will always remember that.

One benefit for some of you from the switch to a new system: we will be taking new patient photos. So if you are tired of your old photo . . . smile!

ZocDoc ON-LINE APPOINTMENT CENTER FOR NEW PATIENTS. ZocDoc is a nationally recognized system providing a better way of finding physicians on-line and permitting new patients to make immediate appointments. Once established (as those getting this letter are), please continue to use our current on-line appointment system as it offers a wider variety of appointment times, e-Consults and e-Refills.

PAY ON-LINE. A reminder. You can now pay your account on-line by using the “Pay Your Bill Online” button, located directly above the “Book an Appointment” button on our website: www.heritagefamilymedicine.com. Please do this on receiving your first statement to avoid additional billing fees.

NARCOTICS/TRANQUILIZERS PRESCRIPTION PROCEDURAL CHANGE. Narcotic and tranquilizer abuse and diversion (sharing with friends) are a growing concern in the state of Washington. HFM does not wish to add to that problem. So while we seek to relieve acute (short-term) pain or anxiety and legitimate chronic (long-term) pain or anxiety, we must exert more firm control over the process of prescribing these drugs. From now on:

HFM will not grant refills of narcotics or tranquilizers if they were not provided for at the last visit. Please, do not call HFM or ask the pharmacist to call HFM seeking more. Such requests will be ignored. Your provider prescribed a safe quantity at your visit after carefully considering your current circumstances. If you think more are needed, make an appointment. You must be seen at HFM to establish your need before more of these medications are prescribed.

“AUTOMATIC REFILL” – DON’T. Some pharmacies are enrolling patients in programs that automatically tell patients refills are ready to pick up (whether they have actually used all of their medication or not). Sometimes, they may solicit re-authorizations for refills from doctors. Our staff may believe the patient is in need and may authorize a refill - often a day or two before the patient returns for the intended re-check appointment -- or the patient may believe that we wanted them to refill without a visit. This irritating practice drives up drug sales that may not be needed or desired, at a previous dose that may have been changed in the interval, and encourages unnecessary stockpiling of medications in homes. It creates unnecessary small amount refills (each earning a pharmacy fill fee), while obligating the patient to return to the same pharmacy. If you are invited to enroll in one of these programs, please, “just say no”.

OBAMACARE. I keep getting asked “what do you think of ….” Sometimes I believe patients just want to see my blood-pressure rise. However, if you really want to know my thoughts on the subject, you may go to the HFM website (www.heritagefamilymedicine.com) and look for the “Obamacare” button.  

Capital Medical Center (CMC) is the hospital we use. We personally care for most HFM patients admitted to CMC. Thus, we also encourage use of its Emergency Department for serious medical events. (Exception: Seriously ill children who might be admitted should go to Providence Saint Peter Hospital, as they have the only pediatric inpatient unit.) For less serious matters, we recommend the WestCare Clinic (near the corner of Cooper Point and Harrison, behind Baskin Robbins – just drive on by the ice-cream!). Remember, HFM will see its own sick or injured patients in our office on the same or the next business day. 

ENCLOSURES: (See the columns below this letter.)

HEALTH TIPS:  Aspirin, Vitamin D3, Calcium, Fish Oil, Bone Drugs, Over 50? 

SHARE YOUR OPINIONS:  If you have some time, and are willing, we could use your help.   Please consider posting a review… See the back of the health tips flyer.

WEIGHT LOSS. We continue to have phenomenal success with our appetite-suppressing medications. See enclosed flyer.

NO-LIMIT CARE FOR A FEW DOLLARS PER MONTH.  A growing number of patients are choosing to alleviate worries about the cost of office visits and most services at HFM, by paying a flat monthly fee that is usually less than a monthly cable or cell-phone bill.  Please see back side of the weight-loss flyer. 

Wishing you continued good health and ready to help you in that journey,

Richard Faiola, MD, ABFM

Dear Patients,

It is with mixed emotions that I tell you I decided to retire at the end of October. The tug of grandchildren and the opportunity to travel with my husband have finally torn me from this work I
love.

My years at Heritage Family
Medicine have been the best of my career, primarily because my interactions with you have so enriched me. You have honored me with your trust, you have shared your life with me, and I am ever thankful for it.

It’s expected that I encourage you to take good care of yourself; I’m sure you’ll continue to eat your veggies, get out and exercise, and quit smoking. 

I’d like to leave you with this blessing that includes all of who you are as a person. It is found in the tiny book of Third John, near the end of the New Testament and it reads:

“Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.”

Thank You, and God Bless You

Pat Davis, ARNP

WEB REVIEWS: 

Many people rely on web reviews and ratings to aid in choosing a new doctor, dentist, chiropractor or other health care provider. We welcome and encourage your honest review about our facility and our staff.

There are, however, the occasional person who doesn't like us. Some, who may have been dismissed for violating a narcotic use contract or for refusing to pay their bills or might never even have been a patient, have chosen to slander us all over the Web with no accountability. There is no way for us to correct their false claims, other than to drown them out with positive ones.

We KNOW what our real patients say about us, as we ask by survey. See the results at:

www.heritagefamilymedicine.com

Soooo…. If you have some time, and are willing, we could use your help. Please consider posting a review at any or all below:

www.yelp.com                                                         

www.healthgrades.com

www.vitals.com       

www.mydochub.com                                 

www.docloop.com                          

www.ucomparehealthcare.com

www.ratemds.com              

www.angieslist.com                                   

DirectcareMD is an Affordable Healthcare Alternative -

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DirectcareMD is simple...Each enrollee through DirectcareMD pays a flat monthly fee of $35 - 50.00 for all of the primary care services their participating physician can deliver in his or her office. For an additional $20.00 per month, basic in-office laboratory and  x-ray services are included.  You might recognize the convenience and predictability of this retainer arrangement as similar to maintenance agreements offered on major appliances - but in this case, your most important asset is protected: your health.

Physicians in turn pledge to provide appointments for ill or injured enrollees on the same or next business day and to be available (or provide "coverage") for urgent telephone consultation 24/7. E-mail consultation is also available.  There are no co-pays.

DirectcareMD is available to Households or businesses...  All uninsured members of a family, household, business or affinity group, are asked to enroll under one account. 

HFM Weight-Loss Program

It’s only logical to treat excessive weight as any other illness

 Simply put: Some people’s bodies are just too efficient. They are programmed to find, extract and store calories better than most. During the Ice Age, these people would have been considered superior to the skinny people dropping all around them. But, we are not likely to see another Ice Age or massive famine any time soon. Instead, we are surrounded by food at every turn and every occasion. What once might have been a survival advantage is now turned against us.

 The consequences of carrying "excess nutritional reserve" are substantial. It increases the risks of heart disease, stroke, arthritis and depression. It is a serious medical problem. 

 Why isn’t it treated as such? For years, physicians have (reluctantly) given short-term pharmacological help to patients to "get them started" on a weight-loss program, only to watch them regain it all (and more) soon thereafter. Most health-care providers have been unwilling to consider long-term medication support. Yet, we all treat diabetes, high blood pressure, blood-clotting disorders, chronic pain, seizures and many other illnesses with medications (all with their own side effects and risks) for life without hesitation. Worse, some are insulting or dismissive of overweight patients, viewing them as simply lacking in willpower.  

 At HFM, we take a more helpful approach. We treat excess weight as we would any other serious life-long threat to wellbeing.

 For the last 24 months, HFM has been offering effective medication for suppressing appetite. There are more than 65 continuing participants. Most have improved their blood pressure, glucose levels and their cholesterol numbers. The average weight loss has been 23 pounds for those continuing at three months; 34 pounds at six months; 39 pounds at nine months; 45 pounds at twelve months; 50 pounds at 18 months! The most weight lost by one person has been 118 pounds!