System of Care

Our System of Care

At Elite Primary Care we seek to provide our patients with a medical home where they are known and their health care needs are taken care of efficiently and with measurably high quality. We provide our patients the following services:

Urgent Care (when you are sick or injured)

If you are sick, injured, or need medical advice, please call us for an appointment.  If your provider team is not available on the day you call, we recommend that you begin your evaluation with one of our other providers to receive early diagnostics and treatment. You will be scheduled with your personal provider team for follow up. For life threatening illness (example: severe chest pain, breathing problems) please call 911  for emergency care.

•  If you receive any care somewhere else, please request that provider send a copy of your records to us as your PCP Medical Home provider.  Fax is 931-245-1720.

Your primary doctor is the best place to start when you’re sick or hurt. They know your health history, including any underlying conditions you may have. When you visit your doctor for an illness or injury, they can make informed choices about your treatment and necessary tests. But what if you get sick or injured when your doctor’s office is closed?

If your condition isn’t life-threatening but needs to be taken care of right away, then urgent care may be the right choice for you.

Urgent care centers are usually open after normal business hours, including evenings and weekends. Many offer on-site diagnostic tests. And, in most situations, you’ll find that you save time and money by going to urgent care instead of an emergency room. Urgent Care is the caring of immediate medical service offering outpatient care for the treatment of acute, chronic illness, and injury. Urgent care does not replace your primary care physician. An urgent care center is a convenient option when someone’s regular physician is on vacation or unable to offer a timely appointment. Or, when illness strikes outside of regular office hours, urgent care offers an alternative to waiting for hours in a hospital Emergency Room.

Emergency rooms are the best place for treating severe and life-threatening conditions. They’re open 24 hours, seven days a week. They have the widest range of services for emergency after-hours care, including diagnostic tests and access to specialists. That specialized care also makes it the most expensive type of care. And you’ll probably have to wait a long time to get treated.

The important thing is to use your best judgment when choosing where to get care.

It’s a good idea to know where the closest emergency room and urgent care centers are. So if you need immediate care, you’ll already know where to go.

• Diagnosis and management of new injuries and illnesses, with referral to the Emergency Room or specialty care as appropriate.
• Management of chronic illness flare-ups (such as diabetes or heart failure).

Planned Care

• General health assessment, preventive care.
• Patient education and support for self-care and health promotion.
• Diagnosis and management of chronic diseases (high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol,
  arthritis) including referral to specialists.
• Integration of personal health care and patient advocacy (care management in a complex health
  system).
• Supportive care, including nursing home and end-of-life care.
• Primary mental health care.

Planned Care appointments are typically scheduled in advance, focus on chronic illnesses such as
diabetes or high blood pressure, and are improved by preparation.

• Know the purpose of your visit, (which medical problem(s) will you be focusing on?).
• Get your labs done 3-5 days before your visit. We will have results available to discuss at the
  time of your visit.
• If you are monitoring blood pressures, blood sugars, or other clinical information at home,
  please be sure to bring your journal.
• Do you know your medications? Please bring up to date information on medications and health
  supplements you are taking.

A special type of planned care visit is the annual preventive care exam.

Your Clinic Visit

Our priority is serving our patients scheduled in the office on time and without interruption. It
takes commitment and planning from activated patients and prepared, proactive practice teams to
make it work.

Please see your provider as soon as possible for each new health issue.

Lists of problems saved up over months make time management in the office difficult or impossible.
Trying to do too much can make your visit rushed, disorganized, and decrease the quality of care
for you and the people scheduled after you. Every problem you bring to our attention will be
evaluated thoroughly, but multiple problems may require multiple visits.

Your prepared, proactive practice team will be preparing for your visit. During your appointment,
in addition to attending to your immediate health issues, we will:

• review your preventive care needs.
• review lab tests and other reports and discuss the results.
• update all of your prescriptions to last until your next planned care visit.
• arrange needed diagnostic tests or visits with consulting physicians.
• schedule urgent care follow up or needed planned care appointments. An important part of your
  health care visit is scheduling your next appointment.

Quality: At every appointment our goal is to provide you with everything you need to last until
your next appointment, including your next appointment.

Telephone Calls: If we forget something during your visit (for example a medication refill), please
call us as soon as possible.

New symptoms, medication questions, or other health concerns are best discussed during a scheduled
clinic visit.  When you call an appointment will be offered to you. Our priority is serving our patients scheduled in the office without interruption.

Medication refills: are done as a part of your planned care visits. At each planned care
appointment we will refill all of your medications to last until your next planned appointment. If
your medication supply is low with no more refills it is time to visit your provider for preventive
care or chronic disease management (Planned Care). Please call for an appointment 2-3 weeks before
you run out of medication.

Quality Improvement: Quality Improvement is a vital part of our mission. We are measuring both
health care outcomes (such as diabetes and blood pressure control) and patient service outcomes
(such as being seen on time and getting all of your needs taken care of). Our “System of Care” helps us improve our “Quality of Care”.