Improving Immunization Rates in Rural Communities
AFMC TV Episode 209 | Featuring Angie Walker, APRN, Walker Family Practice
Quick Take: By offering mobile vaccine clinics, partnering with schools and churches, and using personalized outreach calls, Walker Family Practice raised childhood immunization completion in rural Arkansas from 59 % to 95 %.
Main Themes & Insights
- Access & Logistics: Mobile clinics and flexible after-hours appointments reduce travel barriers.
- Community Trust: Engaging local leaders and hosting vaccine events at familiar locations builds confidence.
- Data-Driven Outreach: Registry checks identify overdue patients, enabling targeted phone calls and reminders.
- Follow-Up Systems: Automated texts and personal calls ensure multi-dose series are completed.
Why It Matters
Higher vaccination coverage protects vulnerable populations, prevents disease outbreaks, and lowers healthcare costs. Walker’s approach demonstrates scalable, community-centric tactics for other rural clinics.
FAQs
- Q: What was the biggest challenge?
- A: Transportation—many families live 30+ miles from the clinic.
- Q: How did mobile clinics help?
- A: Taking vaccines to schools, churches, and community centers removed distance barriers and met families where they already gather.
- Q: What completion rate did they achieve?
- A: 95 %–98 % by meeting patients where they are, partnering with schools, and using robust reminder systems.
Full Transcript
Click to expand the word-for-word transcript (10 min read)
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Welcome to this edition of AMC.
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Tell you how I got better. I'm glad to be
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here, but a mission
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to. Well, I think that we're, we're talking, we're gonna
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talk about everybody's Arkansas is
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the 2nd highest prescriber.
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Welcome to AFMCTV. I'm Robin
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Ledbetter. Thank you for joining us.
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Today I have with me Angie Walker, and she's the office
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administrator of Walker Family Practice Clinics.
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Angie, thanks for being here today.
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Thanks for inviting me.
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So we're talking about rural healthcare and
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your practice, and can you start by
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telling us about your clinic in Duqueen and
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the population that you serve in Sevier
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County? Certainly. So, um,
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we basically have 4 locations.
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Um, I'll start with the main location. So
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we have 4 locations, we have um
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9 nurse practitioners and 2 medical
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doctors. And so, uh, for
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the main clinic here in DeQueen, the, the biggest
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location, we're open Monday through
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Sunday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with
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after-hour triage, and then we also have
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a home-based schedule and a nursing home
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schedule for this clinic.
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Um, we have a pediatric clinic still in Dequeen.
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It's Monday through Friday 8 to 5, uh,
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certified pediatric nurse practitioner who's
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Fantastic.
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Um, we also have a school-based clinic,
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Leopard care clinic. It's Monday through Friday,
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7 to 4.
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This year is actually the first year that we made it
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year-round and so we're super pumped about that.
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Um, but it also, um, manages
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our school-based clinic and then also handles
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all of our chronic care management and also
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some home-based patients too.
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Um, and then we have, um,
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another satellite clinic in Derricks, Arkansas,
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and it's open Monday through Friday 8 to 5.
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And what specific health challenges or needs
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does your community face and how has your
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clinic adapted to meet them?
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Uh, I would say we, we face the
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same as all other rural clinics
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and I'm sure even some, um, urban clinics
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as well. Um, so for us,
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um, we, our city population
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boasts 6000 with a county
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population of 17, which is absolutely
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wrong. Um, our city population
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is probably closer to,
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I would say 10 to 12,000,
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um, and our county population is probably
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closer to 2500. 00.
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We are probably 65%
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Hispanic, I would say at least just
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based on some demographics in school. Um,
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and we also have a Marshallese population of
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about 300.
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So, um, we, we
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battle housing issues, uh, lack
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of housing issues, we bought, we battle
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transportation, um, we've also
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got, um, a poverty level
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that, that's kind of up there and then also some
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food insecurities too.
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Your clinic has made notable success
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with immunizations. What has
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been the driving force behind that?
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Uh, so I think for us, um,
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it's probably been the partnership with the
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school, um, you know, just some of the things
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that those school nurses have to deal with on
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a day to day basis, that's tough, um,
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you know, once we started kind of integrating in
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and and learning everything that they were managing
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on a daily basis, it was insane
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to me,
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um, and so of course when COVID hit and
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everything shut down,
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we had AAFP screaming, you've got to
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keep everybody immunized and what have you and so
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I think that jumped us off in there along
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with the school,
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um. So we just kind of have this motto, we're
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checking everybody and we we're doing it right
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now. If we, if we got to meet you at Walmart, we're coming
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to Walmart. Um,
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we also partner with one of our local
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restaurants here and so on the kids' side,
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you know, if they come in and get their shots and they get a free
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mini pizza, um, same thing
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on at any of our clinics if they do that.
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And so I think it's just one of those things
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that we decided it was gonna be a quality
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improvement project, you know, mostly
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for the school, the school nurses, but it kind
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of just exploded and and just
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went clinic wide.
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And you, you touch a little bit about outreach
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and what kinds of outreach aside from
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meeting them where they are, is there a reminder
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systems that have worked best in your area to
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improve those immunization rates too?
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So we do, of course we send out
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reminders and reminders and clinical works.
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Um, we make it a point to be
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on site for every school register.
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Um, every school registration
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that we are either inside that
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county or inside that district or we're
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touching that district. So we will
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be on site at Casaat when they do kindergarten
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round up and catch everybody up. Um,
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we go to Horatio, we're, we're at
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every registration, um, for the
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the Queen School District, and that's primary
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elementary. High school, middle school,
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um, we just try to make sure that we,
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we're there and we're showing up at
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everything that we can show up at, and that's the first
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thing that we're taking, uh, especially if
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we're doing smaller kids, we want to make sure
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they're kindergarten ready, you know, we're doing their
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vision and their hearing and we're trying to
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identify those problems early so
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that we can catch them and get them resolved.
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And do you work with aside from schools as churches,
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employers, are they involved in
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some of this as well?
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We do. So, um, we currently partner
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with Pilgrim's Pride here which is our biggest
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employer at about 1500, and
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so we have a nurse on site there,
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uh, 1 to 2 days a week and so
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come cold and flu season we're gonna be on
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site doing flu shots. Uh,
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we also, um, partner with our
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college, um, CCCUA
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has campuses here,
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uh, Nashville and Ashdown. We're going to do the
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same thing as soon as cold and flu hits, we're
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going to be at every campus, um, offering
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flu and pneumonia shots. Um, same
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thing if if they've got nurses or students
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or what have you that are behind on immunizations,
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then we're bringing those with us as well.
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Um, and pretty much just any
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churches, the same thing, we're getting ready to kick off
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a huge children's health fair. We'll see
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about,
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uh, probably 400 to 500 kids.
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Um, it's actually gonna be this year, um,
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the Queen Church of Christ has given us space
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and so we'll be there doing immunizations.
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Haircuts, uh, vision screenings, hearing
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screenings, you know, with the, the big goal
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being
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everybody's ready for school. And again,
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our, our ultimate goal is to reduce
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that workload off of that school nurse, you know, there's
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other things that they could be looking at versus
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chasing kids for immunizations.
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And Sevier County has seen a very
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low measles outbreak compared to other
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parts of the country.
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I mean, much of this, this push for
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vaccinations has contributed to that
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success. Uh, I would
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say we, we stay at about 95-98%
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within the school district,
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and even our whole clinic as far
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as keeping, uh, kids immunized.
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And so, and, and I'm talking about those
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tried and true immunizations, the ones that we
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know that have been around that are required by the
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state. And so, um, we,
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we try to, I mean it's a quality improvement
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project for us and so it's just one of
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those things that's just always in the forefront
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of our mind, making sure the kids are ready, prepared
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and vaccinated.
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Are you seeing vaccine hesitancy locally
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and how have you effectively addressed that?
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Uh, I think when any time you come
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into a rural area, you are
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always gonna have that hesitancy and
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again that's OK. I mean it,
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this is America, you get to choose what you want to
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do and so um for us it's
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just an educational thing and so we
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try to make sure that we're providing all up
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to-date information. We're very honest
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about if we don't know, we don't know,
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um, and so. So I think we just,
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you know, we, most of these folks
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are our neighbors, we go to church
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with them, we, we grocery shop with them
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and so I think um just
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making sure they understand where we're at,
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what, what we agree with, what we think
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that is appropriate or what we know
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information about, we're gonna share that information
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and then we're certainly gonna respect anybody that
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has a difference of of opinion. Um,
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and then for us what we've seen, you know, used
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to it was HPV,
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you know, no one really wanted to deal with HPV
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and so we did a pretty big um
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push on screening for, for different
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kinds of things and I think that that was a
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real eye opener for us again in a rural
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area and so I think once we
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were able to jump in and do some of that education,
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I think we've even seen. Those numbers increase.
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So I think it's,
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I think it's all about education and then
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meeting that patient where they're at and if
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they're hesitant,
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that's OK, we'll continue to have
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that conversation
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until we resolve that and that resolve is
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I'm, I'm not going to do it or we've
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provided you with enough education so that
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you can make a good decision.
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And what specific team work flows, protocols,
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and even quality improvement practices have made
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a measurable difference in your clinic's outcomes.
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Um, so for us, anytime we're seeing somebody
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under the age of 18, we're pulling Web
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IC immediately. We're looking at
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or do you have everything that you need? Is
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everything covered? Same thing anytime they're
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coming in for a wellness visit, we're
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immediately pulling that WebIC and making
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sure that we've got that.
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Um, we're kind of a little bit on the
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border. Um,
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a lot of our folks are Oklahoma and
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back or they're Texarkana and back,
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and so, um, we spend a lot of time
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cleaning up immunization records as well
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because we, we don't chat with each other.
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And so, um,
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You know, for us it's just
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it's a priority and so
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um with the and it we especially
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it took a whole another level, uh, a
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whole another stance once we brought in the pediatric
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clinic.
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Um, we've had the pediatric clinic for about
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2 years and so I think that
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that was a very big um.
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Educational thing for Nick. It was very
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important to him and so again, you're,
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you're leading by example, you're, you're
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showing folks and you're educating and you're providing
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information.
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And so,
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you know, other than it's just constantly
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on our mind and we're constantly trying to figure out
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how to improve it.
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Yeah I don't know.
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Well, measures are noticed for sure
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and taking it a step further, how do you train
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and support your staff to maintain high
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standards in preventive care?
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Uh, so for us, um, we sit
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down once a year and look at all of our metrics.
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Um, we follow probably about 30
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metrics in the clinic that are spent or
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split amongst different departments.
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So the front desk has a metric set,
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uh, lab and allergy has
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a metric set, the nurses have a
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metric set.
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my providers do and they cross reference
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so there's not just one or one
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department working on anything and so
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we pull those metrics on a monthly basis
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at the beginning of the year we set them, we
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identify them, we agree on them, we
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set our benchmark for July and then we
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set our final benchmark for December
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and so um.
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and we've got to meet those if we don't, because
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we bonus twice a year, we bonus in July
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and we bonus again in December and so
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if we're not meeting those benchmarks, it hurts.
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Um, it doesn't just hurt the provider, it hurts all
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the way through the staff and so um
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I think that has really helped us as far
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as um keeping an eye on. Things
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and because as
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me myself, I can't manage
[00:10:41.379]
30 metrics through 75
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employees in 4 different locations. They
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have to have that buy-in.
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And so I think just us sitting down
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meeting, talking about them and then
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agreeing on what those look like.
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It is huge. Like we had our meeting this
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morning about July or June, we cut it
[00:10:58.408]
off June 30th and so we've hit some
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and we've hit them really good.
[00:11:02.109]
And so I told the group, I said, well, I'm actually
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gonna move the December metric
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because you're exceeding it by 7
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to 8 points. It seems crazy to leave
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it that low if we're already exceeding it.
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They weren't happy about that, but they did
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understand. And you know, that constant need for
[00:11:17.371]
that upward trajectory. So
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have you implemented any technology or data
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tools that have helped your clinic stay on top of immunizations?
[00:11:26.533]
So for us, we have a a bi-directional
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with WebIZ
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and so and that's for all the providers, all
[00:11:32.452]
locations. So the minute we give an immunizations,
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it's immediate. It's, it's immediate. into
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the system. Um, I would say the same
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thing for us when we are on site for registrations,
[00:11:42.375]
you know, used to you did not take technology
[00:11:44.466]
with you, you didn't take it out of your office,
[00:11:46.775]
um, now that's more mobile for us,
[00:11:49.075]
you know, if we're gonna be on site, we wanna
[00:11:51.096]
be looking at that
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mom right then and there and saying, oh, so
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and so is missing this, this and this, and
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we've got it, we can do it right now.
[00:11:58.500]
And I think again, you're
[00:12:00.509]
meeting the patient where they're at, you're not,
[00:12:03.149]
you're not requiring them to take additional time,
[00:12:05.469]
take time off work or any of that, and
[00:12:07.469]
I think that helps. And I think the same thing
[00:12:09.538]
on the clinic side, once we went
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to 7 days a week, um, with
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a 12 hour day, folks
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do not have to miss work and
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so it makes it a lot more accessible
[00:12:20.538]
to them when they don't have to take that point.
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Or they don't have to take that day off work.
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Same thing on the student side, you know, the
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clinic, um, the school-based clinic is right
[00:12:28.825]
there on campus, the teachers can go on
[00:12:30.864]
their, on their, um, lunch
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break, they can go on their free period, you
[00:12:34.984]
know, no one has to, um,
[00:12:37.224]
miss work or miss school. And how have
[00:12:39.274]
you built partnerships with other community stakeholders
[00:12:41.825]
like local government, you mentioned
[00:12:43.904]
schools, nonprofits to strengthen public
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health.
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Uh, I think for us
[00:12:49.918]
we're always gonna say yes. And
[00:12:52.178]
so my, my, my crew will sometimes roll
[00:12:54.379]
their eyes and be like, oh my gosh,
[00:12:56.979]
um, but I think in a rural community,
[00:12:59.139]
you have to have that partnership. You have to
[00:13:01.139]
have that one
[00:13:02.979]
organization that you can count on and
[00:13:05.058]
for us, to me, I want us to
[00:13:07.070]
be that. want us to be that very
[00:13:09.354]
first phone call that somebody makes when
[00:13:11.394]
they need something,
[00:13:12.764]
uh, when they need to coordinate something or they need
[00:13:14.835]
to get a hold of somebody and so,
[00:13:16.923]
um, while sometimes that can, that
[00:13:18.955]
can be absolutely tiring, I think it's also
[00:13:21.303]
absolutely rewarding and then it
[00:13:23.514]
it really strengthen strengthens
[00:13:25.955]
the relationship that you have.
[00:13:28.769]
And what can other role or
[00:13:31.029]
resource limited clinics learn from your experience?
[00:13:34.960]
Um,
[00:13:36.330]
I would say just get out
[00:13:38.519]
there, uh, you know, a lot of times we feel
[00:13:40.609]
like. Monday through
[00:13:42.649]
Friday 8 to 5, I'm doing all that
[00:13:44.649]
I can do. Um, I think once
[00:13:46.769]
you start to peel that onion and you
[00:13:48.769]
start to look at things like social
[00:13:51.048]
determinants of health,
[00:13:52.529]
um, you start to understand, you know,
[00:13:54.769]
for us it was an eye opener. We had a patient
[00:13:57.570]
who we were just having a horrific issue with an
[00:13:59.570]
A1C.
[00:14:00.529]
Well, come to find out they didn't have a refrigerator.
[00:14:03.479]
So guess what?
[00:14:04.798]
Their A1C was not their primary concern.
[00:14:07.399]
Um, we've had patients without running water,
[00:14:10.038]
OK? If, if they don't have running water, they really
[00:14:12.158]
don't care whether or not they picked up their blood pressure medicine.
[00:14:14.879]
And so again,
[00:14:15.918]
I think you always have to meet that patient
[00:14:18.798]
where they're at and for us, um.
[00:14:21.500]
Our, our big motto is, you know,
[00:14:23.700]
quality team-based care has to be
[00:14:26.538]
performed at the right time,
[00:14:28.580]
um, at the right moment, and it's
[00:14:30.619]
that moment that belongs to the patient, it's
[00:14:32.700]
not your moment. It's not Monday through Friday
[00:14:34.820]
8 to 5. It's not, oh well we have an appointment
[00:14:37.099]
in 2 weeks, it's when that patient
[00:14:39.298]
needs you.
[00:14:40.229]
And so, um, the same
[00:14:42.359]
thing that we want, we want to do as far as being
[00:14:44.599]
available for our community when they need us
[00:14:46.649]
at the time they need us, we want to do the
[00:14:48.678]
same thing for our patients and so,
[00:14:50.710]
uh, we, we were looking at things yesterday
[00:14:52.859]
and identified that um we're open
[00:14:55.109]
access and so 71%
[00:14:57.678]
of our patients walk in the same day
[00:15:00.399]
and, and we like that.
[00:15:02.219]
It, it
[00:15:03.320]
keeps it exciting.
[00:15:05.710]
So before we close, if you could
[00:15:07.750]
send one message to healthcare leaders, stakeholders
[00:15:10.389]
watching, and what would it be?
[00:15:12.700]
Uh, I think that for
[00:15:14.820]
us we're primary care
[00:15:17.288]
and, and we're rural primary care and
[00:15:19.418]
so my biggest push
[00:15:21.418]
would be, I think we've got to really start
[00:15:23.779]
looking at um
[00:15:25.739]
some of these reimbursement policies and
[00:15:27.820]
they need to match what's actually
[00:15:29.899]
going on.
[00:15:30.849]
You know, once COVID hit, and I hate to keep
[00:15:32.928]
saying COVID, but a lot of things got pushed
[00:15:35.019]
back on the primary care, things that we never
[00:15:37.210]
would have done, but now we are
[00:15:39.379]
doing them and excelling at them
[00:15:41.379]
and that patient is, is
[00:15:43.500]
used to coming in here and getting that done. And
[00:15:45.940]
so I think we have to really start
[00:15:48.899]
looking at primary. Care and
[00:15:51.125]
understanding what that whole gatekeeper mentality
[00:15:53.904]
looks like
[00:15:55.264]
because a lot of times we are the first stop for the
[00:15:57.423]
patient, even when they go to the specialty,
[00:15:59.585]
they're coming right back in going, I don't understand
[00:16:01.634]
what do I need to do next. And so
[00:16:03.783]
I think we're going to have to start looking at
[00:16:06.024]
some reimbursement policies
[00:16:07.984]
that match.
[00:16:09.548]
The performance of work you're doing,
[00:16:11.840]
um, and also the medical complexity
[00:16:14.178]
of work that you're doing. Well, Angie, thank you
[00:16:16.219]
so much for sharing some valuable
[00:16:18.859]
information about practice management
[00:16:20.940]
meeting the community where they are.
[00:16:23.658]
Thank you for talking about the success
[00:16:25.700]
of what your practices are doing. Thanks for being
[00:16:27.859]
here too, too. Thank you. And that's
[00:16:29.899]
it for this episode of AFMCTV. Thanks
[00:16:32.029]
for watching and have a great day.