By HMG
Holston Medical Group’s ongoing success of turning “the tide against cardiometabolic disorders” within its HMG Integrated Health Management department has landed the Group a cover story in the Nov. 7 issue of Medical Economics. The national magazine, with a bi-monthly circulation of nearly 175,000 office-based physicians, is showcasing practices across America that are implementing creative solutions to their practice management challenges.
According to the article’s introduction, “The provider team at Holston Medical Group is heartened by the results of its integrated approach to managing cardiometabolic disorders. But perhaps none of them are as pleased as the 45,000 patients with the disorders who are under their care.”
The article details the success of treating Tri-Cities’ patients with cardiometabolic disorders – pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated blood lipids, and obesity – within HMG Integrated Health Management, a highly-diversified team that includes a vascular medicine specialist, three pharmacists (two of them certified diabetes educators), a dietitian, an RN, and a consultative endocrinologist.
Together, the team is achieving outstanding results, especially in a Tri-Cities patient population where “one-third have high-cholesterol and another third have hypertension.” On average, patients have lost “nine pounds each and reduced their hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) levels by an average of 20 percent, systolic blood pressures by 11 points, and diastolic by 9 points.”
“Unless you understand the difficulty of achieving these types of results within patients, you might miss the significance of these numbers. We’re adding years to lives,” explains Jerry L. Miller, MD, HMG founder & president. “Our life expectancy here in the Tri-Cities is seven years less than if you live in the Midwest, and it has a lot to do with lifestyle, obesity, smoking and lack of access to what I call ‘the new facet of medicine.'”
And, according to Miller, with HMG Integrated Health Management, that’s exactly what HMG’s nearly 80 primary care providers are offering patients when they refer those with difficult-to-manage cardiometabolic disorders to HMG Integrated Health Management. This team of multi-specialty providers, focused on achieving vascular success is a tangible example of “the new facet of medicine.”
“We’re trying to create a cardiometabolic medical home,” says William H. Bestermann, MD, the vascular medicine specialist who leads the HMG Integrated Health Management team. “We’re focused on that thing that’s going to kill half the people in this region.”
Medical Economics is the leading business resource for office-based physicians, providing the expert advice and shared experiences doctors need to successfully meet today’s challenges in practice management, patient relations, malpractice, electronic health records, career, and personal finance. Medical Economics provides the non-clinical education doctors didn’t get in medical school.
