Clinic Offers New Approach In Health Care

The Register-Herald, July 11, 2005

A new idea in delivering health care is designed to lower costs for patients and keep them from winding up in emergency rooms of hospitals, lawmakers learned Sunday.

For one of them, Sen. Shirley Love, D-Fayette, the idea ushered in by Dr. Vic Wood took him back to his childhood in a coal mine camp of southern West Virginia . "Isn't this similar to the old days of the coal communities, when the company had its own doctor?" Love asked. "I can remember my Dad paid $5 a month for us."

"Very similar," said Wood, chief executive officer and medical director of Urgent Care Clinic in Wheeling . "That was before the insurance industry took control of every medical practice in the state."

Under the concept, a patient pays a monthly fee and is entitled to unlimited access to primary care, explained Wood, a former state trooper before going to medical school. Wood told members of Finance Subcommittee A the clinic approach bars any interference by insurance carriers, doesn't insist on prior authorizations, allows laboratory tests in package, provides X-rays, and imposes no limits such as pre-existing conditions. Another benefit is that the patient-doctor relationship is revived, Wood said.

Wood said early diagnosis and intervention work to the benefit of hospitals by cutting down ER visits, often entailing costs that such facilities wind up absorbing. "For many, if they sought care early, there is no need for an ER," the physician said. "This plan seeks to reduce that need."

Care hinges entirely on a patient's needs, not rules laid down by insurance companies, meaning disorders can be dealt with much earlier by eliminating co-payments, deductibles and other barriers, Wood said. For the uninsured, the fee for service costs is removed, and costs for treatment become predictable, he said.

"The hospitals should not be afraid of this," Wood told Sen. Ed Bowman, D-Hancock, the committee chair, when he inquired about direct competition with them.

Sen. Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier, wanted to know if patients are allowed to drop in any time, even if they simply get up one morning and just didn't feel up to par. "You can come as much as you want," Wood said. "We don't have appointments. We're a walk-in. You can come in and sit around and watch television, if you want."

Wood defined primary care as physicals and screens, colds and influenza treatment, and conditions such as diabetes and cholesterol reduction. Tests include CLIA certified lab, X-rays, EKG services, and the like. As for pharmacy services, Wood alluded to a formulary of generics that are covered by the monthly retainer.

The physician said the concept isn't intended to replace health insurance and acknowledged it is not a "total solution" to health care needs.
 "For the uninsured, underinsured and those with high deductible health insurance policies, this is a product that provides primary and urgent care services, at a specific clinic, for a monthly amount that can be budgeted," he told the panel. "This is a partial solution to a larger problem."

In one example, a patient suffering from bronchitis received complete care at the clinic for the monthly retainer fee of $83.

Under the traditional system that entailed several X-rays, an office visit, and lab work, the bill came to $459.

"Until there is a national solution, expansions in care will be built one brick at a time," Wood added.