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Trinity Health Offers New Service Called Well Care

It’s common when talking about healthcare providers to use terms like primary care and specialty care.

Roughly speaking, a primary care provider – whether a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant – is a healthcare professional who provides head-to-toe care throughout one’s lifetime. A specialist, on the other hand, is someone your primary care provider might refer you to, such as an ear, nose and throat physician or a cardiologist.

Now, a third term is gaining traction in the healthcare lexicon – well care.

What is Well Care at Trinity Health?

Well care is a form of preventive care that’s increasingly being promoted by Medicare and other health insurers to reinforce the importance of monitoring a patient’s health status. By checking in on patients, providers can make more informed decisions to help assess health risks and discuss changes or concerns that a patient might have.

Trinity Health established a preventive care program earlier this year called Trinity Health Well Care. It’s earning positive reviews as it helps patients get a jump on health problems.

“Well Care is an extension of our primary care services,” said Buffie Salo, Vice President of Provider Network Organization. “Its role is to facilitate patients who need to schedule their Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) for Medicare or who would benefit by having expedited care in various situations, such as a post-emergency room visit or for preventive monitoring such as checking blood sugar levels.”

Well Care is a pillar of primary care that focuses on screenings and the well being of patients who are eligible for Medicare annual wellness visits.
Well Care is a pillar of primary care that focuses on screenings and the wellbeing of patients who are eligible for Medicare annual wellness visits.

Amber Rice, FNP-BC, is Trinity’s Well Care provider located at Trinity Health Medical Arts. She sees her role as complementing primary care. “It’s been great to start seeing patients in Well Care,” she said. “We partner with Trinity’s primary care providers to complete Medicare Annual Wellness Visits and make sure patients are up-to-date on preventive care. In meeting with patients, I can help identify their needs and facilitate care.”

What are patients saying about Well Care?

Cindy Sorensen and her husband, Dick, have been among Amber’s patients who have used this collaborative care approach that integrates well care into a patient’s primary care experience. Although both have a primary care provider, they opted to see Amber for their Annual Wellness Visit.

“I was impressed with Amber; she was so helpful,” Cindy said. “For me it was an opportunity to focus on issues that you might not think of bringing up to your primary care provider. I mentioned to Amber that I‘d been having trouble sleeping, and she recommended a magnesium supplement that has made all the difference.”

Unlike a head-to-toe physical, an Annual Wellness Visit is more like a general health assessment and a review of one’s ability to function safely in the home and community.

AWVs also can play a role in supporting primary care providers by increasing their efficiency. For example, Cindy’s well care provider ordered a blood test prior to her visit with her primary care provider (PCP). As a result, her PCP had the test results in hand so he could review them with Cindy during her visit. “I just think (well care) is the smartest idea to come around in a long time,” Cindy added. “Whoever came up with idea deserves credit.”

Another example of how well care supports primary care: a gentleman without a PCP went in to see Amber in her Well Care clinic. He was having ongoing elevated blood pressure readings but didn’t have an official diagnosis of hypertension and wasn’t on any medications. Further examination also showed a cardiac arrythmia.

“Because we were able to see him, he could get started on proper treatment and follow-up. Our goal is to partner with the PCPs and give patients the best care possible,” Amber said.

Call Trinity Health Well Care Clinc now to schedule an appointment.

Trinity Health’s Well Care team works closely with our primary care providers to complete yearly assessments for Medicare patients that want to complete their Annual Wellness Visit. To schedule a call with our Well Care clinic, call 701-857-2252.

Patients may also call their primary care provider to complete their annual wellness visit. Click here to find a list of Trinity Health primary care locations.

Get Back to Preventative Care

Health screenings and routine checkups are the foundations of a healthy lifestyle. Yet many people  have fallen out of the habit of checking in with their providers on a regular basis.

The coronavirus pandemic impacted lives in numerous ways – one was to discourage Americans from seeing their doctor and to stay current with health testing, particularly cancer screenings.

“COVID turned the world on its head,” said Aaron Makens, MD, family medicine physician with  Trinity Health. “A lot of practices closed for a while. Many people were afraid to go to their doctor.”

The Journal of the American Medical Association reports an estimated 41% of US adults skipped  medical care early in the pandemic, and many have been slow to return to those helpful routines.

“Especially when we’re younger,” Dr. Makens observes, “we’re healthy, and see ourselves as bulletproof. Then we get into our mid 30s and we start to see things happen. Many of us don’t go to a doctor until we have an issue.”

Health screenings and preventive health are important aspects of primary care. Even if you feel  healthy, screenings are an essential tool for detecting health issues before they become more serious.

“Early detection is your best prevention,” Dr. Makens said. “It helps us identify problems before they get harder to control. When a patient comes in for a visit, whatever their chief complaint is – that takes priority. But preventive care is something I try to work in at every visit, whether it’s cancer screenings or vaccinations.”

As a family care specialist, Dr. Makens sees patients at every age. “I think about kids with their milestones; are they current with their immunizations? Then we get to middle age and we start to emphasize lipid panels, glucose, and hypertension. Are they up to date with their tetanus shot? We try to be proactive.”

Starting routine checks early in life matters. “The little adjustments and changes you make early on  can make a big difference,” Dr. Makens said. “If you’re on a sailing ship and you change your navigation just a couple of degrees and then go for a thousand miles, you end up in a totally different location.”

Dr. Makens has his own health screening checklist that he uses with patients based on their history,  age, gender and other factors. He doesn’t discourage patients from seeking information online, especially from reputable sites like the American Heart Association, American Cancer Association and “academy” sites that cater to a certain medical specialty.

“There are a lot of good tools,” he says. “The one thing I do tell patients is that when you see a lot of ads, that could be a red flag because maybe that site is funded by some interest that has a say in what you’re seeing on that website.”

By far, the best way to stay on top of good health is to establish a relationship with a provider.

“Primary care doctors are so important,” Dr. Makens said. “Our goal to improve quality of life; we’re not here to pressure people or get them to eat some bland diet that tastes like Styrofoam. But  we can help manage conditions and establish realistic goals that improve your life. Part of it is just having a human listen to you.”