MEDFORD — Taylored Family Care Clinic of Medford officially opened its second location in Phillips with an open house and ribbon cutting on Aug. 12. A direct pay, fee-per-visit clinic model attracted patients so far north of Medford that a northern branch was opened in the former Flambeau Home Health and Hospice office at 133 N. Lake Ave.
Rebecca Gilbertson, a family nurse practitioner and founder of Taylored Family Care Clinic in 2013, was on hand to cut the ribbon alongside staff, members of the Phillips Area Chamber of Commerce, and community members.
“We had been looking to come north to Phillips for the last two years and were awaiting the right opportunity,” Gilbertson said. “We feel confident that we found that opportunity. We are excited to offer our services to the Phillips and the northwoods area and can’t wait to build a long-term relationship with the community.”
Frank Dusek, a chamber ambassador with the Phillips Area Chamber of Commerce, attended the open house to tour the clinic and participate in the ribbon cutting. He said the clinic is a valuable addition to Phillips, offering a different approach to healthcare services.
“I’m sure people will appreciate it,” Dusek said. “They’ll be a lot less expensive and probably give good services here too.”
The two certified family nurse practitioners who will work out of the Phillips office included Mike Borge and Rebecca Gilbertson. Some services will still be referred to Medford.
The clinic offers a three-tiered fee structure, starting with level one visits for conditions such as colds, sinus infections, sore throats, bladder infections, minor eye problems, ear infections, DOT and sports physicals, according to Jake Brehm, director of clinic operations. Level two visits include annual physicals, chronic illness management, and reviews of labs, tests, and imaging from other locations. Level three visits cater to more complex health cases, such as sutures, preoperative physicals, Lyme disease workups, and management of multiple chronic conditions. Fees for the three levels range from $95 to $150 per visit. The clinic also provides a variety of transparently priced labs, as well as occupational health services.
In addition to individual care, the clinic has established collaborative relationships with local businesses to help reduce overall healthcare costs by offering cost-effective alternatives to the traditional fully-insured, large healthcare system model. Taylored Family Care Clinic has contracts with many Medford area businesses and is now affiliated with Price County to help lower health plan costs for both the county and individual employee plans.
In his Aug. 15 report to the Price County Board Executive Committee, county administrator Nick Trimner said that the partnership with Taylored Health saved the county approximately $11,300 on the county health insurance plan already in the first three weeks. The savings came from the county paying the $90 office visit fee for 25 county employees to seek care at Taylored Health versus what would have been billed for a similar general practice visit to a health care system.
This has allowed the county to anticipate smaller expenditures to health insurance costs throughout the year, he said.
“We looked at an increase and we ended up making a small increase because we believe that Taylored Family Care Clinic will save our health insurance quite a bit,” Trimner said at the meeting. “...So I think there’s going to be a potential, a nice reduced cost to what we would need to be collecting or paying into our health insurance. That’s a huge savings.”
Trinh Zandebogert, a Price County employee who attended the open house, said she was part of a similar health care arrangement with her previous employer in Walworth County. She visited the Taylored Family Care open house to learn more about their services and processes.
“I think it’s great,” Zandebogert said, adding that as a Rib Lake resident, she can visit both the Medford and Phillips clinics.
The clinic also helps businesses and governments save money by providing occupational health services, Department of Transportation physicals, pre-employment physicals, drug screenings, fitness testing and audiograms.
What separates Taylored Family Care Clinic from the health system model is that the Taylored Family Health is a basic clinic with added managed care and occupational health services, Brehm said in a previous interview. The clinic is designed to be accessible to anyone regardless of health insurance or any affiliation with a health system.
Referring to outside health care and hospitals is still necessary for higher health concerns, Brehm said in a previous interview. The staff can also help identify less inexpensive third party sources for medical imaging and third party surgery centers that can save patients thousands of dollars.
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