8
in other words
august14
2012
Natural Path to Health: Invest in Yourself
By Dr. Carol McIntyre
I have WONDERFUL news!!! There is finally a
way for people without insurance or minimal insurance
to get lab work done for a fraction of the cost. This is
such an exciting development that I am encouraging
everyone to take advantage of this opportunity.
I will keep it short and sweet (ok, I’ll try…).
There is a group of healthcare practitioners who
approached Lab Corps, one of the largest lab processing/
drawing facilities in the US, and proposed they start
up a cash pay lab system with highly discounted rates.
Agreements and negotiations have been made and a
new sub-unit of Lab Corps has been created offering
state-of- the art-testing to patients at a fraction of the
cost.
A new company called Principal Labs has
been formed and is in operation! This company has
negotiated the cost of labs down so much that you can
now get a CBC for $5! Anyone who has had to pay out
of pocket for routine lab work knows that pricing is
unheard of.
Principal Labs offers different panels for
different costs. Their comprehensive panel includes:
Comp metabolic panel, electrolyte panel, CBC w/diff,
Vit D, complete urinalysis and a complete thyroid panel
including all the available thyroid antibody tests for
only $199!!! Now, the thyroid panel alone with all of the
antibody testing would cost you well over $1,000.00 if
you were to do it through any other lab, and 90% of the
time insurance will not cover the antibody testing and
the patient is left with a greater out-of-pocket expense.
All together, the cost of ordering these tests from any
other lab would be thousands of dollars and Principal
Labs’ complete cost is only $199.
There are some specific requirements. This is
strictly cash pay only. The system was set up specifically
to help those who did not have health insurance at all
or who had poor coverage from their current health
insurance plan. Also, you must go to a Lab Corps
draw site to have your samples taken. Principal Labs
is looking toward having individual practitioners be
able to do blood draws in their own offices soon. The
closest draw site to us is on Barnes Rd near St.Vincent’s
hospital off highway 26. Once samples are submitted I
receive the results in 4 business days for review.
I urge anyone and everyone to take advantage
of this opportunity. There are many patients who come
to my office that have not been to see a doctor in years
for whatever reason. Some have no insurance, some feel
fine and some just don’t want to be told that something
may need further investigation. Now you can invest in
your health!
Principal Labs and its founders is now
providing, to me as a doctor and you as a patient, the
opportunity to look at biochemical blood markers and
make changes early so that simple disease patterns don’t
progress into more complicated ones. This is the most
exciting breakthrough in blood chemistry diagnosis
to date! As a doctor I am so happy to finally see an
affordable and accessible piece of healthcare available.
Please make use of this great resource. Contact the
office at 503.429.3928 for more information. Thank
you. Be Well.
Blessings in memory of Julie Schmidtke ~ She
will be dearly missed by all who knew her.
Verdura Clinic Leaves Vernonia continued from front page
community members and create better
visibility. “We are still open and plan on
being open,” stated Miller in the update.
According to Krahn, Verdura
had paid their rent through August 15,
2012. After receiving the phone call on
July 24 informing her that Verdura was
intending to close, Krahn says a meeting
was arranged for the evening of July 30
with the hope that the Vernonia Health
Board might convince Verdura to recon-
sider. Instead, Krahn says, Verdura had
already packed up their office, told em-
ployees that afternoon that the clinic was
closed, and then turned over their keys to
the building at the meeting. Verdura sent
an email on July 30 at 6:24 PM, giving
the Vernonia Health Board a thirty day
notice of their intent to close the clinic.
Patients were not contacted di-
rectly by Verdura to inform them of their
intentions prior to the closing. Sara Mill-
er at Verdura Family Wellness declined,
when asked, to provide any additional
information about the closure of the clin-
ic.
“I know that I speak for the en-
tire Board when I say that we regret the
impact this untimely closure will have
on both the patients and the employees,”
said Krahn. “We want the patients to
know that we are working diligently to
follow leads to regain access to medical
service in the community as soon as pos-
sible.”
The letter addressed to patients
that was posted on the door of the clinic
informs patients that they are welcome
to seek care at either of Verdura’s other
clinics in Hillsboro or Carlton. “We want
to make this transition as easy on your
[sic] as possible,” states the letter. The
Carlton location is listed on the clinic
letterhead, but is not listed anywhere on
Verdura’s website. Sara Miller would
not respond to questions about when the
Carlton Office opened for operations.
Vernonia’s Voice is
published twice each
month on the 2nd
and 4th Tuesday.
Look for our next
issue August 28th.
Closing of a Medical Practice
The Oregon Medical Associa-
tion believes that due care should be
exercised when closing or departing
from a medical practice. Not only does
this ensure a smooth transition from
the current physician to the new treat-
ing physician, but it also reduces the
liability of “patient abandonment.”
Therefore, to ensure this oc-
curs with a minimum of disruption in
continuity of care, the physician termi-
nating the physician-patient relation-
ship should notify patients sufficiently
in advance. If the practice focuses on
management of essentially healthy pa-
tients, that notice could be as short as
thirty days. Where complex conditions
and sick patients are involved, two fac-
tors affect the length of notice: how
sick is the patient? And how available
is other care in the community?
It is the patient’s decision from
whom to receive medical care. There-
fore, it is the responsibility of all phy-
sicians and other parties who may be
involved to ensure that:
•
Patients are notified of
changes in the medical practice. This
is best done by letter to patients by the
physician explaining the change, in-
cluding the final date of practice. OMA
recommends, if possible, that letters
be sent by certified mail, return receipt
requested, and that a copy of the let-
ter with the return receipt be kept. To
inform inactive patients or those who
have moved away, the OMA also rec-
ommends placing an advertisement in
a local newspaper.
• Patients are advised as to
where their medical records will be
stored including how they may access
them. To facilitate the transfer of medi-
cal records to the new treating physi-
cian, an authorization form should be
included in the letter.
•
Patients secure another
health care provider. If the practice is
being taken over by another physician
or another can be recommended, the
patients can be referred to that physi-
cian.
Patients who believe they
may have reason to file a complaint
against Verdura Family Wellness can
refer to www.leg.state.or.us/ors/677.
html,Oregon State Statutes concerning
Regulation of medicine. 677.188(4)(a)
states, “Unprofessional or dishonor-
able conduct” means conduct unbe-
coming a person licensed to practice
medicine or podiatry, or detrimental
to the best interests of the public, and
includes: (a) Any conduct or practice
contrary to recognized standards of
ethics of the medical or podiatric pro-
fession or any conduct or practice
which does or might constitute a dan-
ger to the health or safety of a patient
or the public.
Patient Abandonment is de-
fined as: “the unilateral severance by
the physician of the physician patient
relationship” without reasonable no-
tice, at a time when there is still the ne-
cessity of continuing medical attention.
Examples of abandonment include:
• the physician fails to provide
adequate withdrawal notice to the pa-
tient;
• the physician fails to see
a patient within a clinically indicated
timeframe;
• the physician withdraws from
a patient case without making arrange-
ments for continued care for lack of
payment or any other reason.
Information about filing a com-
plaint can be found at: http://cms.or-
egon.gov/omb/pages/consumer_help.
aspx.
The actual form to submit a
complaint can be found at: http://cms.
oregon.gov/OMB/PDFforms/Com-
plaintForm.pdf
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
START RIGHT. START HERE. SM
Small and Large Animals
Summer is here!
Camping Supplies • BBQs
Spa Chemicals • Sporting Goods
Coolers • Fishing Supplies
Summer Games & Toys
Family owned & operated for over 40 years
834 Bridge St., Vernonia (503) 429-6364
Now Open
Mon, Wed & Saturday
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Call for Appointments
(503) 429-1612
Or 24 hr. Emergency Number (503) 397-6470
700 Weed Ave. Vernonia, OR
