UNMC to launch pilot program offering personal services for patients

Lynell Klassen, M.D.

A UNMC physician will launch a pilot program starting Feb. 1 in which patients will be charged an annual fee in return for a variety of services not normally covered by health insurance policies or government payors, medical center officials have announced.

The program is being called a Personal Service Medical Practice (PSMP), and it puts UNMC in line with what is already happening in most major cities around the country, said Lynell Klassen, M.D., professor and chairman of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine.

According to the Society for Innovative Medical Practice, there are more than 200 such personalized medical practices in the U.S., serving more than 100,000 patients. In addition, a number of public and private academic medical centers around the country have active personal service medical practices.

“As an academic medical center, it is our mission to stay abreast of the latest trends and advances in medicine and make them available to our patients,” said John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “By implementing this new program, we will continue our tradition of providing high quality care to all our patients. At the same time, our medical students and resident physicians have the opportunity to learn about one more element in the multi-faceted health care system of the 21st century.”

John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D.

The UNMC program has been under development for the past year, he said.

“Programs like this first started several years ago in Seattle and have been very popular with patients,” Dr. Klassen said. “Although we recognize this service is not for everyone, it is being embraced, and even requested, by certain patient populations, like families who’ve moved away from their aging parents. These families are more than happy to pay an annual fee in order to get more personalized physician services for their parents and peace of mind for themselves.”

Dr. Klassen said the PSMP was developed as a pilot program, which will give UNMC the ability to assess the value of this new model of health care and test its efficacy. Under the UNMC program, patients will pay an annual enrollment fee of $4,000, Dr. Klassen said. Among the plan benefits they receive in return are:

• A physician available to enrollees 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
  
• Direct access to the physician’s mobile phone;
  
• Ability to reach the physician and communicate health needs via e-mail;
  
• A CD containing a summary of an enrollee’s medical record;
  
• Assistance in coordinating routine, preventative measures related to an enrollee’s travel abroad. Enrollees also will receive medical flight insurance;
  
• Invitations to health-related presentations by center staff and invited clinical experts;
  
• Pick up of prescriptions and other health-related items or assistance in setting up home or mail delivery;
  
• Physician attendance at appointments with other health care specialists as deemed appropriate.

The physician directing the program will be Joel Bessmer, M.D., an internist working in the general medicine section of the department of internal medicine. A Plainview, Neb. native, Dr. Bessmer has been on the UNMC faculty since 1996. He earned his undergraduate degree from Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) and his medical degree from the UNMC College of Medicine.

Joel Bessmer, M.D.

As associate director for the internal medicine residency program, Dr. Bessmer helps educate UNMC medical students and resident physicians in the clinical setting. He will continue to serve in this capacity. In addition, he will continue to see other patients not enrolled in the PSMP when he goes to the Turner Park Clinic located at 30th and Farnam streets one day each week. The clinic is directed by UNMC Physicians, the physician practice group for the medical center.

Dr. Klassen emphasized that any revenues generated by this program will be used to support the operation of the program itself and to support the department’s education, research and community outreach efforts. He said no state general tax funds will go toward the program or toward Dr. Bessmer’s salary.

In 2005, Dr. Bessmer received the Hirschmann Prize for Teaching Excellence, the top teaching award for UNMC clinical faculty as voted by fourth year medical students who select the faculty member who had the most influence on them during their medical school training.

“I am delighted to be a pioneering physician in this challenging new program,” Dr. Bessmer said. “These personalized care practices are emerging around the country. We believe it’s important for UNMC to offer this service.

“We have seen a dramatic evolution occur in medicine over the last century. The days of black bags and house calls have come and gone. We’re trying to bring some of that back with this program. It’s all about personal choice. In essence, patients will be spending additional money to receive personalized services not covered by insurance or governmental payors.”

Dr. Bessmer said letters have been sent to all his existing patients letting them know about the new program. For patients not opting to participate in the new program, UNMC Physicians will help transition their care to another physician.