A Message from Dr. Garrison
Hello Ranch View Family,
I write you with acceptance and personal news that change is the only constant. And Ranch View is working hard to serve you and to survive.
First, it is with sadness that I let you know Rachel Murray and Dr. John are no longer with the practice.
Rachel is set to pursue another opportunity. She will be moving to Grand Junction where she will practice family medicine in a beautiful, more rural venue with close proximity to all the outdoor sports she loves.
Dr. John has been a wonderful asset to the Practice for 4 years. He has been a good friend and colleague to all of us and has invested a great deal in Ranch View, our programs, our patients and our future. While he has not decided next steps, his near-constant considerations have been international service positions vs. returning to Oklahoma to be near his best friends and family.
COVID EFFECTS & OUR NEW REALITY
We stayed open and continued to serve Ranch View is proud to say that we never closed our doors during COVID. In fact, we have been especially busy handling the extra needs of patients from other medical groups that sheltered from COVID or closed their doors due to financial losses.
I am also proud to say that none of our staff have contracted COVID because of the strict safety precautions we have put in place to protect the well-being of our staff and our clients.
COVID has and will continue to be hard on Ranch View’s practice and practice finances for the indefinite future. Unlike normal businesses, a high volume of demand for services does not translate to increased business revenue. During COVID, insurance companies have been permitted to delay payments for as long as 180 days. As a result we have experienced a steadily increasing 30-50 % loss in practice revenue since March necessitating cutback of one third of our staff positions.
Moving Forward. We plan to continue to work hard to survive this pandemic because we believe strongly in our relationship with you, in the high quality of the care we provide, and in our abilities to rebuild following the disaster that has been this pandemic event.
The way we plan to move forward is to re-build on a strong foundation with a focus on quality care with a smaller patient base. We will be limiting new patients and offering referrals to other practices for individuals whose needs can be better matched elsewhere.
SCALED DOWN PRACTICE
How will our scaled down presence affect you? Our goal is that it won’t affect you at all – you will still receive exceptional, quality care as always. But a few things we hope you keep in mind as we will be short staffed:
• Plan ahead for prescription refills
• Complete forms ahead of your appointment time (forms are available online)
• Exercise patience with non-urgent processes
• Be respectful and kind to our hard-working office staff
• Understand your insurance coverage and acknowledge many issues are related to insurance and out of our hands
We predict we will be short staffed for the remainder of 2020. As we ourselves navigate through this new reality, we ask for your patience as you may experience the following:
• longer wait times to see a doctor
• longer time to receive call backs
• longer time to receive refills
Also keep in mind:
• We will continue to give high priority to those who are very sick, have critical results and values, and otherwise need our assistance emergently.
• We will continue to reserve same-day appointments for those who have urgent need.
• We will continue to provide non-reimbursed (not billable to your insurance) services such as care navigation call, reminder call, follow up call, letters on your behalf (prior authorization, jury duty, disability, FMLA, school document, etc.), but there may be a delay in some services, we kindly request that you plan ahead.
OUR CONTINUED COMMITMENT
• We choose to remain independent without corporate ownership or influence of our medical advice. Our referrals can go anywhere, not expressly kept inside a system for financial return. We are less likely to refer unless you really truly need a specialist.
• We require diverse physician backgrounds and have a team of quality care coordinators who keep our knowledge base broad and our accountability high.
• We prioritize quality care over “quick” care
• We will continue to provide high quality health care to all persons; regardless of race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation.
• At Ranch View, people are people. We want everyone, including employees, to have an experience that is safe, secure, and sacred. COVID has reminded all of us that our health, and that of our community, is our most valued asset.
SUMMARY OF OUR PLAN MOVING FORWARD
Quality & Innovative Care
• We are committed to continuing to take health insurance and to providing the high quality, statistically proven, health care that has become our hallmark in the community and is acknowledge by corporate groups with whom we collaborate, but by whom we will not be owned.
• We will continue to pursue continuing medical education and high quality care standards for our providers.
• We will continue to seek out and use cash-pay solutions which subsidize the growing deficit of health insurance reimbursements. These include weight loss programs, iv infusion programs for athletes and holistic health advocates, cosmetics (like facial contouring and Botox), and other services to help us cover costs. We will continue to be proud of this ingenuity. It provides reliable same-day cash flow, and in turn helps us keep our doors open.
Personalized Service
• Our medical decisions will be independent and specific to your personal requirements.
• We will continue to cost less than corporate institutions with higher base cost and facility fees which are passed along to you in the form of higher fee application to deductibles and co-insurance.
Partners in Health
• If you do not want to participate in the wellness and prevention expectations to which insurance payers hold our reimbursements hostage (physicals, wellness labs, colonoscopies, Pap smears, and other preventative services), we will refer you elsewhere.
• If we feel you have unrealistic expectations in our new, scaled-down environment we will refer you to another practice.
• We will pace your requests, prioritized to take care of the most critically ill first with the goal to avoid burn out in our hard working team.
• We will unapologetically collect some form of payment at every (non wellness/“physical”) office visit. Understand that we are professionals and deserve to be paid for what we do.
• We plan to help you understand and choose responsible health care decisions.
Mutual Respect & Gratitude
• We will continue create a family environment, with healthy boundaries, built on a foundation of mutual trust.
• We plan to smile when we see you and try to know you and understand your personal needs and goals.
• Likewise, we expect patients to treat all staff and providers with kindness and respect – we reserve the right to refer you to another practice when our valued staff is not being shown respect.
• We will show you kindness and compassion when you feel good and when you don’t.
Should an issue arise, we kindly request a private conversation for resolution before an online review is left.
• We plan to show big gratitude to everyone in our loyal patient base by continuing to try to help you, in every way we can, to navigate your health care journey.
Thank you for your consideration and your time.
Big Gratitude,
Dr. Julianne Garrison, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer, Ranch View Family Medicine