Just one short year after opening its doors, the Soldier Centered Medical Home co-located with Okubo Family Medical Clinic has already made great strides in improving care for its patients -- the Soldiers of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
The 2-2 Lancer SCMH has improved Soldiers' access to medical care, continuity of care with the same providers, and follow-up care management.
"(They are) definitely on the leading edge," said Lt. Col. Jennifer Glidewell, the officer in charge of Lewis North Medical Homes.
An inspection this winter by Western Regional Medical Command led to accolades that the 2-2 Lancer SCMH is about three to four years' of progress ahead of similar clinics, said Sgt. 1st Class Alejandro Giron, the 2-2 Lancer SCMH's noncommissioned officer in charge.
One of the keys to their success is the addition of nurses to provide case management for Soldiers by tracking specialty clinic referrals, scheduling preventative screenings, monitoring emergency room follow-up care (to include courtesy phone calls to check on patients' recoveries), and more.
"Definitely having those nurses be proactive in managing those patient populations helps with that continuity," said Glidewell.
With successes like lowering patients' wait time for follow-up checkups from 28-31 days to 5-10 days and increasing provider continuity from 52 to 67 percent, patients are experiencing better overall care.
"The patient sees familiar faces every time they come in," said Michelle McIntosh, the clinical nurse officer in charge of 2-2 Lancer. The SCMH's emphasis on providing care teams also encourages the clinical staff to work at the top of their licenses, so that medics take more health histories and collect other data to free up providers for more face time with patients.
The very model of the SCMH is meant to align with priorities of line units, to include the convenience of being located near the Soldiers they serve and hosting specialty services in-house such as labs, x-rays, and nutrition care -- all cutting down on travel time for Soldiers. The new practice of "house calls" -- phone appointments with providers for issues like getting lab and x-ray results -- adds to the convenience of Soldiers' health care.
More than simply saving time and increasing convenience, though, the 2-2 Lancer SCMH focuses on medical readiness by emphasizing preventative care.
"We're really trying to change and promote healthy living," said McIntosh. The SCMH care teams do this by making in-house referrals to physical therapy, referring Soldiers to nutrition care to stay at healthy weights, and taking care of lesser injuries before they become more serious.
Glidewell explained that shin splints are a common example of a Soldier injury that can worsen if not addressed right away. "We see them when they're shin splints and not when they're stress fractures, which is a good thing," she said.
The true secret to 2-2 Lancer SCMH's catapulted success is the people, Glidewell said. The staff is a unique mix of providers and medics assigned to U.S. Army Forces Command (embedded with operational units) and nurses assigned to U.S. Army Medical Command (Madigan).
"Really what makes a successful Soldier Centered Medical Home is the collaboration between the FORSCOM and the MEDCOM folks, and I think I've seen that grow and grow here," said Glidewell. "It just makes everything better for the patients."
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