{"id":875,"date":"2017-04-25T15:44:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T22:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sprucehealth.com\/?p=875"},"modified":"2023-10-26T06:13:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T13:13:21","slug":"practice-profile-wellscape-direct-md","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/practice-profile-wellscape-direct-md\/","title":{"rendered":"Practice Profile: Wellscape Direct MD"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the\u00a0Practice Profiles series, we feature cutting-edge practices that are successfully using technology to power their operations.\u00a0Today, we’re featuring\u00a0Dr. Linnea Meyer of Wellscape Direct MD<\/a>, as\u00a0she shares with us her experiences with\u00a0texting, telemedicine, and the other technologies that she uses to provide great care for her patients, wherever they might need it.<\/p>\n

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About\u00a0Wellscape Direct MD<\/h2>\n

Practice Location<\/strong>: Boston, Massachusetts
\nPractice Model<\/strong>: Direct primary care (DPC)
\nYears of Operation<\/strong>: 1.5
\nTeam Size<\/strong>: One! Just me!
\nPanel Info<\/strong>:\u00a050\u2013100 patients. I’m pure DPC. I have patients who live hours away who have known me in the past, and make use of telemedicine to stay in touch; others are in the greater Boston area, and some live right around the corner! I see patients 13 years old and up, and my demographics run from 18\u00a0to 70+, with a good split between genders and across socioeconomic statuses.
\nPractice Space:<\/strong> I’m in the\u00a0North Station area, across from the TD Garden. I sublet a small office space there from a physical therapy group, and it feels homier than the\u00a0traditional office: it has exposed brick which brings in the old-Boston feel, space to sit in a chair to have a conversation, and dark chocolate and hot tea that are always available!<\/p>\n

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Q+A with Dr.\u00a0Meyer<\/h2>\n

Spruce:<\/strong>\u00a0What is your favorite part of practicing medicine in\u00a0the DPC model?<\/p>\n

Dr. Meyer:<\/strong>\u00a0Interacting with patients!\u00a0Healthcare intersects many aspects of our lives, and I believe that the best healthcare is provided in the context of a strong patient-physician relationship, so that we can\u00a0better understand how the many facets of life impact a person’s health and perspectives. The DPC model is great for this\u2014it affords us adequate time with our patients and allows them to have more access to us for ongoing conversations about their health, wellness, and care decisions.<\/p>\n

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Spruce<\/b>:<\/strong> How has telemedicine enhanced your practice?<\/p>\n

Dr. Meyer:<\/strong> Telemedicine makes it convenient for me to\u00a0stay in touch with my patients, to address their concerns when they arise, and to avoid unnecessary trips into the office (we can handle a lot of things by text, phone, or video).<\/p>\n

Patients also love it\u2014most are accustomed to texting these days, so having a secure messaging system fits right into that. They appreciate the convenience of these options, saving them from losing time from work and home duties, as well as preventing needless\u00a0worry from long waits to get in to see their doctor.<\/p>\n

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Spruce:<\/b> What has been most helpful about using Spruce?<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Meyer:<\/b>\u00a0Having my phone, texting, and secure messaging all come into one place. Since I run\u00a0all of my communications\u00a0through Spruce, I can see and keep track of\u00a0who is trying to reach me, whether it’s by phone, SMS text, or secure messaging. Convenient, simple, secure!
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Spruce:<\/strong>\u00a0What percentage of your patients text or secure message you? How do you keep that organized and have “off time”?<\/p>\n

Dr. Meyer:<\/strong> The majority of my patients appreciate and utilize the texting\/secure messaging options. I encourage secure messaging, and most are comfortable with using an app.<\/p>\n

It is important to try to set some boundaries so that I can have a little downtime\u2014life-work balance is something that many of us DPC docs are always working on, as we love being accessible to our patients. So, to that end, I make it clear that messaging is not for urgent issues, and the expectation for response is up to 72 hours (most often to account for the weekend; typically, I respond within the same day). Patients are generally very respectful of my after-hours time and, if they do need to reach me, are typically quite appreciative of my availability\u2014they are aware the practice is just me!<\/p>\n

I also advise patients to call if they\u00a0need to reach me right away. It’s great that\u00a0the Spruce voicemail system allows patients to leave messages with an “urgent” indication, notifying me that someone requires an immediate call-back.<\/p>\n

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Want to simplify and enhance your practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Learn more about how physicians like Dr. Meyer\u00a0are using Spruce to improve their communications and deliver better care that patients love.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with us<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the\u00a0Practice Profiles series, we feature cutting-edge practices that are successfully using technology to power their operations.\u00a0Today, we’re featuring\u00a0Dr. Linnea Meyer of Wellscape Direct MD, as\u00a0she shares with us her experiences with\u00a0texting, telemedicine, and the other technologies that she uses to provide great care for her patients, wherever they might need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Practice Profile: Wellscape Direct MD - Spruce Blog","description":"In the\u00a0Practice Profiles series, we feature cutting-edge practices that are successfully using technology to power their operations.\u00a0Today, we're featuring\u00a0Dr."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[29,30,32],"different-template":[],"class_list":["post-875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practice-profiles","tag-direct-primary-care","tag-dpc","tag-practice"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875"},{"taxonomy":"different-template","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sprucehealth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/different-template?post=875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}