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Congratulations to Dr. Gregory Steinmetz, who recently received the Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award from Brown Alpert Medical School. Dr. Steinmetz was awarded for his outstanding service to medical education. Both Dr. Steinmetz and Dr. Kerzer are very committed to medical education and have a long history in proudly providing guidance and valuable learning experiences to future medical providers. Julie Rousseau was honored recently for her efforts in raising awareness for dating and domestic violence. Read more about it here. Dr. Martin Kerzer and Kristin David, PsyD presented at Rhode Island's Care Transformation Collaborative quarterly learning session earlier this month. Read more about it here. Just a reminder for patients who are interested in any of our upcoming group visits, please make sure to check out the list of upcoming visits here. We've had a number of groups this year and all have been beneficial and informative. We're proud of how succesful they've become and how much patients who attend end up enjoying their time. As spring is in full swing and summer is on the horizon, be sure to slightly modify your routine for best results to your health. For a handful of helpful tips, visit this page. If you're not yet signed up to the Patient Portal or utilizing it to its fullest, please make sure to check it out. Avoid calling the office by simply logging in and communicating directly with your provider or the staff. Log into the portal here or learn some information to help you learn the portal here. APCM's success in its behavioral health integration program was recently featured in an article in Rhode Island's Care Transformation Collaborative newsletter, which you can read right here. For the original article and full newsletter, click here. Our list of group visits for the 2018 calendar year has been updated and is now available to view. If any of these upcoming visits interests you, let us know by calling us (401-467-3115), emailing us (staff@apcmweb.md) or using the patient portal! We hope you're having a great start to the new year! The group visit schedule has begun to take shape so if you're interested, make sure to check it out. Our telemedicine visits have begun, so if that is something you'd like to participate in let us know. Associates In Primary Care Medicine is excited to begin offering Telemedicine visits. With these secure video visits, you will be able to receive the same quality of care as you do in our office without having to take time off work, find a babysitter, or any other type of hassle. Video visits can be used for many different types of appointments, especially for follow-up visits and minor urgent care. Schedule a video visit today or get more information by clicking here! As the year comes to a close, we'd like to thank all of our patients who choose us for their health care needs. Our group visit listings for the 2018 calendar year will be posted soon, and we look forward to all of those visits being as successful and helpful as those we had in 2017. Have a happy holiday season! In a follow-up to our partnership with Healthtrax, you can now Just a reminder to any patient who's interested in seeing Dr. David at our office, to check out the IBH page Our very own practice manager, Jamie Handy, was recently featured in a news video regarding UnitedHealthcare payer/provider relationships. Watch it below: Last night we held another successful diabetes group visit in the office. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for one of our group visits yet, take a look at the schedule for the rest of the year and contact our office if you're interested! Associates in Primary Care Medicine is pleased to announce a partnership with Healthtrax. More info will be coming soon but check their web site out for information regarding their facilities and programs!  WE QUIT is a program for females wishing to stop smoking. Click here for more information if this interests you! Our diabetes group visit schedule for the rest of the year has been updates, so make sure to check it out now if you're interested. Clicking on any of the listed dates will provide you with a helpful flyer you may print out for your convenience as well. Martial Arts For Seniors - an excellent martial arts program taught by one of our very own patients here at Associciates in Primary Care Medicine, we're proud to promote this for any senior citizen looking to try something new or just looking for a way to stay active and healthy. Dr. Kerzer attended the FAA medical seminar for aviation medical examiners in Arlington, Virginia on August 11th to August 13th. Dr. Kerzer is a senior aviation medical examiner and performs physical exams on all classes of pilots for the FAA. For more information on our FAA exams, click here. On July 26th, Dr. Kerzer and Tara Higgins were host to another succesful group visit. Click here for more information.  Check out our patient information page for a variety of helpful health discussion topics from Choosing Wisely. Click here for an important message regarding our policy on depression, anxiety, and substance abuse screening. New to the site is a page to help you navigate our patient portal. The portal is an invaluable tool and once you get going with it you'll have access to everything you need in regards to your healthcare at your fingertips. Click here to look at our portal tips page and make sure to log into the patient portal. Last week saw the successful completion of our most recent evening group visit here at Associates in Primary Care Medicine. On June 26th, a group of patients met with Dr. Kerzer and pharmacist Tara Higgins to discuss alternatives to opioids, along with learning about Suboxone and Methadone. Some helpful videos were shown and our patients had an interactive and spirited discussion. Associates in Primary Care Medicine is proud to announce that we recently achieved NCQA recognition with an unparalleled perfect score. This accomplishment was thanks to the incredible efforts of our office manager, Jamie Handy. Click here for a little bit of insight on what went into this process. Over the course of the past few weeks, staff at APCM have participated in a CTC-RI mental health first aid training class. As part of the Integrated Behavioral Health pilot program we are a part of, our practice manager Jamie Handy and medical assistants have attended the 8 hour course with the intention of developing the skills necessary to assist patients who are experience or developing a mental health crisis. This course helps to build a mental health understanding, as well as teaching the skills required to respond to the signs of a mental illness until the appropriate professional help is available. Our staff had a wonderful learning experience with the course, and those that attended are now fully credentialed and equipped to assist in assisting with mental health situations should the need arise.  This past week APCM was host to two very fun and successful group visits. On May 30th, Dr. Kristin David and Pam LeBlanc held a group visit regarding diabetes distress. Aside from the great learning experience, a raffle was held and some lucky patients came away with such prizes as a pedometer, hand weights and a meal planner. On May 31st, Dr. Martin Kerzer and pharmacist Tara Higgins met with patients regarding over the counter supplements, herbals, and how medications interact with each other. Both group visits received very positive feedback and we look forward to the many more group visits to come! If you're interested, be sure to head over to our group visit page to learn more.  On April 1st, Associates in Primary Care staff took part in a CPR training course. Click here to take a quick look at it. On April 19th through April 22nd, Dr. Kerzer attended the Federation of State Physician Health Programs in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Kerzer is the vice chair of the RI Physician Health Program, a committee of the RI Medical Society. The committee addresses and helps physicians with health issues. APCM Welcomes New Staff Member! APCM is happy to announce that Ashley Bowen has joined our family. Ashley is a medical assistant. Dr Kerzer has a passion for improving patient care and how parts of the healthcare system work with each other. He is a firm believer in quality improvement and enhanced communications. In the summer of 2015, he asked me how could we improve the communications between the practice and the community pharmacists? With that simple question we started a pilot project with three CVS pharmacies. It was as simple as providing an electronic medication list to the pharmacy. We found that the number of calls from and to the pharmacies decreased due to having a complete, accurate medication list. From that pilot project, the program has expanded to all pharmacies. This has facilitated communications from local, retail pharmacists in a new way. They are giving us feedback about patients, barriers to adherence, and simply more information about what is truly going on with the patient. And the pharmacists are excited to be engaged in this new way to talk to the practice. I know this program is improving the patient care we all provide and helping to keep patients safe with their medications. Most of all, it is improving the relationship and communications between this practice and the community pharmacies as it takes a village to improve healthcare. Dr Kerzer has a respect for pharmacists and how we are an important partner in the healthcare team.  Earlier this month, CTC recognized two practices for their outstanding performance during the 2015-2016 contract year. Dr. Martin Kerzer of Associates in Primary Care Medicine accepted the award of being the top performer for the 2015-2016 contract year, amongst all Performance Year 2 practice sites, in clinical quality performance metrics. |