A new way to get PCP medical care locally

• You’re living at your summer home in Falmouth and want a nearby primary care provider.
• Uncle Jack is visiting and thinks his belly pain might be more than just indigestion.
• You are scheduled for surgery and need pre-operative clearance.

Usually, each of these healthcare needs are met at a different location. Now, routine, acute ambulatory, pre-operative care, and more are available at one location, and that’s not all that is unique about the new Falmouth Hospital Medical Center at Bramblebush.

The Medical Center at Bramblebush, which is now accepting and enrolling patients, is a new combination of physician practice, acute ambulatory care and testing center with hospital inpatient care available onsite. The Medical Center’s team—consisting of board-certified, experienced hospitalists and internal medicine physicians and trained advanced practice clinicians (APCs)—are dedicated to each patient’s care. These are the same people who provide inpatient care at Falmouth Hospital, and that is the Center’s secret to flexible staffing that keeps patient waiting times so low and accessibility so easy.

“We can modify our staffing quickly to adjust for fluctuations in patient volume by drawing on the hospital staff,” said Vladimir Koren, MD, director of the Medical Center at Bramblebush and chief of the Department of Hospital Medicine at Falmouth Hospital.

He said that instead of refusing and sending patients to the ER or scheduling patients one or two months later, the new Medical Center can accommodate immediately.

“We can fast-track,” he said. “Patients with acute problems who want to use the clinic for their primary care can always come in and be seen on the same day. For instance, our patients with shortness of breath, high blood pressure, symptoms of infections such as urinary tract infections, will be seen on the day they need. We have the luxury of flexibility, which means convenience for patients.”

The unique concept began with a “soft launch” in February and has proven beneficial and welcome to both physicians and patients. The new concept works, and everyone appreciates the newfound flexibility, Dr. Koren said.

“We are working as a team,” he said. “We are not dividing patients. All our patients belong to us, and all of us belong to the patients. This means we all know the patients, and at any time we can complement each other, add something to patient care, and be there when patients need us. We work our schedules around patients’ needs and not vice versa.”

What You’ll Notice

When you visit Falmouth Hospital Medical Center at Bramblebush:

• A doctor might change your medication on Wednesday and, instead of waiting for weeks for your next appointment, set up an appointment for Thursday—at your convenience.
• You might notice that, as several patients walk in without appointments, everything continues to operate smoothly. This staff is flexible, quickly adjusting to changing patient volumes by calmly drawing from other physicians who are already in the hospital and on your team.
• It’s easy to get appointments.
• If you need tests, they are close.
• The costs are usually less than for Emergency Room care, and Falmouth Hospital Medical Center can help keep some patients from having to spend the night at the hospital. This also saves money.
• If you’re hospitalized, you can follow-up with healthcare providers you already know.

Falmouth Hospital Medical Center is open for Cape Cod residents and visitors, unassigned patients (without a regular PCP), and patients without insurance who need medical care, according to Dr. Koren.

Falmouth Hospital Medical Center at Bramblebush is now accepting new patients for primary care and other services.