Concierge Medicine Comes To Conway, Greenbriar

A Faulkner County medical clinic is taking medical care in a direction adults and children are unfamiliar with. But according to Dr. Amy Beard, owner of Hippocrates Health & Wellness, her concept is nothing new but instead a return to how medicine used to be practiced.

Beard, a former dietician who returned to medical school and later became an emergency room physician, says the current health care system is broken which is why she decided to open her new clinic in November with offices in Conway and Greenbriar.

“I made the choice to do it after working as a resident in various clinics as a resident and then working in the E.R. and I just realized that the way we were delivering health care was a poor delivery system,” she said. “And the current system of how we deliver medical care to patients is broken. To expect a physician to see 30 patients a day is asking too much and it’s not allowing for good care. You just cannot provide good care in 10 or 15 minutes.”

And while the typical doctor is lucky to get 15 minutes with a patient, Beard said having a smaller number of patients enables her to spend more time in the exam room in order to really examine the patient’s needs and wellness.

“An average visit can be an hour if that’s what the patient chooses. Sometimes it doesn’t take that much depending on what their issue is at the time,” she said.

The extra time Beard spends with her patients provides patients for a more relaxed visit, she said, allowing the patients to “drop their guard when they’re not feeling rushed.”

Beard is also able to devote additional time and resources to items most other doctors are unable to place a focus on, such as sleeping habits, activity levels, diet and how those individual items collectively contribute to the wellness, or lack thereof, of the patient.

“It’s not just about pills,” she said. “We try to use pills as a last resort versus a first resort, which is what you find in most practices now. And our patients like that.”

For Ricky Hamilton and his wife, Debbie, the attention to detail Beard puts into her practice and the patients that make up her practice are among the reasons they started coming to Hippocrates Health & Wellness.

“It’s rare to me to get face-to-face time with your doctor. We were looking to build a relationship with someone who gets to know you,” Hamilton said. “At a typical doctor, you’re lucky to get seven minutes. And we want someone who will be with us for many years to come.”

He went on to say that he’s looking to be proactive with his health, and the philosophy Beard has brought to her practice aligns with his health goals.

While the focus is placed on preventative medicine and using pills as a last resort, a quick stroll through the Hippocrates website shows a wide range of services from annual physicals to urgent care to blood tests and a 24/7 access line that allows patients to reach a physician at any time. And the fee is only $125 per month for individuals 25-60 years old, with no stress about whether or not a fee is covered under an insurance policy.

“We forgo insurance payments in order to save our patients from the arbitrary, intrusive decisions that inevitably follow with third-party payers. Furthermore, this direct fee-for-services arrangement frees us from the typical contractual agreements that prevent physicians from offering wholesale prices on laboratory tests, imaging, and medications,” a message on the website reads.

While the type of health care provided by Beard may sound like something that belongs in New York instead of Greenbriar, her business partner Paul Buch said concierge, or direct-care, medicine is something that resonates with rural residents just as much as urbanites.

“They really are a very independent-minded people in the rural areas and I’d almost say they gravitate to it easier because they’re used to being self-sufficient and they like the idea of calling a doctor anytime, that they almost have that small town relationship,” he said. “This really is a throwback to Mayberry. The doctor knew you, knew your family history.”

And at a time when 1.5 million Americans are using a private direct-care practice, Buch said a benefit that patients will receive is through longer visits which could lead to improved care – something that while valuable is hard to measure.

“It’s not just an extra hour, it’s also you know these patients because you’re only taking 300 to 500 patients versus 3,000. You get to actually know them. You don’t have to open the chart every single time. And that’s really the nuance that’s hard to put your finger on,” he said.

Hamilton’s wife, Debbie, said she will keep going back to Beard because the focus is placed on prevention and improving the health care experience, one hour-long visit at a time.

“Her desire not to give you pills, but to fix your problem by taking responsibility for your health, that appears to me,” she said. “We’ve always had great doctors, but when they are practicing medicine the way it has been done, they can’t practice medicine where they get to know you.”