Health Care Gets Easier For Mililani
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Del.icio.usAccess Medical Clinic, the state’s first Convenience Care Clinic, has officially opened for patients at Longs Drugs in Mililani Town Center.
Plans for the clinic were first proposed at a neighborhood board meeting last fall, and since Feb. 9 business partners Raymond Bihis of the Convenient Care Association and Dr. Todd Kubo, a Kaneohe internist, have made sure this operation runs smoothly.
“Access Medical Clinics, or AMC, is the first of its kind in Hawaii,” said Kubo.“AMC increases the availability to medical care at non-traditional times. Perhaps the greatest impact will be on the working families who cannot get to the physician’s office during the normal work day. AMC is particularly good for families where both parents work, and they need to obtain care for their children after hours.”
Better known as Convenience Care Clinics, these small healthcare facilities are typically located in high-traffic stores with pharmacies - a wellness movement already popular in Mainland chains Target, CVS, Wal-Mart and Walgreens. However, Bihis stressed that Hawaii’s AMCs differ greatly from those at Mainland centers.
“We have personally taken financial risks as entrepreneurs to open these clinics to provide a much-needed service for the community,” the Mililani resident stated. “We also provide employment opportunities for the community. Dr. Raymond Thompson, for example, is a longtime resident of Mililani and is the regular physician at the Mililani clinic.”
Added Kubo, “First, we are physician-owned and operated. We employ physicians who actually see the patients in our clinics along with overseeing the physician assistants and nurse practitioners. We are not owned by our host pharmacy (Longs), so we do not have a conflict of issue with how much or what we prescribe for our patients.”
What AMC will provide is affordable and accessible health-care for non-emergency ailments such as cold or flu, rashes and muscle sprains. Bihis explained that through the use of Electronic Health Records, a state-of-the-art record-keeping system, AMC physicians are able to coordinate care between different healthcare providers and ensure consistency between each visit. Immunizations, physicals and preventive health screenings are also provided. Patients with more serious conditions will be referred to their primary care provider or, if the situation arises, a hospital emergency room.
“It is important to stress that AMC is designed to take care of patients for acute-care needs only; all other care rightfully remains with the patient’s regular doctor,” Kubo said. “That means conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are not managed at AMC. Our physicians may ‘trouble-shoot’ when needed, but long-term care will be returned to the patient’s medical home.”
A second clinic opened earlier at the Longs in Ewa Town Center, and Bihis said that gauging from the success of both, more are expected to follow.
“The ones who have gone through the clinics are just ecstatic and are just fascinated with the convenience,” he said. “They are very satisfied with our physicians whom they can see without any appointments.”
The one-room clinic at the back of Longs is open to anyone, no appointments necessary. Service fees run approximately $50 with cash, private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare accepted. Hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, visit www.accessmedicalclinics.com or call 627-0336.
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