Email Us (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine

Warren, MI

PCMH

Enjoy Springing Into Spring But Do It Without Injuring Yourself!

March 5th, 2022

As we MARCH towards Spring the weather is starting to show some signs of getting nicer, which means getting outdoors is more appealing!  You may want to go out for a walk or a jog.  You may want to get outside for a round of golf or a game of tennis.  The most recent Covid surge is receding and life is getting back to normal again.

Springing Into Spring

Springing Into Spring….

You know what else is normal around this time of year?

Bone and Muscle Injuries.

We are not orthopedic surgeons but we do see and treat plenty of bumps, scrapes, bruises and worse among a whole range of services that comes with the territory.  While we are glad to help which is what we’re here for, we’d prefer that you also take precautions and proper care so that you can enjoy these activities with the least amount of risk to your health.

We often bounce around the Internet to supplement our topics with articles from respected medical organizations and here is a good one on avoiding joint injuries from Stanford Children’s Health – it’s not an article just for children and we hope you give it a read.  It’s not long and there are good tips here.

Stay healthy friends!

***************************************************************************************************************************

South Macomb Internal Medicine

28401 Hoover Rd.  Warren, Michigan 48093

Phone: (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine has been designated a Patient Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/SMIMdoc for updates, articles and fun!

Call us and ask to be added to our email newsletter that comes out every couple weeks!

Telehealth and virtual appointments are still available.

Nutritional services are also available with Nanette Cameron, RDN. Don’t forget to ask us for a $25 gift certificate for trying dietary services with Nanette the first time for patients who have insurance coverage!

Feel free to click on the categories and keywords below to find more content as we add more to the website!

Improving The Patient Experience: Part 6 – Assessing Medications

December 3rd, 2021

By Dr. Scot Goldberg, MD

Hello everyone!  This is part 6 of a series around how we work towards improving the patient experience!  Part 5 was on treating urinary incontinence, and today we will discuss performing an assessment of a patient’s medication compliance and ability to pay for medications, changing prescriptions as appropriate and letting them know about avenues to explore if they need financial help.

Medications

 

Assessing Medications, Compliance, and the right Prescriptions

Part of a routine medical visit is an assessment of a patient’s medications.  Medications can be very expensive and the newer better medications are often out of financial reach for most patients.  For example the newer diabetic medications are better than the old ones but they are pricier, so we are always evaluating them to try to strike that balance between cost and effectiveness in the best interests of our patients.  This also includes tracking potential efficacy and side effects of these medications.  In other words we want to make sure they work and that they won’t cause other problems.  We will typically call into the pharmacies to find out coverage to see what we can prescribe for different situations.  We also keep an electronic log and we keep up with the pharmacies to ensure that they are filling the prescriptions properly!

There are some specific avenues we frequently explore to help our patients get their prescriptions:

  • We have the good RX cards that the patient can use to price out prescriptions.
  • The Canadian Pharmacy is less expensive in many cases and sometimes we will help steer them in that direction.
  • Patients can check insurance guidelines where some insurances are less expensive for filling 90 day’s worth of a medication than 30 days.
  • We have copay cards available for some prescriptions.
We know medications can be expensive, we are aware they have side effects, and we are aware that they are being marketed to you at every turn, but rest assured we are here to help you navigate it and get the best care with the right medications for you!

***************************************************************************************************************************

Improving The Patient Experience

A little background on this initiative and some highlights as outlined by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan:

Medicare Star Ratings is a rating system developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to help consumers find the best Medicare Advantage plan for them. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has two MA plans – Medicare Plus Blue℠ for its PPO members and BCN Advantage℠ for its HMO members.

CMS assesses a member’s health plan experience through the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or CAHPS, member survey. The survey asks patients to report on their experiences with a wide range of health care services. A large portion of the CAHPS survey is driven by the member’s experience with his or her physician’s team, including such things as follow-up on labs and imaging, and getting timely doctor appointments.

And, most importantly for patients, a positive patient experience results in better adherence to protocol, better relationships with health care providers and a feeling of mutual respect between them and their medical team.

***************************************************************************************************************************

South Macomb Internal Medicine

28401 Hoover Rd.  Warren, Michigan 48093

Phone: (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine has been designated a Patient Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/SMIMdoc!

Feel free to click on the categories and keywords below to find more content as we add more to the website!

Improving The Patient Experience: Part 3 – Checking Hgb A1c for Diabetes

October 22nd, 2021

By Dr. Scot Goldberg, MD

Hello everyone!  This is part 3 of a series around how we work towards improving the patient experience!  Part 2 related to checking your blood pressure, and here we are going to discuss the importance of checking your Hgb A1c for diabetes!

Diabetes

We should be screening for diabetes at age 35, and the way we do this is with a blood test called the hemoglobin A1c.  If that is elevated past 6.0 then we recheck in one year.  From 6.0 – 7.0 is considered “pre-diabetes” and over 7.0 is considered diabetes.  For pre-diabetes we treat it with diet and exercise and over 7.0 we add medications to the course of treatment.

As for diet and exercise we’ve mentioned here before that we recommend you exercise 30 minutes per day 5 times per week, and we have the resources to help you with your diet.  You can see our nutritionist Nanette Cameron – she’s fantastic!

So why do we need to treat diabetes?

Most people think that the acute care of diabetes or the blood sugar is more important than chronic care.  For very high sugars people will have increased thirst, urination, and generally poor feeling.  But actually chronic care of diabetes is much more important.  Diabetes is the leading cause of stroke, heart attacks, kidney failure and as a matter of fact can cause problems with any organ if left untreated.

So what is the treatment?

Treatment for diabetes has moved way past insulin shots.  We have even moved past sulfonylurea, metformin and older diabetic medications.  Although these medications have been around for decades and have been shown to be safe, effective and well tolerated, we now have newer medications that are even more effective and safer.  These medications include GLP1 (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists), or SGLT-2 inhibitors (sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors).  If that seems like a lot of acronyms and big words don’t worry – there won’t be a test… haha.  Let me explain:

  • GLP1’s come as a daily oral medication or a weekly self-injection.  Most patients prefer the weekly self-injection for convenience.  This class of medication works very well and has the added benefit of significant weight loss.
  • SGLT-2 inhibitors come as a daily oral medication as well.  It lowers the sugar thresholds in the kidneys so excess sugar in the blood stream is removed via urination.  The newest data shows that it is very effective and prevents heart and kidney disease even in patients who are not diabetic.

***************************************************************************************************************************

Improving The Patient Experience

A little background on this initiative and some highlights as outlined by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan:

Medicare Star Ratings is a rating system developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to help consumers find the best Medicare Advantage plan for them. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has two MA plans – Medicare Plus Blue℠ for its PPO members and BCN Advantage℠ for its HMO members.

CMS assesses a member’s health plan experience through the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or CAHPS, member survey. The survey asks patients to report on their experiences with a wide range of health care services. A large portion of the CAHPS survey is driven by the member’s experience with his or her physician’s team, including such things as follow-up on labs and imaging, and getting timely doctor appointments.

And, most importantly for patients, a positive patient experience results in better adherence to protocol, better relationships with health care providers and a feeling of mutual respect between them and their medical team.

***************************************************************************************************************************

South Macomb Internal Medicine

28401 Hoover Rd.  Warren, Michigan 48093

Phone: (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine has been designated a Patient Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/SMIMdoc!

Feel free to click on the categories and keywords below to find more content as we add more to the website!

It’s Vaccine Season And We Are Here To Guide You Through The Options!

October 8th, 2021

Vaccine Season

 

Yes it’s that season again.

 

via GIPHY

Okay actually we are talking about VACCINE SEASON.  Hehe…

The Flu virus for example lives longer indoors in the winter, so we are just taking a quick break from our Improving The Patient Experience series to discuss vaccines and answer a few frequently asked questions.  Please keep in mind that this post isn’t meant to be the final word on all vaccines, and that we encourage you to call and ask us if you have additional questions!

Vaccine Season and Your Options:

Let’s address a few vaccines that you may already be considering and/or should consider.

  • Flu:  Flu shots are indeed safe and effective, are available for people over the age of 6 months and you can safely get one even if you’re egg allergic.  Folks over 65 can get the high dose vaccine which is a quadruple dose.  If you have any questions about the flu vaccine please let us know and you can make an appointment to get one with us.  Here is the CDC guidance on Flu vaccines.
  • Covid-19:  The Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective so please get one if you still have not.  If you have any questions about them please ask, and if you are over 65 please schedule a booster – a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine if it has been 6 months since your second dose.  For now this is for those who have had the Pfizer vaccine, and you cannot mix them.  In other words if you had two doses of the Moderna vaccine you cannot get the Pfizer vaccine for your booster dose.  The Covid-19 vaccines and the Flu vaccines are safe to get at the same time, but the Covid-19 vaccine is not administered at our office.  They are available at other locations including some pharmacies.  Call us and we can help you with that, and here is the CDC guidance on Covid-19 vaccines.
  • Shingles, Pneumonia, and Tetanus are all available as well.  Here is the CDC guidance on Shingles, Pneumonia and Tetanus.

There are other diseases which are preventable with vaccines, so if you have questions about any of them please call us and we can advise you, and here is the CDC guidance on all the available vaccines as well.

Please take care of yourselves this vaccine season as the weather starts to get colder, and we are here to help!

***************************************************************************************************************************

South Macomb Internal Medicine

28401 Hoover Rd.  Warren, Michigan 48093

Phone: (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine has been designated a Patient Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/SMIMdoc!

Feel free to click on the categories and keywords below to find more content as we add more to the website!

 

Improving The Patient Experience: Part 2 – Checking Your Blood Pressure

September 24th, 2021

By Dr. Scot Goldberg, MD

Hello everyone!  This is part 2 of a series around how we work towards improving the patient experience!  Part 1 related to Covid-19 and Flu vaccinations, and here we are going to discuss hypertension and the importance of checking your blood pressure!

 

Blood Pressure

 

Checking Your Blood Pressure

The U.S. Preventitive Task Force gave their current recommendation statement on April 27, 2021 concerning hypertension.  The USPSTF recommends screening for hypertension (high blood pressure) for adults 18 years or older with office blood pressure measurements.  They also recommend obtaining blood pressure measurements outside the clinical setting for confirmation before starting treatment.

So what does that mean for you?

Well everyone knows that high blood pressure can cause major problems  These can range from the head (early dementia and bleeding strokes) all the way to the toes causing peripheral artery disease and amputations, and all organs in between.  Many studies have shown that lowering blood pressure to acceptable levels (140/90 and preferably 130/80) can prevent these problems.  We have many new medications that can help lower blood pressure but what a lot of people don’t recognize is that non-medical remedies can be just as effective such as diet, exercise and better sleep.

  • Diet: Here at South Macomb Internal Medicine we focus pretty heavily on lifestyle choices that help impact these things, especially when it comes to nutrition for example with many posts here on this blog by Nanette Cameron, RDN.
  • Exercise: We can also refer to physical therapists / trainers for proper exercise regimens.  Generally we recommend some form of aerobic activity for 30 minutes at least 5 days per week.
  • Sleep: We also analyze sleep disorders on a regular basis and if necessary can refer to a sleep lab or perform in-home sleep testing to make a diagnosis.  Often we are told of patients falling asleep while receiving their instructions at home when they first put on the CPAP mask because they are so sleep deprived – NOT because they are bored I assure you.  Ha!

Of course we offer the newest in medications and often we can control blood pressure with one pill per day, but what’s old is new, and one of the oldest medications available is spirnolactone which has seen a resurgence as this diuretic has been shown to lower blood pressure especially in difficult to treat cases.

Our doctors here are well versed in each of these approaches and treatments and continue to stay up to speed on any new medical developments.  Please make sure you are staying on top of this and let us HELP you to do it!

***************************************************************************************************************************

Improving The Patient Experience

A little background on this initiative and some highlights as outlined by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan:

Medicare Star Ratings is a rating system developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to help consumers find the best Medicare Advantage plan for them. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has two MA plans – Medicare Plus Blue℠ for its PPO members and BCN Advantage℠ for its HMO members.

CMS assesses a member’s health plan experience through the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or CAHPS, member survey. The survey asks patients to report on their experiences with a wide range of health care services. A large portion of the CAHPS survey is driven by the member’s experience with his or her physician’s team, including such things as follow-up on labs and imaging, and getting timely doctor appointments.

And, most importantly for patients, a positive patient experience results in better adherence to protocol, better relationships with health care providers and a feeling of mutual respect between them and their medical team.

***************************************************************************************************************************

South Macomb Internal Medicine

28401 Hoover Rd.  Warren, Michigan 48093

Phone: (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine has been designated a Patient Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/SMIMdoc!

Feel free to click on the categories and keywords below to find more content as we add more to the website!

Let’s Talk About White Coat Syndrome – For Real This Time

We recently posted an article on our Facebook page from themuse.com entitled 10 Reasons You Should Go To The Doctor (Even When You’re Healthy).  It’s a bit of a recurring theme we’ve returned to in the context of a COVID-19 pandemic that doesn’t seem to want to completely go away (GET VACCINATED if you haven’t yet – yes it’s safe).  We don’t want people to neglect any other health issues they may have that went untreated while they were home avoiding the virus for a year or so and Dr. Goldberg wrote about that too.  We want people to take care of their health and see their doctor even when they are healthy as the article states.

White Coat

But maybe it’s not that easy for everyone.

We’ve written about White Coat Syndrome before on this blog but the one time we made it a featured topic it was all in good fun with a humorous take on why you might have it.  However we do acknowledge (as we did in the humorous post) that it’s certainly real for many and we want to explore that in a little more detail.

In our humorous post on the topic we included a link to this article from Medical News Today that goes into great detail about White Coat Syndrome – what it is, diagnoses, and even prevention, but that article is a little light on the prevention part.  We would like to point you to another one very thoughtfully written by a family practice in South Carolina called Thrive Family Medicine about how to overcome it with several actionable tips.  We hope this helps!  The last thing we would ever want to see is one of you avoiding a check up because of your anxiety over visiting the doctor’s office.

Take care of yourselves, thank you for reading and we will see you soon!

 

***************************************************************************************************************************

South Macomb Internal Medicine

28401 Hoover Rd.  Warren, Michigan 48093

Phone: (586) 276-7530

South Macomb Internal Medicine has been designated a Patient Centered Medical Home by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/SMIMdoc for updates, articles and fun!

Call us and ask to be added to our email newsletter that comes out every couple weeks!

Telehealth and virtual appointments are still available.

Nutritional services are also available with Nanette Cameron, RDN. Don’t forget to ask us for a $25 gift certificate for trying dietary services with Nanette the first time for patients who have insurance coverage!

Feel free to click on the categories and keywords below to find more content as we add more to the website!