HANCOCK COUNTY — Two Hancock County women are offering unique takes on delivering healthcare, as compared to traditional healthcare models.
Katelyn Blackmon recently opened a boutique women’s health clinic in McCordsville focusing on menopause and gynecological services.
Laura Snider, on the other hand, has been running a home-based healthcare business she started in her kitchen since 2007.
Both women pride themselves on offering what they consider to be beneficial alternatives to the standard care delivered in a physician’s office.
Blackmon’s practice — the EmpowerHer Women’s Care Clinic — provides “direct care” healthcare featuring direct payments and appointments that typically last longer than a standard doctor’s office visit.
Snider’s practice — INhouse Primary Care — provides in-home healthcare for the elderly and physically disabled who struggle to get to and from doctor’s appointments and related trips like to the lab, pharmacy and hospital.
Blackmon’s personal healthcare practice circumvents insurance.
“We call it the direct care model, which is becoming more popular among (general practitioners and specialists) throughout the U.S. There are more and more (practices) popping up in the Indianapolis and Carmel areas,” said Blackmon, a nurse practitioner who earned a master’s degree from Frontier Nursing University.
Her office is open only two days a week for now as she continues to work part-time at a Fishers healthcare practice.
The McCordsville woman was motivated to open her own practice specializing in menopause and other women’s health areas after witnessing family members struggle to manage and understand their journeys through menopause.
“I think there’s a lot of hesitancy in providing care to menopausal women, sometimes because there’s a lack of training towards it because it’s so complex. There are a lot of physical symptoms that can be related to other things, and there’s a huge psychophysical component to it,” said Blackmon, who said the condition can create a “perfect storm” for middle-aged women.
“It can be a perfect storm in that it occurs around the age of 51, 52, which is the same time women may have aging parents they’re taking care of. They may also be adjusting to becoming empty-nesters and navigating a new kind of relationship with their partner as a result,” she said. “On top of all of that they have these symptoms which can be all consuming and sometimes last as long as 10 years.”
Blackmon said it takes time to get to know exactly what a patient is experiencing, which is the impetus behind the direct healthcare concept of providing longer, more in-depth appointments.
“It really takes some time to get the full picture of what is happening in a woman’s life so they do feel heard,” said Blackmon. “Women going through menopause are really struggling, and they need someone to help them get their life back.”
Julie Gutzwiller, 55, said she’s been thrilled with the results she’s gotten through Blackmon’s practice so far.
The high school algebra teacher, who leaves on the eastside of Indianapolis, said she’s struggled to find relief for menopause symptoms through her general practitioner.
“I just didn’t feel listened to. I thought there has to be a better way,” said Gutzwiller, who has been happy with the guidance she’s received from Blackmon.
“She’s been super easy to work with and has been very available, and she listens. It was the first time I was told (by a healthcare provider), ‘Yep, you’re right. That’s normal. We can make it better,’” she recalled. “My first visit I was there for over an hour, and she took the time to listen. You know she’s done her research and is looking out for you.”
Blackmon said her pay model allows her to give her patient’s better care with longer office visits.
“By not processing insurance, I can provide the care I want to give and care they want to receive without time constraints on it,” she said.
With high deductible insurance plans becoming more popular across the country, Blackmon said patients are becoming used to paying higher out of pocket expenses for healthcare.
They can also pay from their Health Savings Account at her boutique firm, she said.
Her typical new patient visits last about an hour, with subsequent visits taking 20 to 40 minutes each.
IN-HOME HEALTHCARE
Snider’s practice also focuses on in-depth personal care, delivered right in a patient’s home.
As stated on her website: “INhouse Primary Care brings back the old-fashioned house call to the medical profession by bringing the doctor’s office directly to you.”
Snider oversees a team of four nurse practitioners offering care throughout 20 counties in central Indiana.
Most of their clients are homebound, elderly or disabled patients whose care is covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance.
“These are patients that would likely end up in the hospital if they couldn’t get out to see their doctor or end up in a nursing home or rehab center,” said Snider, a registered nurse with master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing practice.
Snider knows firsthand how challenging it can be for a sick elderly person to get to a doctor’s office or hospital.
She and her husband lost three of their four parents within a four-year period, watching them struggle to attend doctors’ office visits as they aged.
“The only reason they were at home until the last few days of their life was because I was involved. We were unable to get them out to doctors anymore,” she recalled.
Going to doctor’s appointments can be stressful on the elderly, said Snider, and going into the hospital or rehab even more so.
Many of them have trouble walking to the bathroom, she said, “much less walking to the car to drive to the doctor office, then to walk in there and be told they need to go to the lab and then the pharmacy and back home again. It can take them four days to recover from all that.”
Being hospitalized presents its own challenges, she said, like physical decline, financial issues, isolation, depression and the potential for secondary infection.
Treating patients in their own home is not only easier on the patient but can prevent hospitalizations by catching issues early, said Snider.
Thanks to ongoing enhancements in technology, she and her team of nurses are able to do many of the things in a patient’s home that would typically be done in a physician’s office, lab or hospital room.
“We can get labs and X-rays and can order therapy and skilled nursing to come in and help manage them at home,” said Snider. “If the patient has a fall or feels like they’re getting sick we can go out and do an urgent visit and hopefully prevent them from having to go to the ER.”
Snider had been working in a traditional healthcare practice for over a decade when she decided to launch her in-home healthcare practice in 2007. She now runs the business from a gray farmhouse in McCordsville, not far from the family farm her husband runs in rural Greenfield.
“Having a farmer and entrepreneur in the family, we weren’t afraid to make the jump to do something independent,” she said.
To learn more about Snider’s practice, visit inhouseprimarycare.com.
To learn more about Blackmon’s practice, visit empowerherindy.com.
