primarycareassociates
Health care means big business — and a small business for Gitana Cole and Jennifer Smith, nurse practitioners who opened Lexington Primary Care Associates, PLLC in late March. For patients 18 and older, the practice focuses on wellness prevention and health promotion, diagnosis and management of common illnesses and managing chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
“In the state of Kentucky, nurse practitioners can practice independently,” Smith said. “Physicians collaborate with you regarding scheduled medications.”
Cole and Smith earned undergraduate degrees in nursing in the 1990s from Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky, respectively, and master’s degrees from EKU. Each is board-certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.
Starting their own business has been “an eye-opening experience,” according to Cole. “We have so much appreciation for the staff that previously did all these things for us in our other practice.”
Those things include ordering supplies and cleaning, along with handling referrals, medical coding and billing insurance.
“It reminds us that each individual’s commitment is what makes a company work,” Cole said.
Smith added, “You don’t realize how hard everyone else around you works until they’re not there and you’re trying to do their job, too.”
Welcome to owning your own business. But Cole and Smith wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I think it’s exciting,” Smith said. “I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else right now.”
“We really like what we do in primary care and enjoy coming to work to see our patients,” Cole said.
They encourage their patients to call them Gitana and Jennifer, although occasionally they do hear, “Hey, Doc.”
In July 2010, Cole and Smith left Central Kentucky Medical Group, an internal medicine practice at Saint Joseph Office Park, and began working part-time with MESA (Marshall Emergency Services Associates), with that group’s hospitalist service at University of Kentucky-Good Samaritan and other local hospitals. Then they got down to the business of starting their own business, which took about a year and a half. Smith’s mother pointed the budding business owners in the direction of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Smith said. “Shirie was instrumental in making this actually happen.”
Shirie Hawkins, center director of the Bluegrass SBDC, guided the equal partners through the process of creating a business plan and put them in touch with an attorney who worked with small medical offices on legal issues. Cole and Smith are in the process of adding social media to their to-do lists and are working on an interactive website so patients can request appointments and download forms.
“We put a lot of thought into what we wanted to do,” Smith said.
Through months of networking, one or the other would often run into “someone who knows someone.” That’s how they found the space to lease on North Eagle Creek Drive. The building has six exam rooms, where patients are seen Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“If a patient can’t come in on those hours, we work around their schedule,” Smith said.
“We do see walk-ins for acute care such as sore throats, urinary tract infections and bronchitis,” Cole said. “We also schedule appointments for these issues along with well-patient visits and follow-up visits for chronic health problems.” People with life-threatening situations (chest pain, for example) should seek an emergency room evaluation, according to Cole.
The practice is credentialed with all major insurance carriers in Kentucky, as well as Medicare and Medicaid.
“We thought it would be in our best interest to be credentialed with everyone, then see how the reimbursement goes through the year,” Smith said. “As nurse practitioners, we get reimbursed 75 percent to 100 percent of what a physician would be reimbursed.”
Currently Smith and Cole have a part-time receptionist and part-time medical assistant on staff. Eventually they want to employ other nurse practitioners, including one specializing in psychiatric services, and add aesthetics to the practice.
“We want to make it a very welcoming place where you can get your primary care needs met all in one place,” Smith said.
“With the way the health-care field is going, most physicians are going into specialties, not primary care anymore,” Smith said. “Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are hopefully going to step in and fill that void.”
For more information on Lexington Primary Care Associates, visit www.lexprimary care.com.
Kathie Stamps posts grammar tips at www.facebook.com/GrammarTips