Latest / LUZ musings / Introducing Luz Medicine, Dr. Danielle Miller, and Kristi

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Introducing Luz Medicine, Dr. Danielle Miller, and Kristi · LUZ musings

• speaker-1: Welcome to Lose Musings, a hyperlocal podcast and YouTube channel by Lou's Medicine that focuses on the people and ideas that make Lancaster County a healthier place to live. We are not focused on perfection, expectation, or fitting into boxes. Instead, we are committed to asking honest questions, thinking together, and learning from one another. As always, no doctor-patient relationship or other professional relationship is formed by listening to Lou's Musings. And it is for educational purposes only. We recommend you contact your personal healthcare team before considering any testing, treatment, or habit change to see if an approach is best for you, as everyone is different. With that said, we're so glad you're here and we do appreciate your time. We trust this episode will shed light on something relevant to you or someone you care about. As always, cheers to you and in best health, the Lose Medicine team. Hello everyone. This is Christy who is here with us today. I am Danielle Miller and we are bringing the very first episode to you, Ecstatic to Do So, of course. Christy, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure. And what brought you to Mose Medicine? Yes. Anything you want to share? speaker-0: Okay. So I I think this story I think is amazing what brought me to lose medicine. I I think it's just great. So I was working in corporate medicine, not happy with how things were going. I didn't feel appreciated. I didn't feel like we were able to do what we needed to do for patients. So I had decided that it was time to leave. So I have been looking around and ⁓ nothing just felt right or fit or just did wasn't for me. So funny enough, I was driving in Efrida. Now I've lived here since twenty ten. And for whatever reason, I never really did a whole lot down this section of Efrida. And I took this road, which was our road in Efrida cloister. And ⁓ I drove by and I was like, wow, I had no idea that this medical practice was there. And I saw it and I was like, ⁓ my gosh, that is awesome. And I thought to myself, I want to work there. Cause it was close to home. And I looked it up online and It just all worked out. You posted for a position and I had recently done down that road and said, That's so awesome and I wanna work there. speaker-1: Antada. That is so fun. I'm not sure I ever heard that story quite like that. speaker-0: Yeah, but that that is exactly what happened. And then here we are today. Yeah. speaker-1: The rest of the street. So the medical practice we opened in fall of twenty twenty. It was October first, twenty twenty. ⁓ my previous role ended the day before, the last day of September. We opened Louise the next day. we had some part-time help at the office. I had two incredible women, friends of mine, ⁓ both in different areas of medical field helping for a minute, ⁓ both doing a lot of as when the practice is young, everyone wears a lot of hacks. Correct. As you know. and so my one friend had been a medical assistant for a long time and was looking to do some part-time work. So that was outstanding. We had her maybe three to twelve hours depending on the week. I had another friend also helping three to six, ten hours a week. ⁓ the other ⁓ friend was a birth dual and so looking for more healthcare experience, working with patients, being in that rhythm. And We have part-time help from October of twenty twenty until about the following year, the one year mark, we needed more full time help. ⁓ and we had a full time medical assistant for a couple months, then decided the role was not for her because in many ways, as we often say, lose is just like normal family practice, outpatient medicine, but it's also not so when you interviewed, it was right around holidays, that would be December twenty twenty. I think you joined January twenty one. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ Correct. That sounds about right. Yeah. speaker-1: So if January twenty one now you're at Born at five and half years? Four and a half speaker-0: Yeah. Four and a half years. So maybe it was maybe it was twenty one and then yes. Yeah. And then twenty two. Yeah. Correct. speaker-1: Correct. Four and a half years. Yeah. Okay. I'm glad I speaker-0: Going on five, even though it seems like more than that. ⁓ speaker-1: Good way. Yeah. But you were our first full time employee at least five days a week every hour that we were open. Right. ⁓ watched the practice be just me and you for a long while. And then we added ⁓ a couple clinicians since then. Do you wanna kinda talk us through that history? speaker-0: Right. Yeah, so obviously we were growing. It became too much for ⁓ you know, your patient panel was growing. Things were busy obviously as a whole. ⁓ so then you brought on ⁓ Amber Leed. Yeah. ⁓ who is an amazing nurse practitioner ⁓ to help with the growing patient panel. Mm-hmm. So I think that was amazing too. And I I feel like, you know, obviously we've been just growing from there. ⁓ now we have three nurse practitioners. Mm-hmm. ⁓ and we have three other MAs. Yeah. Yeah. So and two locations. speaker-1: That's right. A few things have happened in the last four and a half years as you come along. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. Good growth. It's it's been nice to be a part of the growth and and all the stuff and helping it grow and seeing it bloom to, you know what it is today. Absolutely. speaker-1: Yeah, so it's really exciting. I would say for the most part our team has been very stable and simply increased in size. ⁓ if if it's not the right fit for someone, of course, no harm, no foul. We want everyone happy in their healthcare roles, wherever that is. ⁓ but most lose teammates have stayed and Christy's just seen us go through so much growth since the beginning, which has been a lot of fun. Has this episode gotten you thinking about an aspect of your own health or the health of someone you love? Are you interested in learning more about the approach at LUES Medicine and how we help our patients? LOOES is a medical office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with locations both in Manheim Township and Effreda. Patients choose where they want to join for their medical care at LOES. Our office has two main focuses as well in how we provide care. The first is primary care for men, women, and children in all ages and stages of life. And the second is we offer additional hormone health services for those who are interested. Whether patients come to LOES for their primary care or specific hormone focus, the tie that binds is the same. We listen to our patients and provide exceptional medical care. Our holistic approach puts you at the center of your journey, where we are here to support you and your best health. To join our practice, check out lose medicine luzmedicine dot com where you can learn more about our practice and sign up directly online. We would love to meet you and have you be our next patient. ⁓ can you talk for a minute what kinds of patients might be interested in joining Luz? 'Cause you know have interacted with so many people from before joining through their healthcare experience. speaker-0: And then now getting to know them for years. Yeah. Which is exactly amazing. Yeah. ⁓ I think just comparing you know, patients that go to corporate medicine as opposed to patients that would come to lose medicine since we're a direct primary care practice. our patients, I think, value. the ⁓ hands on sort of ⁓ aspect that we're able to give and we're able to give it to them. they want that experience of the forty five minute visits, the ability to call the office and actually talk to a human on the phone, because we answer the phone. ⁓ speaker-1: Remarkable. Everyone knows is that we're interactive with the medical office. So speaker-0: They're just looking for what they feel like that they deserve and they do, quite frankly, and not many people are getting it. we do also see a lot of patients that may maybe have had really bad experiences in typical healthcare settings. So there's that medical trauma, anxiety, just stuff like that. So they come to us seeking extra support. ⁓ the ability to take the time with them, to listen to them, to understand who they are and what their specific needs are. ⁓ and it's great to be able to give those patients what they need. Yeah. Extra time, you know, just whatever it is. So that's one specific type of patient, ⁓ which even if they if they don't have some sort of negative experience, they just ⁓ patients just want a better healthcare experience. Yeah. And plain and simple. Yeah. ⁓ and a lot of our patients too are ⁓ employer patients, you know, so we do have the ability to take on employer ⁓ contracts and see those employees for their healthcare needs, which is which is great. That's a great thing we're able to offer as well. speaker-1: Yeah, I I would agree. ⁓ patients might come to us privately, meaning from the community, paying us directly, or they might come through an employer ⁓ because their organization has decided to offer this something. And I would agree, whether or not they've sort of been bumped along the way with negative healthcare experience or not, they do come to lose you're right. They do come to lose speaker-0: Right. Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ appreciative. Yes. Right. Absolutely appreciative. I think they may have interacted with the healthcare system a lot. They're looking for something new or they've just lived long enough to have a family member or themselves go through anything to know that what we're offering is different. speaker-0: Correct. Yeah. Yeah. As you said, there's a lot of ⁓ word of mouth, a lot of referrals. You know, once somebody is in ⁓ this kind of practice, lose medicine or whatnot, and they experience that difference, they definitely tell their friends and family and and stuff that it is available to them. So speaker-1: Which is one hundred percent the highest compliment we can get. You know, when someone tells a loved one, a family member, a friend, a coworker about what's happening in our office and why it's special and different. That means the most it could possibly mean to us, you know, to hear that from someone else. So we're always really grateful for that. ⁓ and that is oftentimes exactly how we've grown. Yes, is by people telling the people in their lives. speaker-0: Yeah, a lot of word of mouth and yeah and stuff in the community, which is nice. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ and you mentioned direct primary care. Should we talk briefly about what that is? Some people in Leicester County know and some people don't know. what what do you have to say about that? speaker-0: So direct primary care is sort of a model. we don't utilize insurance specifically for things that we do in our office for the care we provide, ⁓ whether it be with a provider, nursing services, et cetera. So ⁓ it is sort of like a membership, we call it. I sort of call it like a monthly code pay too. ⁓ just like any ⁓ membership. a gym, your cell phone bill, et cetera. You know what you get for that monthly fee. You can have your same in-person office visits, video visits, telephone visits, any ⁓ point of care testing that we do in the office is covered. ⁓ anytime you see ⁓ the provider or you have your lab drawn or anything like that, those visits in-house are covered. ⁓ We do utilize commercial insurance if you have it for things done outside of the office. So you can use that to pay for your labs or an x-ray or anything like that if you so choose. We also have the ability to offer very low cost labs ⁓ through our client billing options and even low cost cash pay imaging and stuff like that in the community. So there are a lot of options ⁓ available when you are a direct primary care practice. we are not overseen by insurance companies, which is a big deal. So they aren't ruling sort of what we can and can't do and how we can do it, ⁓ which is really nice. We can get a lot done when you remove that aspect from healthcare, actually. speaker-1: Yeah, right. So instead of the relationship being between the patient and their insurance, ⁓ which then negotiate with the office, the relationship is between the patient and lose medicine. Right. ⁓ without all the runaround and red tape and sort of hoopla between And you know, that was a decision I made years ago when I opened the practice. It was actually a very difficult decision for a long time. I sort of wrestled with it. ⁓ I had a friend doing a similar speaker-0: Yes, the patient. Right, exactly. speaker-1: Practice model to ours in her home state of Virginia. And she was the only friend I spoke to when I was doing my own corporate job hunting, emotional, spiritual journey, career journey of I think I need to leave corporate medicine. What do I do now? The only friend I knew in medicine who was happy with their career as a physician was someone with a direct primary care practice. So when I called her and she told me that, I thought, I don't want to do that, I'm not gonna do that. ⁓ and then I started looking at the numbers. If I join a practice that takes insurance or open a practice that takes insurance, I have to continue to see 18 to 26 patients a day in order to keep the lights on. And after being in medicine almost a decade or over a decade at that point, if it was somewhere around there, I knew that I just couldn't continue to see patients at that pace because if their spouse died, if their family member got cancer. If they had their own illness, diagnosis, stressor happening, I could not get through the pace of seeing somebody every five to ten minutes and doing all the things. It's so boring. So then after talking to dozens of colleagues in the medical field, physician friends of mine, circling back, I think it was something like six, nine, twelve months later to that first friend. She's a very close friend. Thank you, Jill, for being an excellent physician. ⁓ And saying, okay, what is it that you're doing? What is this direct primary care thing? And just kind of talking about it and learning this is a way where I don't have to charge hundreds of dollars per each visit when I see someone. ⁓ and this is a way of we can do all these creative things with lab billing doesn't have to be so costly, x rays don't have to be so costly. There are actually some real benefits to this. Yeah. ⁓ speaker-0: And you're right when you say that. When I first came into the practice direct primary care, I've worked with a private, you know, way in the past. Okay. So this direct primary care is probably similar but different. I was blown away at the amount of things you could get done when you removed insurance and all that red tape. And it's actually so much cheaper. speaker-1: Right. Are you a healthcare professional looking for a brick and mortar space to further support your own impact with your ideal patient in this community? Do you resonate with Lose Medicine's holistic and whole person approach to healthcare? If so, you may be a good match for our community partnership opportunity with like-minded practitioners looking to share space for their own work. At Lose Medicine's Manheim Township location, just north of Route 30, we have several spaces available for rent as we grow into this newly renovated large office space. Contact us at losmedicineluzmedicine.com to learn more, and we'd love to explore to find out if we are a good match for one another. We hope to meet you soon. So should we talk some examples of what might be cheaper with the labs, maybe for example? speaker-0: Yeah. 'Cause that was that's yeah crazy. Right. speaker-1: Right. So pricing for we can do a couple of individual tests or maybe if you go to basic physical, what might be covered and how much it might cost with insurance, full price at the hospital without insurance versus ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah. So if you utilize your insurance, first of all, your insurance company is negotiating pricing with that hospital system or that corporate healthcare system. ⁓ so they're negotiating the prices, ⁓ which are gonna be hundreds of dollars. Now, when we are negotiating prices or when we have a client account with ⁓ a lab that does not include insurance companies. ⁓ we can get those same labs for the average of about three dollars as opposed to hundreds for the same exact time. I mean, that is wild to me, but amazing at the same time. So we do have a lot of patients that even with commercial insurance choose to pay client billing. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: and cash prices because A, they're not gonna meet their deductibles, so they're gonna end up paying hundreds of dollars anyway. Right. or even if they do, they have a copay, they still gonna have a copay that is still than what our cash pay pricing is. Exactly. So most people, like I said, even with insurance, just pay cash. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean it's it was mind blowing. It's it has been it has been mind blowing to us in the medical field, right? And I would say to most of our patients. for price comparison, I know one patient over the years has had to pay $125 for TSH and that price at our office has got ⁓ one of our more expensive tests, progesterone, is six I believe six dollars. And I had another patient paying a hundred and fifty dollars for that test. speaker-0: Yes. Like three dollars. speaker-1: Interestingly enough, the patient was paying $150 for a progesterone, worked at a health ⁓ system and had insurance through that health system, and that was the low price that the patient had paid the health system, $150 with insurance. And our cost was six without insurance just by paying the actual tax cost of the test. Those four tests Christ did ⁓ are. speaker-0: It's under I would say under twenty dollars, between fifteen and twenty, and then that's on the higher end. speaker-1: Each of those tests are super pricey test in our office, vitamin D, I think that is sixteen dollars. Yeah, that range. but I have had patients tell me that they've paid hundreds for a single vitamin. Right. ⁓ so you know, when we're looking at these simple things around labs, it is honestly wild. That's another thing employers can really benefit when we have ⁓ an organization. speaker-0: Close eighteen maybe. Yeah. Right. speaker-1: say, hey, we'd like to offer lose medicine to our teammates, our employees, our associates. and they love it when we're able to cover lab work because they're just spending thousands of dollars on these simple lab tests that we can be spending single dollar for tests. Yeah. Which is really, really exciting for them to be able to save money for their teens as well. ⁓ so that's a fun thing. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, very fun. It's it's very interesting how that works. speaker-1: works. I had a patient a couple of years ago was at the practice, ⁓ then employer change wasn't at the practice, then another change came back. That patient ⁓ had been charged fifty dollars for a urine dip. So you mentioned point of care testing, but I do want to highlight that. So the patient had a UTI came back to LOE's and was afraid to give us a urine specimen for fear of having to pay fifteen dollars for the dip. Right. So at LOE's just remind us how much is a urine dip done in the office? speaker-0: Zero dollars. speaker-1: ⁓ and what other point of care testing? Can you list the things that are done in the office that are counted with your membership? Yep. speaker-0: Anything that we can do in the office that is resulted in the office is considered point of care testing. So your urine dips, your ⁓ strep swabs, your flu COVID swabs, urine pregnancy tests, stuff like that that are easy and resultable in the office are are considered point of care. speaker-1: So ⁓ with the money is a K G D. speaker-0: Yep, we have those. So we util we have an EKG machine. So we can do that quick in the in the office too. So that's covered. speaker-1: I've had patients tell me two to five hundred dollars for that test alone. speaker-0: Right. So that is covered as well. What we can do in the office like that is covered, which is awesome. speaker-1: Anything that's Yes, we are happy and proud to be able to give that benefit to our patients. and maybe we should talk a little bit then we've talked about labs outside of the office send out, for example, blood ⁓ labs and then in office labs. What about things like patients, do they have to come in for every little thing? That comes up quite a bit. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ no, obviously you need to be seen in the ⁓ office for obvious reasons. No, your physicals and OBGYN, like your pap smears and stuff like that, we also do in the office. so there's obviously reasons, you know, that you have to come into the office. However, we do have the great ⁓ ability to do ⁓ telephone visits, video visits, and our phone number is textable. Which is amazing. So we especially in this day and age, we ⁓ have a lot of people that text us throughout the day with questions or you know that may not necessarily need an office visit, but have questions like, you know, my son has a rash. ⁓ And they explain the rash and they're able to actually send us pictures of the rash. ⁓ yeah, so we can sort of view it without having them in the office. And a lot of the times, you know, things like that can be ⁓ taken care of via text message or a video visit without the need to actually come into the office, which is nice. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Just love it. speaker-1: Yes. And I I think we enjoy being able to help the patient. Right. ⁓ it's not always convenient to stop what you're doing and haul you or your kid to a medical office at the time it works best for that medical office. So if we can take care of a rash over the phone, ⁓ a pink eye over the phone, a cough or a cold over the phone, ⁓ also a lot of patients can do a COVID test at home at home. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: ⁓ these things are just so convenient and we can guide them. If they have a positive test, we're able to help them and to know what to do. Right. ⁓ so I think that's been really fun both for patients and for us to be able to help the patient quickly. speaker-0: Yeah, it it is it is convenient and ⁓ the patients love the ability of that convenience without having to, like you said, gather up the children or you know, which some families have more than one and maybe it's not convenient to gather the all of them up to come to the office just for that you know, that rash. So the convenience of the ability to be able to do it that way is is is great. speaker-1: Yeah, so sending messages and photographs. Yes. Amazing. Through your cell phone to our medical office when you're an established station, not when you're not in a stall. ⁓ but yeah, we we know you, we know who we're working with, and we're able to take care of you in real time, which is awesome. so we talked a little bit about maybe some conveniences around lab testing, cost, in-house testing and ⁓ all that. We talked about the access, ⁓ On call maybe is something important too. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah, it it is. And ⁓ a lot of the times you you know, when patients need an all call on call person, ⁓ typically they're sent to ⁓ an on-call service, like a ⁓ you know, urgent service after hours service. That's not how we do it here. We have a one of the providers that actually work in the practice on call after hours all the time. So you're you never get an on-call service. It's always a provider that is gonna be on the other end when you when you need them after hours. Yeah. ⁓ which is great. speaker-1: And I think those of us who've lived in Lancaster for a few years, a good many years from the area, that is how it used to always be with all the family practices at the primary care offices, but it's increasingly rare to see that. ⁓ and so we're proud to be able to offer that service. ⁓ and I think patients or the community, they sometimes ask us, ⁓ you know, Dr. Miller, are you always getting called? And and honestly, our patients are amazing. They understand that we're all people. ⁓ we do sleep at night, so at our office if you're calling us in the middle of the night, ⁓ you may leave us the update, but we are asleep. So, you know, after we're asleep, we're not answering the phone. And if you have a concern that it's serious, you should be calling nine one one or having someone take you to the ER. Right. ⁓ and our patients understand that too. ⁓ but they reach out to us by calling and texting when it's medically appropriate. ⁓ and sometimes they'll say, I'm thinking of this now, but I know you won't reply until you reopen tomorrow morning or Monday morning and that's fine too. You know that speaker-0: I just need to text you now so I speaker-1: Don't forget. Exactly. And we appreciate that too. I mean, there's a lot of the again, the patient removing a chair is really is just removing the run around. The patient and us are connecting directly, which is really really gratifying, both of us, really beautiful. And just again, it's about relationship and it's about providing that medical care and service and not we're not at odds with one another. ⁓ nobody's begging anyone. ⁓ it's really just connecting and doing the the right work that needs to be done. ⁓ So fun. ⁓ other broad strokes we can paint about lose generally or maybe your role at lose. Would you like to talk a little bit more about that? Sure. So speaker-0: So as you said, I first initially came on as the first ⁓ full time medical assistant. And then with growth, ⁓ you know, I've continued to do the medical assistant sort of clinical roles. ⁓ but as we've grown and me having the ability initially to wear many hats because you do that. ⁓ speaker-1: Any small business of speaker-0: ⁓ so now with the growth, I sort of oversee ⁓ the medical assistance we have in the office. I ⁓ sort of help Dr. Miller here just keep the business going and and things ⁓ that need to be taken care of. You know, you need to get taken care of as a team. I missing anything, I think that's about right. speaker-1: think that's true. Yeah. So Christy is still a medical assistant doing that work. Right. And still supervising her teammates on the medical assisting side. ⁓ I'm overseeing them and her as well. But she's having a lot of direct contact with them. And also I agree lots of business related activities and interacting a lot with professionals and businesses that we collaborate with. ⁓ which is awesome. Being able to wear mini hats is good for everyone, I think. speaker-0: Yeah. I actually like wearing a lot of hats. speaker-1: Yeah, you I mean family medicine is that way. You can never predict exactly what you're pricing for the day. And I think small business and you know entrepreneurship is that way. There's always diversity in the day. It's always something new. what else can we share about? we talked a little bit about patients might be looking for s a different healthcare experience coming to lose. we have two no locations now. Can we talk a little bit about, you know, Where patients might be coming from, maybe where our offices are are located. speaker-0: So the flagship office obviously is located in Africa. ⁓ that's been open since October of twenty twenty. And then as of beginning of August of twenty twenty six, we now have the second location that is in Manhattan Township on Oregon Pike. ⁓ so very convenient, right off the highways, but you know, out of all the the crazy mess of the highway. So industry which is a speaker-1: That's true. speaker-0: Very easily accessible from all areas. Actually, because you're so close to the highway. ⁓ so we have many patients. our location in Afrida, of course, ⁓ has seen patients from all over the place because it was the only location. So we have patients from Berks County, ⁓ Lebanon County, go into Afrida, and now with our Mannheim Township location. Now we're seeing more like Lancaster locations, southern Lancaster and all that going to this location. ⁓ but yeah. So I think it's great. We have more resources, you know, the ability to see more patients now that we have the two locations, we're easily accessible, I believe, in both spots to really generally anyone ⁓ in the in the surrounding counties. So speaker-1: Yep. Yeah, I was surprised a little bit at the Ephra location we have been pulling from the whole county. Yeah. And I wasn't expecting the other counties because sometimes Lancaster can be a little bit of an island, but I completely agree, Burks and Lebanon as well. ⁓ that first office is located by the Ephrada Cloister, so we're by Oregon Road as they call it up that way, two seven two. Yeah. And Main Street Effreda. Yeah. ⁓ not too far from seventy six ⁓ and two twenty two as well. And then this location, just as Chrissy said, ⁓ Oregon Pike, just north of Route 30 in Leicester City. Right. So we are kind of near all the things. Also near another two twenty-two exit, the Oregon Pike exit. Yeah. and so yeah, now we're still pulling from the whole county, but maybe a little heavier into some of those mid and southern current. speaker-0: Yeah, 'cause it's this area's a bit closer for them if you know. But yeah, all surrounding counties which is amazing. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. When I think of patients who come to lose, besides those who are maybe medically hesitant, anxious, or burned, I also think about busy people. So I think just we talked about the conveniences of being able to access the team. We can book our patients can book visits with us same day, next day, on their telephone, day or night, through the app that we use for charting. ⁓ I think of busy people too. So professional. Correct. ⁓ busy moms or parents, we have a lot of teachers, you know, yeah people in all different industries who are just enjoying the convenience of scheduling a visit at their fingertips, hopping on with us. ⁓ we still do a lot of remote care. Sometimes that's a challenge with insurance too, 'cause doctors are not paid as much. speaker-0: Yes. Funny that you say that I was recently at a at a ⁓ doctor's appointment myself. Yeah. And I had asked about scheduling a video visit for my follow up. However, that is no longer allowed. Because I've been sharing so that yeah. That is not they're not doing any more video visits because of that. I thought it was interesting. Yeah. Sorry. speaker-1: Probably because they first. Five, audible five. speaker-0: Yeah, it's definitely happening nowadays. We're so far out from COVID now. Now they're starting to end the video abilities. speaker-1: Yes. This is also a surprise. ⁓ not surprised, but but still frustrated. Yeah. ⁓ and knowing that we're doing the right thing to lose because we are doing what is best for the patient. So if it's medically necessary to be in the office, be on video, be on the telephone, of course. ⁓ if we can manage something with photographs and a brief exchange speaker-0: Crap. speaker-1: It is not medically necessary to have the patient in, but insurance is not always paying for what's medically necessary. They're paying for what's best for insurance. so yeah, we're doing what's best for patients that lose medicine. ⁓ this should not be exciting news, but it is exciting news that we are simply doing what's best for the patient. ⁓ so yeah, that is definitely important to highlight. Yes. Yeah. So patients that are maybe looking for a different level of care, maybe busy people. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: Maybe people that don't want to drive to their in person appointment for every little thing to go heads and land. If you are a business owner, leader, or HR teammate at your organization, we should talk. Lose Medicine partners with several businesses of all sizes to serve your employees in health. For a reasonable monthly fee per patient, your teammates have access to the full array of services at Lose Medicine where we provide primary care, urgent care, and low cost ancillary services such as lab testing. Small businesses, mid-sized businesses, self funded businesses, and those offering commercial insurance are all benefiting from offering direct primary care to their employees in Langster and beyond. Direct primary care as a benefit helps create stickiness with your employees, keeps them healthy with less time out sick, and may help you save money for your organization. If you've been trying to figure out how to improve benefits for your team, offer something in the healthcare space, or show your teammates you truly care for their well being, Direct primary care may be the solution. Contact us today to learn more. Go to losemedicine.com, that's luzmedicine dot com and reach out to us directly. We look forward to hearing about the details of your organization and knowing how we can serve you and your team best in their health. Should we talk a little bit about hormone and women's speaker-0: Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's another thing too that I was so amazed with when I came here to work. I couldn't believe, first of all, how much there was still to like figure out and learn. I love learning. So we speaker-1: What can you talk about? That is on on the doctor part. speaker-0: Yeah. So that was so amazing. The the things that can still be done that people just don't talk about or didn't really talk about a whole lot, I think, in corporate land. ⁓ anyway, yeah, so we do specific hormone related work at Louise Medicine. ⁓ anything from sort of a regular periods. PCOS, ⁓ women experiencing like endometriosis, infertility as well. ⁓ and what I thought was amazing was all of these women will have this very thorough root cause workout with their hormones, which at loose which I've never seen before. That was what was so exciting. speaker-1: And then speaker-0: Wow, why why isn't this done elsewhere? Yeah. That's what I that was my first thought. Like this seems so like obvious. So yeah, that blew me away. I mean, there's just still so much to learn, like I said, but those aspects of the women's care that we do there with those hormones, ⁓ I think what is like absolutely amazing. So it's exciting. Yes. Yes, really excited. speaker-1: That's I'm excited that she's excited. speaker-0: I and I forgot too. ⁓ we do a lot of ⁓ hormone work with like perimetopause and Spause patients too, which I think is important. Yeah. speaker-1: Absolutely named lots of the categories, a little bit of malinfertility work as well. Missing cycles is also a thing. ⁓ hypothalamic amenorrhea and other missing cycles. ⁓ yes, I think we've covered the gamut between all the different areas. ⁓ yeah, and I think our our goal at Lose Medicine is to really challenge or raise the status quo of what is possible for both women's health. Hormone health and family medicine. Again, the fact that we're meeting patients where they're at, we're easily and simply treating them when we're able to do so. We're meeting with them in person when we need to. We're we're doing what's medically appropriate and we're not ⁓ doing what a third party says we should do just because. So again, doing this comprehensive root cause analysis, doing a pelvic ultrasound when someone has a pelvic issue, doing related hormones from that system, other hormone systems, metabolic lab markers. ⁓ this is really basic medicine. I tell patients and the public and professionals all the time. One of my party lines is ⁓ if someone has chest pain, yes, of course we need to make sure this is not a heart attack. ⁓ but we don't rule out the heart attack and then say, You have chest pain. Right. That's never happened. We I maybe that happens a little bit in the ER if they just move on out. But typically we are looking and saying, Do you have pneumonia? Do you have reflux? Do you have pericarditis? Do you have costochondritis? You know, all these different conditions that can cause chest pain. ⁓ do you have a broken rib, right? So, you know, chest pain isn't just chest pain. And so too are hormone issues. They're not just hormone issues. They have something happening. So I think ⁓ we are taught as doctors how to assess chest pain and find a reason, and that's how hormone health is too. So it's not rocket science, just thinking the way doctors think and and doing the thing. Yeah. ⁓ That's fun. That's exciting. ⁓ so yes, some patients are seeing us specifically for those issues. speaker-0: Right, correct. Yeah, you don't have to see us specifically for family medicine. So you could see us for family medicine, which we love, but we also see women ⁓ for those hormone issues as well. speaker-1: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So we've got employer patients, patients in the general public, ⁓ some for family many most for family medicine, and then a good number also ⁓ for those special hormone cases. maybe to end our first discussion here, I would love to do a little bit of a lightning round. speaker-0: As well. Yeah. ⁓ boy. speaker-1: I have some questions in mind. Okay. speaker-0: I'm frightened. speaker-1: ⁓ Christy, which part of the country are you from? speaker-0: Ooh, I am from New England. So I was born in Boston and raised just outside of Boston for most of my life. speaker-1: More specifically. Okay, that's exciting. Yes. I am also from Boston, Massachusetts. ⁓ Christy, how many children do you have? speaker-0: Ha ha ha ha. I have three actually. I have two girls and a boy. Sure. My oldest daughter will be ⁓ thirty in October. my middle daughter just turned twenty one and my son is nineteen. speaker-1: Do you want to share a link? So fun. So fun. I also have three children. But they are eight, eleven, and soon to be thirteen. Christy Do you have any pets? speaker-0: I do not. I know. Although I do kitties. speaker-1: I think you're the cat person. I am a dog person that has two cats in my home rate. So funny. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Christy, talk to us about the beautiful portrait you're hunting. ⁓ speaker-0: I thought you'd never ask. ⁓ as you can see here, we have this lovely mountain scene. ⁓ anyway, I painted that. That's what I do in my free time. Free time. ⁓ is I do painting. So we had this really not cute electrical unit. So we needed to put something cute ⁓ over it. So look pretty. ⁓ so this is my little mountain little scenery that I've made, and ⁓ I think it's cute. speaker-1: Yeah. We're very grateful. We decided to put the pop studio in this corner of the couch of office for Liz Medicine. And then I'm doing walkthroughs to ever finishing up construction. Very exciting. And pretty much done with the construction at this point, right? Walls are painted and I walk through the space and say, no! There is an electric box the size of said beautiful painting immediately. And I thought you can't move an electrical box. speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: And also it was too late because everything was done. Yeah. So ⁓ Christy has she volunteered to paint this absolutely beautiful mountain landscape with clouds and some greenery ⁓ to cover the electric box. Yes. And you're forever grateful. Thank you. speaker-0: Thank you. It does look so much better. speaker-1: So you're an artist, Kristen? speaker-0: I yes, I am a creative artist. So yeah, I love to paint ⁓ like canvases, ⁓ watercolors, and just crafty stuff too. So yeah, that's what I do in my free time. speaker-1: I'm not an artist, but I do love to make sourdough anything. Sweet savory. speaker-0: Yes. We have like art. speaker-1: It it is it's like science follow the direction of art. speaker-0: I can't do that. I mean I don't know. speaker-1: ⁓ so yes, we we don't buy bread, we make bread and it's actually really easy once you figure it out. speaker-0: You're fine. I just yeah. ⁓ speaker-1: Also, if someone figures out that paint, then it's not hard, right? It takes time, but yeah. Once you figure out Saturn, it's just a matter of putting things together and then waiting. That's actually what you need. speaker-0: Sure. Yeah, that's sort of like painting. Like I've had this thing done for quite a bit. Well, done ish. Yeah. But it wasn't quite done in my book. Like I guess as an artist or somebody that paints and creates things. Like you have to you you have to know when it's done. It just feels done when it's done. I yeah. I can't really explain it, but speaker-1: My sourdough sometimes tells me it's done by over fermenting, overproofing outside the bowl. And then I know it's done understand. It's actually quite forgiving. You can I have noticed I've cooked everything even if I've ruined it. You can still kinda cook it. It it's not exactly the same. speaker-0: Whoops. Yeah, I I just kill the starter that you've given me. That's as far as I've gotten. speaker-1: first starter I ever got was communication. If you're listening, thank you so much. I did kill that one. It was so scary. It was so so scary. I just but it helped me to not be afraid by first receiving this beautiful gift that I wanted to make good use of. but I yes, I Sagaro is a gift, it does keep on giving, but it's okay to kill a few starters along the way. I think most people kill. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, I I have. Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ so we wanted to give you an overview, what is Lose Medicine, who is coming to Lose Medicine, what does Lose Medicine do? Who is Christy Miller? ⁓ a little bit of our little corner studio, pod studio, what all is happening here. Kind of the A Z, the base broad strip, broad strip, yep, the creative degree. That's right. speaker-0: That's Mm-hmm. speaker-1: I appreciate your time so much. Thank guys for joining us. And we are so glad you're here from Daniel Miller and Thank you for being with us. Have a great day. Appreciate it. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. We are grateful for you and hope this episode got you thinking. It's important to remember that the content provided in Lou's Musings is not considered medical advice and no doctor patient relationship is ever formed by listening. speaker-0: Yeah. I'm Chris Harry. speaker-1: Additionally, the ideas and opinions represented on the show and by its guests are not endorsed by Louise Medicine exclusively, and we welcome thinkers of all kinds to engage with us and our audience so that we can all learn together. Once more, thank you for joining Lou's Musings. Feel free to share this episode with a friend, and until next time, we are wishing you the best in health, always.