Changes Coming to Glasgow Clinic

There are some big changes coming to the Glasgow Clinic in the New Year. Starting Jan. 1, Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Hi-Line General Surgery will merge with the Glasgow Clinic.

The new Glasgow Clinic will be composed of two divisions, Primary Care and Specialty Care. Primary care will house family medicine and internal medicine, while specialty care will house general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology and orthopedic surgery. The merger is expected to have minimal impact on patients and will allow FMDH to better leverage payment programs from Medicare and Medicaid.

At this time, the physical location for the obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedic and general surgery clinics will not change, but future plans are to relocate all specialty care services into one location that will be accessed separately from primary care services, and will be much closer to what is now the Glasgow Clinic.

The merger of all departments will not impact the way care is delivered to patients by the specialty care departments. All clinics have been and will continue to be owned and operated by FMDH or its subsidiary, Hi-Line Medical Services. The merger will only change the name of the clinics, the primary phone number and the manner in which charges appear on the explanation of benefits issued to patients by their insurance company.

However, since the name of the specialty care clinic will change, patient’s statements will now have Glasgow Clinic printed on them when seeing a physician or non-physician in specialty care. The statement will also show the date of service and the name of the physician or non-physician provider. By next fall, all services from FMDH will be billed on one statement.

Medicare patients will notice a change in their Medicare part B co-pay as FMDH anticipates the new clinic alignment will trigger the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to increase the Medicare per visit payment rate. If a Medicare patient has supplemental insurance whose benefits cover the 20 percent Medicare outpatient coinsurance, they will only see the change on their explanation of benefits.

FMDH recognizes that a patient’s financial health is an important part of their overall health and understands that an increase in a patient’s coinsurance can be a cause of significant concern. FMDH has programs in place to assist patients with meeting the financial demands of health care, including a person who is dedicated to assisting patients with navigating these demands. If you or a family member have concerns, please contact Terry Jung at 228-3633.

Beginning Jan. 1, patients will be able to make an appointment with the Glasgow Clinic physician or non-physician provider by dialing 228-3400. The phone system will route you to the appropriate scheduler based on your needs.

FMDH is excited for this change and will continue their commitment to be the best place to receive care in rural America.

If there are further questions or concerns regarding these changes, call 228-3400.