August 1, 2011                              Issue #1

Dear Friends,

            I am excited to be embarking on a new phase in my career by starting Paris Family Physicians. I want to thank the doctors and the staff at Bluegrass Medical Clinic, the staff at Bourbon Community Hospital, the staff at Bourbon Heights Nursing Home, and especially my patients for your understanding and support during this transition. There are many reasons why I feel that now is the right time for me to split off from Bluegrass Medical Clinic. One of the most important reasons is to offer my patients unique features that are not offered by most physicians’ offices. I’d like to take this opportunity to summarize those features.

            First of all, I’d like to reassure my loyal patients that I will strive to continue to deliver the high-quality, timely care to which you have grown accustomed. I will continue to offer same-day appointments (if you call early in the day) and promise to try to see you as close to your scheduled appointment time as possible. I will attempt to contract with the same insurance companies that I have in the past, although I do have to “re-apply” as if I were a new doctor and there is a chance that some companies will refuse to offer me a contract if they feel they already have enough family doctors in Paris. But, in general, if you like my style and practice habits and if you choose to follow me to my new practice, I am confident you will find the transition to be extremely easy and familiar. However, there will be some changes (for the positive, I believe)...

            I will have office hours 5 days per week on weekdays (except for occasional vacations). I believe most patients will find me MORE accessible since I worked only 4 days per week at my old practice. I will be writing a free Newsletter every month. In it, I will discuss common health problems and outline useful information for the people of our community. I encourage everyone to sign up by visiting my website, www.parisfamilyphysicians.com, and clicking on the “Newsletter Signup” button or by giving me your email address and permission to sign you up. For those of you without Internet access, we will have printed copies available in the office waiting room. Speaking of my website, you will find some useful information and unique features by exploring the different web pages. Those features include: online bill paying, obtaining old issues of the Newsletter, answers to frequently asked questions, policies and procedures of the new office, contact information, staff bios, and commonly used forms that can be downloaded and filled out in the comfort of your own home.

            Perhaps the most exciting new feature that I will be offering my patients is a “Patient Portal”. The Patient Portal allows my patients to have 24-hour, secure, online access to their medical records and also to view or print lab/x-ray results. The Patient Portal won’t take the place of face-to-face office visits, but will offer us another efficient method of communication. Patients may use the Portal to request medication refills, schedule appointments after hours, send brief/non-emergency emails to me or my staff, and to review critical data (i.e. medication list, demographics, past surgeries, etc) so that you may alert us if there are inaccuracies. If you are interested in learning more about the Patient Portal or if you want to sign up for this voluntary service, please check out the details on my website or talk to me about it. Paris Family Physicians will be the first and only (so far) practice in Paris that offers this exciting, unique feature to our patients.

            Will there be any drawbacks for patients who choose to switch to Paris Family Physicians? We will attempt to make the transition as painless as possible, but the biggest drawback is going to be the transfer of medical record information from Bluegrass Medical Clinic (or your current provider) to Paris Family Physicians. Unfortunately, due to Federal privacy laws, I will not be able to bring any patient information from Bluegrass Medical Clinic with me unless I have specific permission from each patient in writing. I know it’s a nuisance, but it’s the law. For patients who know for certain that they want to follow me to my new practice, I suggest filling out the “Medical Record Release Form” as soon as possible and giving it directly to me. If requests are received before October 1, I will copy the pertinent records and move them to my new office and have your new chart ready to go before we open. Please also fill out a “New Patient Enrollment Form” so that we have the most up-to-date demographics information. These forms may be obtained from me or from the FORMS page on the website. Also, if you are interested in signing up for the Patient Portal service, you may do so on the website, or by printing out and signing the “Patient Portal Authorization Form”. I will have some of those on hand as well.

            In interest of full disclosure, I do want to mention a few other potential drawbacks. I will not be offering Saturday office hours as I did once a month at Bluegrass Medical Clinic. Since I will be the lone provider (at least at first), on those occasions where I do take a vacation, there will be no doctor working in the office in my absence as there usually was at Bluegrass Medical Clinic. I am actively trying to recruit another physician so I hope this inconvenience won’t last long. My vacations will be short and sparse until I recruit a partner.           

           As always I welcome your feedback and questions. I am very excited about Paris Family Physicians and I will continue to strive to offer the best possible medical care and service I can. I hope you will follow me on my new journey.

                                                                                  Sincerely,

                                                                                  Jeffrey J. Green, MD