Swedish Family Medicine - Ballard
Click above for NPR's story of Ballard's Pioneering of PCMH
Clinic Medical Director: Mark Johnson mark.johnson@swedish.org
Location: Located at the Swedish Hospital Campus in downtown Ballard
Population: Ballard has historically been the center of Seattle’s large Scandinavian seafaring community, and the patient population is socio-economically diverse. SFM-Ballard was designed to meet the unique challenges in this community with a large percentage of self-employed, unemployed, or small business owners who cannot afford private insurance but who are also not eligible for Medicaid. SFM-Ballard also serves Ballard's homeless population, which continues to grow year after year. Between 5-10% of SFM-Ballard patients participate in a unique monthly self-pay program, 50% of patients are on Medicaid, and 10% are on Medicare.
Staff: 6 Residents (two per year). 4 core faculty to create a close-knit, consistent precepting team. Medical team: 2 front desk staff, 1 clinic manager, 2 medical assistants, 2 nurses, 1 nurse practitioner, and 2 behavioral health doctoral students. The office space is designed to maximize collaboration in complex patient care and chronic disease management.
Payment Model: Patients enrolled in the self-pay program as well as some insurance companies pay a flat monthly fee for all primary care services offered within the clinic including point-of-care labs, ultrasound, behavioral health, and telephone visits. This payment model allows for an innovative care delivery system focused on improving clinical outcomes rather than increasing patient volumes.
Specialty Clinics: Psychiatry co-visits, free behavioral health counseling provided by graduate psychology interns. High procedure volume integrated into clinic day including colposcopy, arthrocentesis, joint and soft tissue injections, IUD/Nexplanon insertion, skin excision/biopsy/I&D, nail removal, paracentesis, LPs, circumcision, hemorrhoid banding.
Features: In office labs including U/A, lipid panel, blood glucose, HgbA1c, Hct, Urine tox screening. EKG, NST, Ultrasound.
Other Clinic Highlights
Current partnership with the Ballard Food Bank and expanding to include other community partners like local food kitchens, the public library, and a network of providers focusing on homeless patient care in Ballard
Strong training in mental health, substance use disorders
Continued Swedish Pilot Project for Medical Home Model with unique payment model allowing for scheduled phone visits, home visits, active management of chronic disease through registries
Diabetes group visits
60 minutes new patient visits, 30 minute follow-up visits
Small, tight-knit clinic family with frequent opportunities for potlucks, birthday celebrations, and costume coordination
“My most recent afternoon in clinic is a good representation of a typical day at Ballard. I discussed family planning and health maintenance in a co-visit with a husband/wife couple from Serbia. I provided counseling and motivational interviewing to a patient who successfully quit smoking with Chantix. Next, I had a routine visit with my continuity obstetrics patient and reviewed her anatomy ultrasound. The following two visits were routine follow ups for medication management: one with a patient gender transitioning to female and the next for blood pressure control. My last in person clinic visit was an ED follow up for an overdose suicide attempt. Our fantastic behavioral health specialist gave me a warm hand-off prior to my visit with her, which helped me prioritize my visit, assess her suicide risk and develop a safe action plan for her until her next follow up appointment. Lastly, I had a phone visit with one of my patients on Suboxone to check-in on her co-occuring anxiety and depression. I am grateful for the opportunity to train at Ballard and look forward to having more time in clinic as an R3!”
