Impact Family Wellness is a local family health clinic with a unique
twist to healthcare
Offering Primary care, routine checkups for all ages, urgent care, in-office procedures, and health and wellness consults at a low affordable cost.
The team at Impact Family Wellness (IFW) is dedicated to providing personalized and affordable medical care to a variety of clients including business professionals, small business employers, families and individual members of Cedar Park & Austin through the incredible benefits of Direct Primary Care (DPC).
In most situations, members routinely go 12 months (or more) without incurring a single deductible or copay saving them thousands of dollars every year in overall healthcare costs.
What is Direct Primary Care you ask?
First, Imagine Unlimited Visits, Direct Access to the team of Licensed Medical Professionals and Full Transparency of Your Medical Costs.
In our November Podcast, We reached out to Monica McKitterick (FNP), Family Nurse Practitioner, (APRN) Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, and Owner of Impact Family Wellness to learn more about this affordable alternative to health care. Click on this link to listen to our podcast.
Deborah from WilcoWellness –
Thank you, Monica for joining us at WilcoWellness today.
It is important for people to know the high quality of care and licensing credentials you and your fellow practicing colleagues have attained.
Nursing has transitioned into an advanced medical care medium. The American Nurses Association (ANA) functions as the primary Governing and review board for all nurses and their licensures.
They are responsible for setting all the licensure standards that a nurse must adhere to according to their credentials. These standards are covered in the Professional Role Competence Position Statement which includes; the code of ethics – interpretive statements for each specialization and the Nursing scope of and standards of Practice. The guidelines clearly define all the skills and training needed in order to perform each level of care for each specialty.
My mom was an LVN and would be so proud of where her fellow peers have transitioned to. Can you give me a little more information about you and your colleagues? Why you choose nursing and what that means to you and how that transitioned into Impact Family Wellness?
Monica McKitterick FNP, APRN-
Hi, Deborah, thank you so much for having me on here today.
That’s a really great question that a lot of people don’t know. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and have been for a little over 13 years now. I have experience in not only family practice, but also orthopedics and urgent care.
As a Nurse Practitioner, we are required to have a Master’s degree in nursing, and we can transition into a doctorate degree in nursing.
An Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) degree in nursing allows us to diagnose, prescribe, evaluate, refer, and do basically everything that an M.D. or a D.O. could do.
Each state is a little different in terms of what nurse practitioners can do or can’t do. My first 10 years of practice, I lived in full practice authority states, which meant that I could diagnose, prescribe, evaluate, refer and treat without having to have a physician over me.
The state of Texas does not allow that. They require that we have a collaborating physician. In accordance with Texas law, Impact Family Wellness has a consulting physician on contract with our office who oversees our practice here. She reviews charts monthly, and is available when needed. The other restrictions that nurse practitioners have here in the state of Texas is that we cannot write for Schedule two (2) drugs. These would be the narcotic medications and ADHD medications. Our collaborative physician reviews and signs those prescriptions for us on a as needed basis. A benefit we gain with our Support physician, is her specialty is emergency room care, adding another level of medical knowledge and care to our patients.
The team here are all Nurse Practitioners, with over 25 years of education and experience. We focus on taking care of the whole person. By this we mean we not only take into account their immediate need of care but also their social and family lifestyle. Our goal is to provide a long-term wellness plan so people are able to stay healthy longer. Our patients love us, and they love that we treat them like human beings. It’s amazing how that works
Deborah –
Impact Family Wellness, brings a unique model to healthcare.
Your Specialty licensures have provided that you can offer services in a stand-alone clinic. Which means people do not have to go to a hospital setting for an appointment. You see patients of all ages and with or without primary medical insurance.
Can you tell us more about what a person can expect when they go to Impact Family Wellness for care, and are there certain procedures you do not do?
Monica –
We see patients of all ages from two (2) days old to I think our oldest patient is 96. Our patients come to us for all types of reasons.
Our patients range from medically complex to people wanting help and information concerning a wellness program. Unfortunately, a lot of people think you only go to the doctor when you’re sick. Turns out it’s much easier to keep you well than to fix you when you’re broken. Our job is to talk to you about your diet, your nutrition, your sleep, all of these things. Your stress, your family and your lifestyle are all important components. We know all of our patients’ names and who their family is. Often, we treat the entire family.
Our patients are also young, healthy people who want to stay that way and just need an informed caring medical person to call. We get calls like, “my kid has a rash, should I be worried about this”? Instead of going to the internet or random people for medical advice, they send their text message to us and then we answer it. Many times, our patients have no insurance or find our care for certain wellness checkups are more affordable than using their Insurance. We also care for Medicare, TRICARE and VA medical patients. Basically, it’s people who want somebody who actually knows their name. They don’t have to sit in an emergency waiting room uncomfortable and sitting for extended periods of time when they already have busy schedules. Every time they come in, they get seen quickly, on schedule, and once they go home, they know that they can call us the next day if it’s not better.
Our patients are looking for solid, convenient medical care with rapid follow-up if needed.
I will add, we do not perform emergency surgery.
Deborah –
Good to know, so if a person is run over by a car or cuts off their arm with a chain saw, they should go to emergency!
Getting back to the cost of medical services you provide and how these costs are handled.
Your Clinics billing and financial model allows you as the primary care health consultant to establish a personal relationship with your patients spending up to an hour reviewing the patients’ concerns. You discuss their medical problems or concerns and if needed walk them through their personnel care plan during their initial consultation visit.
Can you tell us more about the Direct Primary Care plan and how all this works?
Monica –
First, Imagine Unlimited Visits, Direct Access to our team of Licensed Medical Professionals and Full Transparency of Your Medical Costs
We see a lot of patients who have either no insurance or have high deductible plans or health shares. We also have a program that is designed to take care of small businesses that would like to but cannot offer health care to their employees.
Unfortunately, in our current insurance based medical system, this type of care is just unknown. People often say, “wait a second, this all sounds way too good to be true. How does this happen?” We cut out the middleman. That’s not how it happens.
The medical payment program Our office follows is the Direct Primary Care program.
This involves a set monthly membership fee. We are not an insurance based program . There are no office visit charges, and we do not charge for most procedures. We treat people as a whole package and simply do not need to charge for those things.
The adult fee runs between $69 to $89 dollars monthly. Children are $39 a month. We have a family plan family for $199.00 a month. That gives you unlimited access to the office. You can come in as many times as you need to. There are no co-pays when you come in. You can call or text us any time you need something including your prescription management.
We have a contract with a local lab, and the average discount for each blood draw and analysis runs in the range of a 90%. A full thyroid screen in our office is $9. And that’s not just the TSA agents, it includes a full screening panel. We also have the ability to consult specialists free of charge for our members. So if somebody has weird symptoms, and we want a second opinion, we can consult rheumatology, cardiology, endocrinology and several other specialties.
There are 120 different specialists, including pediatric specialists. We can get a consult in less than 12 hours and we have saved our members so much money and time. The most important consideration is time. A person will not wait six weeks to go see an endocrinologist. This is life-changing, and It’s been a lovely service to provide. But basically, our job is to take care of you, and that’s what we do.
Members of our practice routinely save over $2,500 per member on their healthcare costs in exchange for a low monthly membership.
Included in your membership is access to routine, preventative care, wound care and urgent care along with savings on prescription medications and some diagnostics.
As an added benefit, employers of Austin who partner with Impact Family Wellness can save up to $4,000 per employee (per year) when they join our DPC with plans for employees starting at $50 per month. Whether you’re the sole proprietor of your business looking for healthcare for yourself or have upwards of 75 employees and are seeking affordable options, we are here to help.
Our goal is to keep you as healthy as you can be. If a person needs to call or text every day they can. If we do our job right, our patients are healthier and less likely to call. It behooves us to make you the best you that we can, but also allows us to spend time with people each and every visit.
Appointments are an hour long, and all your follow ups are at least 30 minutes, sometimes longer, depending on what we have to do. We see five to seven patients a day, maybe 10. The average insurance-based provider has to see 30 plus a day. This is why you get three minutes of their time. by cutting out the insurance rules and regulations, we don’t deal with that. And the care we deem appropriate is provided without an insurance consult, It’s pretty great.
Deborah –
This is a definite change in “managed care”. Please tell us what a patient can expect at their initial consultation visit?
Monica –
Yes, we cover several areas of information and provide written documentation for the patient to have and read at a later date if they would like.
- We look at what are their needs both short term and long term and their personnel care plan.
- Patients are guided through the process of understanding their health and wellness goals.
- Health plans are discussed and scheduled out according to tests which may need to be set up, for a functional health and wellness program
- Additional costs are also reviewed that may be associated with the care program. Each individual needs are different and we want our patients to be knowledgeable and comfortable with the care plan.
- Each patient is given direct access to their primary care consultant through the cell phone and or through a telehealth portal. In fact, many of your appointments don’t require a one-on-one visit but can be done through telehealth mediums.
This has become a great option that is time saving and money saving for busy people who work during the week or have family and kids to juggle. Not having to take of time from work speaks volumes to many people!
Deborah –
If somebody wanted to talk to you or a team member to find out if Impact Family Wellness is a good fit for their health needs, how do they set up their first consultation?
Monica –
The easiest way is to go to our website and right on the front page, you’ll see bright, shiny pictures of Joanna, Katie and myself.
Then you’ll see a lovely sign that says, Register here:
- Click on that and enter your name, address and phone number.
- Once that goes through, you get directed to the new patient scheduling page. We offer online scheduling same day scheduling.
- Pick your time and it will schedule your appointment.
- You will be sent some forms via email.
- Fill them out and send them back in.
- Your first new patient visit can be virtual or in-person, whichever you prefer.
- And then we can get you on your road to wellness. So pretty simple.
You can also call us and we can register you over the phone if that’s easier if you’re not a tech savvy person, but typically people just go on the website because it’s super simple.
Deborah –
You stated this program is a membership. Can you explain how the process works? Are people tied to a long contract with your organization?
Monica –
Once the initial forms and information are completed, we set up the first appointment and cover the details. This can be done over the phone or via telehealth. After that , their membership fee will be processed in the same agreed day every month.
There are no contracts or enrollment fees. We do not want to take care of people that do not find our service appropriate for them. We find our patients continue to return because the receive good medical care and therefore a contract is not necessary. There is a re-enrollment fee if we find a patient is not attending their scheduled appointments or becomes abusive of our time. We have not had to institute that very often.
A patient can cancel at any time. We do require a 30-day notice to cancel. We want to be sure the patient has all the information they need before ending their care with us. Our patients have our full respect and we only want to provide the best care for them.
Deborah –
I know the people watching and reading this interview are astounded and relieved there is a program like Impact Family Wellness and DPC payment options available.
Thank you and your team for providing this type of healthcare. We are so grateful.
Below we have added all the links and information needed to get started.
Please share this information about Impact Family Wellness with your friends, peers and colleagues. It is time for a few simple changes in healthcare options. Monica and her associates are providing a good start to those changes!
Monica and her team can be reached at Impact Family Wellness
Located at: 507 Denali Pass STE 605, Cedar Park, TX 78613
The website is: https://impactfamilywellness.com/
Email: admin@impactfamilywellness.com
Call them at: 512-537-2177
Follow their Facebook for weekly updates and tips at: https://www.facebook.com/impactfamilywellness/
Have a wonderful day, hug a friend and share a smile
Inspirational links:
Looking for information concerning Health Insurance – check out our podcast with Insurance health advisor Sarah Bolton
