Sun Life: Caring for the whole patient

When choosing a doctor, it’s important to find a physician who focuses on you and your mental, emotional and physical needs.

And in Maricopa, there’s no better place to find that health care provider than Sun Life Health.

At Sun Life, the focus is on the whole patient and making sure the treatment programs developed for each patient have the best chance for success. They do this by involving the patient in their care and going the extra step.

According to Samantha Reinhard, Sun Life’s director of community outreach, it starts by including things in an office visit for which Sun Life may not be able to bill your insurance, such as a visit with a clinical pharmacist about medication management.

“We have programs that insurance doesn’t always consider as billable, but we feel like they are valuable to patients for their care,” Reinhard said. “Those items are included as patient perks.”

Part of the patient-first mentality at Sun Life includes a focus on convenience.

Take for example a patient who has just been diagnosed with diabetes. That person might be reluctant to change the behaviors that affect their condition, like their diet, exercise habits or glucose monitoring.

Instead of requiring the patient to visit multiple offices and storefronts to get started on a path to wellness, Sun Life offers the ability to address all those needs in its Maricopa location.

The lab work can be done on site, and the prescriptions filled at the pharmacy just down the hall.

Diabetes counselors work with patients to help determine effective treatments, and in-office, integrated, behavioral health professionals help develop strategies for making the lifestyle changes needed to achieve the patient’s health goals.

As part of its unique approach, Sun Life also teaches patients about nutrition, exercise and medication management to give patients an understanding of how each aspect of care works, how they interact and what their benefits are. The staff also talks with patients about their habits and listens for red flags that could impede the patient’s ability to manage their condition.

It goes beyond Diabetes management.

From infants to seniors, Sun Life offers a full continuum of care, often referred to as integrated care as opposed to the traditional models of healthcare silos.

Reinhard said that is Sun Life’s biggest advantage over other healthcare providers.

“We don’t work in silos,” she said. “The care team can look at a chart from each service line. If one of the doctors wants to know what our OB team did, they can just look at the chart instead of relying on the patient to remember what happened at their OB appointment, or the OB’s office sending the records. We don’t have to spend time going through siloed systems or dealing with a medical office phone system, so our patients get whole care, not siloed care.”

That approach has garnered Sun Life attention nationally.

The group recently earned national acclaim for its maternity care, when Banner Casa Grande Medical Center was recognized as one of the nation’s premier maternity hospitals by Newsweek Magazine. The center is staffed with providers from Sun Life.

At Sun Life, the goal is to make the whole patient better, not just one aspect.

“We are affecting the whole patient, the whole you,” Reinhard said. “We look for things you might not be looking for. If we’re talking about nutrition, we don’t just talk about eating better, we make sure you have access to good food. We want to treat people the way we would expect someone to treat our mom or grandma; we take that level of care.”

Primary Medical Care, 520-568-2245, located at 44572 W. Bowlin Road. OB/GYN Care, 520-788-6100, located at 44765 W. Hathaway Avenue.

 

This sponsored content was first published in the Health Guide, which first published alongside the October edition of InMaricopa magazine.