Dr. Mark Rodgers’ ‘Call us first’ message is a homerun with patients

WellMed physician spreading the word on company’s value-based model

It’s a simple message: “Call us first.”

It’s also a message that can be tough for patients to take to heart, according to internist Mark Rodgers, lead physician of the WellMed at North Fielder clinic in Arlington, Texas.

Imagine how happy Dr. Rodgers was when, while at a baseball game over a spring weekend, a frequent visitor of local emergency rooms called Dr. Rodgers first.

The call made the doctor jump for joy.

“I had been working on this mantra for well over a year with this one patient,” he recalls. “He finally called me first. He still had to go to the ER and have surgery, but at least now we had him on the right path.”

From transactions to transformation

The WellMed value-based model puts a premium on prevention and care management. Key to this plan is educating patients on the importance of calling their physicians before making a trip to the emergency room.

“I encourage them to call me because there are so many things we can take care of if you call me first,” says Dr. Rodgers, who has firmly believed it’s often better for a patient to not be admitted, even before joining WellMed in June 2022.

But patients, especially older patients, are reluctant to call their doctors.

“I’m trying to knock down that barrier,” he adds. “It’s going to take some time.

But down it needs to come in the changing times of health care, according to Dr. Ryan Jones, regional medical director for North Texas.

“Our nation’s health care system is broken,” she says. “In the U.S., we are spending twice as much money on health care than other countries but we’re not getting better outcomes.”

The WellMed value-added philosophy is key to changing the direction of health care in the country, Drs. Rodgers and Jones, say.

“Medicine is changing – becoming more hands on,” Dr. Rodgers says.

Knowing about patients – the lives they live, their family structure – those are key to treating a patient.

“I’m here to help the entire patient. I need to know more about their lifestyle,” Dr. Rodgers says.

“The old way was a very transactional system – volume over value,” Dr. Jones adds.

The WellMed system, meanwhile, is transformational. The goal is to learn all you can about a patient, to “dig in and find the path forward,” she continues. “We feel a moral obligation to educate our patients about their options.”

And the system works.

“The clinics with the best performance, including keeping patients out of the hospital, comes down to dedication to a patient’s health and teaching them to contact us first,” according to Dr. Jones.

When it comes to that mantra, there’s been few better than Dr. Rodgers.

“I was very impressed, just hearing him talk about his philosophy,” Dr. Jones says. “He is so dedicated to building relationships with his patients – educating them that they should come to the clinic, they should call their doctor when they notice anything out of the ordinary.

“He and his clinicians go above and beyond – even visiting patients at home,” Dr. Jones continues. “I’ve told him, ‘I wish we could clone you.’”

While cloning Dr. Rodgers may not be an option, Dr. Jones is certainly on the lookout for someone with his sense of dedication to their patients – especially as Dr. Rodgers looks to retire next year.

“He knows his patients will be in good hands,” Dr. Jones says. “We will make sure his patients are in good hands.”

For Dr. Rodgers, the philosophy comes down to this: being a servant to the patients you serve.

“At the end of the day, you have to care about your patients, get close to them,” he says. “We know our patients better than anyone.”