Brett Mathews had seen the symptoms before and so when her toddler’s eyes seemed irritated late one Friday, she knew trouble loomed.
Her pediatrician’s office was closed for the weekend. And no matter how much she hoped otherwise, her son’s case of pink eye was going to get worse.
But instead of heading to hospital emergency as she had in the past, Mathews was able to find health care quickly and for far less than that last emergency room visit.
“We waited only about 10 minutes and that included filling out the paperwork,” the Chamblee mother of two said. "That's always nice when you have a sick kid."
Instead of relying on expensive emergency room care or urgent care clinics, metro Atlanta parents like Mathews are finding Kids Time Pediatrics to be a godsend.
Not only are the clinics staffed with board certified pediatricians, but the cost is no more than what parents pay for a regular office visit.
Although still relatively unknown, Kids Time has been operating in metro Atlanta since 2007 when the first office opened in Stockbridge, said Flynn Clyburn, president and founder of the pediatric clinics.
A former pharmacist, Clyburn said he recognized a need for the clinics after learning from pediatricians that many of their patients requiring after-hours office care were seeking it elsewhere.
“The concern that everybody had was patients going to urgent care clinics, where they were being seen by non-pediatricians and receiving treatment that was not up to pediatricians standards,” Clyburn said.
Because it wasn’t cost-effective to keep their offices open for the few patients needing after-hours urgent care, pediatricians were closing shop after 5 p.m. and on weekends.
But what if 15 or 30 of them joined forces to staff an office in the evenings and on weekends? Would it make sense? Clyburn said 80 percent of pediatricians in private practice that he spoke with agreed it would.
Today more than 100 of them share responsibility for providing care at six clinics, from 6-9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. A seventh Kids Time is scheduled to open Saturday in Suwanee, Clyburn said.
“Parents like it because it gives them access to quality care after hours,” said Dr. Norman “Chip” Harbaugh Jr., who practices in Alpharetta. “Insurance companies like it because it’s cheaper than going to emergency rooms and a lot of the care is being provided by the same doctors who provide care during the day. And employers liked because their employees don’t have to miss work.”
Harbaugh represents the American Academy of Pediatrics on United Healthcare’s Physician Advisory Board, with the goal of bridging the gap between physicians and insurance companies to improve quality while decreasing healthcare costs.
He said that retail-based clinics are often staffed with nurse practitioners who aren’t trained for the type of specialized care pediatricians provide. In addition, he said, the clinics create fragmentation and break up the continuity of care.
“We could either complain about that or find a model that would be better,” Harbaugh said. “This way we control the quality of care delivered to our patients and we can do it without working every night.”
If one of his patients is treated at Kids Time, Harbaugh said he can count on a faxed copy of the visit hitting his desk the next day so he can follow up. That seldom happens when a patient is seen at an urgent care clinic, he said.
Linda Cole, a registered nurse and vice president of ambulatory and emergency services at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, said that about 25 percent of the 190,000 children they see annually in its three emergency rooms could be taken care of at their pediatricians office if they were open.
"Any time a child is sick and they can see their pediatrician or one filling in for their doctor, that's always the best care," Cole said.
The hospital also provides after-hours care at Children’s Immediate Care at five locations in north Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton and Forsyth counties. The clinics are open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. (For more information, go to www.choa.org/immediatecare.)
Mathews said Kids Time came highly recommended by her sons’ pediatrician, Gary Loventhal on staff at the Children’s Wellness Center in Sandy Springs, but not in time to save her from a $100 visit to the emergency room.
When her 1-year-old showed signs of conjunctivitis or pink eye a couple of weeks ago, she was ready.
“I took him to the one in Sandy Springs,” Mathews said. “We were in and out in no time. I love it.”
Kelly Vogel, also of Chamblee, said she heard about Kids Time from an urgent care clinic doctor she’d seen previously.
When one of her children needed emergency care, she said, the doctor referred her to Kids Time's Sandy Springs location.
“My husband and I both work so it’s difficult to get to the doctor during the day,” said Vogel. “This is a way to get them in sooner and I know they'll actually be seen by a pediatrician and our doctor is going to have all the details the next time we go see him.”
Loventhal said Kids Time promises to not only improve access and the quality of medical care for children but lower the costs, decrease the number of unnecessary tests and cut visits to emergency rooms.
“It’s exciting,” he said.
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