Fine, call me a boutique clinic
As a parent consumer of healthcare for my children, as you are likely for yours, you may find yourself in a swell of information, lost at sea without a captain not knowing where to go, who to listen to and what to do as a parent. Your gut tells you one thing, the internet the other and yet as you try to change tactics, zig and zag, things don’t seem to get any better or maybe even a little worse. You may find yourself like many of the parents I work with who find themselves coming to me as a specialist with years of experience and expertise paying out of pocket for an assessment that one could get “for free” per say through insurance if the provider were in network. But what is free always has a cost. Recently I found myself struggling with my child’s health and after many trials and errors and years (literally years) of failing I found my way back to a trusted expert where I again needed to pay out of pocket fees (will file a claim for reimbursement but you never know what will be covered). We were at a loss as parents. We had gone down all typical areas of the medical system and though the systems worked well enough there was little comprehensive look at the whole family, child and interplay. Thankfully we have the privilege, resources and KNOWLEDGE to go and get the evaluations from others out of network. Following an over 3 hour evaluation that included a deep dive into school history and medical records, a very definitive diagnosis with a concrete plan was provided and has been integrated with communication between providers. Now anyone would say that this is just how healthcare should be but unfortunately as the system grows and the larger the system the wider the net it must cast and unfortunately the more the quality goes down with the quantity. As a provider I was victim to this as well. There is only so much time one provider has and when central scheduling takes over and fills every minute of your time and productivity is more important than continuity of care one loses your ability to maintain quality. These are the consequences. This is why seeking out these small private, “boutique” (as my PT student called it) practices like Transform is and where I found myself for my child is so helpful. It is like going back to where healthcare was before it became big business and about people. Truly helping people. I felt this for my child and because of this am willing to pay every dime charged as I know that the care I received was exceptional and we are now on the way to recovery...FINALLY. When my PT student said he knew it would be a challenge learning at a “boutique clinic” like Transform at first I was offended at the name as I was unfamiliar with the term. But now I wear this name with pride, the definition of a boutique clinic according to Google is “a small, independent healthcare or aesthetic practice that offers personalized, high-end, and specialized care rather than high-volume services” because that is just what Transform is.
Should good care be a bonus? What does good care look like to you?
