What is an IMP? Originally, IMP stood for "Ideal Micro Practice" when most of the doctors involved had small offices. But today it means "Ideal Medical Practices" as the movement has expanded, and the philosophy is shared by a greater number of doctors in offices of all sizes.
IMP doctors share a goal of improving the toxic environment that doctors are currently forced to work within by improving our offices and how we practice medicine. By leveraging technology to support the practice of medicine and designing innovative offices to tear down barriers to care, we strive to offer patients "the care they want and need when they want and need it" in a highly personalized setting.
Across the country, IMP offices have been established in all kind of communities from big cities, to small towns, to rural regions. Find where we are across the country on this webpage with a map of IMP office locations.
I established Malia Family Medicine after many years in a more traditional model of practice within an HMO organization. At the time, I felt worn down and was on the verge on not loving my profession. Being a doctor means too much to me to simply stand by and feel my affection for the career disappear. So I considered exactly what I do and what I needed in order to do that. The IMP model caught my attention and I made the leap, opening the office in March, 2006.
My IMP model is a "solo-solo" office which means I have no staff and no nurses. I like to say, "it's just the patients, me, our phones and our computers." I leverage technology to help run the office and maintain patients' access to the office.
Special aspects of my office include:
* Same-day attention * Direct email access to your personal physician * On-line scheduling (Yes, patients can make their own appointments!) * 24/7 coverage by your personal physician * Extended-time appointments (20-40 minutes face-to-face with the doctor) * $5 gift certificate for Starbucks if the appointment starts more than 15 minutes late! (how many doctor's offices offer that?!) * Attention to "all of you" as in your whole family and all parts of your life and health.
At Malia Family Medicine, I strive for care with "No Barriers, No Delay & No Wait."
Today, I work as hard as ever, but I once again cherish my profession and appreciate the great obligation I have to help in your health and well-being.
If you are a patient at Malia Family Medicine, I thank you for the honor to serve as your personal physician.
Saving Primary Care!
Primary care medicine is under assault. The administrative burdens from the insurance companies serve as barriers for doctors to provide the care and service they know they should, and that they profoundly want. Doctors are leaving patient care, or not entering the primary care fold in the first place. This means our society is losing the single most important part of the medical system, high-value primary care. Studies repeatedly have shown that a robust, well-supported primary care health system improves patient outcomes.
The IMP movement is working hard to improve this toxic environment by establishing practices that use innovative methods and leverage technology so they can provide patients "the care they want and need when they want and need it." Some of the doctors in the IMP movement have very small (micro) offices, while others have larger, more traditional-styled offices. But we share a common goal of improving the medical environment to benefit both patients and their doctors alike.
To spread the word about the IMP movement's efforts, and the need to improve the medical care environment, Dr. Gordon Moore, a pioneering leader of our small, but ever-growing, network of medical professionals, has made a new website and a related video supporting the reasoning and inviting you to be part of the effort to save primary care. Please, take time to check, and consider, these links -- SavingPrimaryCare.org
