Utah's Medical Card program has now been up and running for a couple of years. Much to the surprise of many people, more than 83,000 Utahns have signed up for their cards at this point. That is a lot of people. Each one represents someone dealing with a qualifying medical condition who simply wants to feel better. From our perspective, individual motivations for obtaining Med Cards are an important part of the treatment equation.
Do you have a Utah Medical Card? If so, what was your motivation for applying? There is no right or wrong answer here. Patients visit KindlyMD clinics for a variety of reasons. We get it. We understand that every patient's journey is unique. What motivates you could be completely different from a hundred other patients.
We would like to share some of the motivating factors patients talk about when they visit our clinics. We could probably make the case that the most commonly heard motivation is that nothing else has worked. In other words, a patient has tried all the other traditional treatments normally recommended for her condition. But after so many years of trial and error, she still feels no better. All those other treatments have failed.
Unfortunately, this is more common than most people know. Many of the conditions on Utah's qualifying conditions list just do not respond well to traditional treatments. And even when they do, some patients find that they don't feel as good as they would like to. Traditional treatments only offer limited relief.
In a sense, patients motivated by this particular issue are looking at the Medical Card as their last remaining hope of relief. That motivates us to do everything we can to provide complete care within the Medical Card setting.
Another thing that motivates patients is a reluctance to take prescription medications over long periods of time. As strange as that might sound in a culture that relies so heavily on pharmacology, we have seen many patients who just do not care to go down that road. Many of them have been on long-term prescriptions by the time they make it to KindlyMD.
If it is medication they need, they would prefer plant-based medicines over pharmacologically based prescriptions. They see plant-based medicines as more natural and better for them. So for them, getting a Medical Card just seems like the best course of action.
Our approach to healthcare is a little bit different. Likewise for many other providers who do what we do. Collectively, we believe that a holistic approach to healthcare is the best approach of all. Many of our patients come to us because they prefer the holistic approach.
Holistic care does not focus exclusively on a patient's illness or symptoms. Patients are people. Their medical conditions are just one aspect of who they are and how they live their lives. Holistic care recognizes that and seeks to treat the whole person rather than just a single condition and its symptoms.
The Medical Card philosophy complements the holistic approach perfectly. Obtaining a Med Card gives patients access to plant-based medicines. But patient care does not begin and end with those medicines. The holistic view of healthcare prefers overall wellbeing instead of mere symptom relief.
It has been said that treating qualifying conditions with plant-based medicines is a journey. We wholeheartedly agree. What motivates people to embark on that journey is different from one person to the next. What was your motivation?
Sleep support is one of the services we offer at KindlyMD. We routinely work with patients struggling with persistent insomnia, many of whom are uncomfortable about reaching for a sleeping pill every night. That being the case, more than one patient has asked us if the Utah Medical Card is right for someone who persistently cannot sleep.
There is no blanket answer we could provide to that question. People are different. Not only that, but the root causes of persistent insomnia are also pretty extensive. Some people cannot sleep because of certain lifestyle choices that are getting in the way. Others struggle with sleep due to stress. Still others might be dealing with an underlying condition like PTSD.
Medical Cards in Utah are limited to certain qualifying conditions. Our responsibility is to evaluate each patient on an individual basis, then recommend a Medical Card when it is appropriate for a condition on the state list.
KindlyMD clinicians truly do understand how stressful it is to deal with persistent insomnia. When you cannot sleep, it is just annoying. And when sleeplessness follows night after night, the lack of rest can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, regular insomnia can have a negative impact on a person's overall health. We offer sleep support services for that reason.
A good night's sleep is important. Why? Because sleep allows the body ample opportunity to repair itself. All the wear and tear our bodies experience throughout the day needs to be addressed in order for us to maintain good health. Wear and tear are addressed mostly while we sleep. If we don't get enough restful sleep on a consistent basis, our bodies cannot repair themselves. Then breakdowns are inevitable.
Quality sleep on a regular basis is necessary in order to maintain:
A lack of sleep has been linked to all sorts of chronic health conditions ranging from diabetes to heart disease. The truth is that restful sleep is critical. That means persistent insomnia is more than just a hassle; it is bad for a person's physical and mental health.
Persistent insomnia can be treated in a number of different ways. When a Med Card is appropriate, a combination of plant-based medicines and behavioral changes are often enough to do the trick. As for when a Med Card might be appropriate, that is up to the patient and her healthcare provider to determine.
When a Med Card isn't the right way to go, that doesn't mean a person is doomed to live with insomnia for the rest of her life. Once again, there are other ways to get a handle on insomnia. Here are just a few examples:
There are times when recommending a Utah Medical Card is the right approach to addressing persistent insomnia caused by an underlying condition. There are other times when a Med Card is not the best option. If you are struggling with persistent insomnia, come visit us at KindlyMD. We can help you figure it out so you can get back to sleep.
In healthcare, we have something known as continuum of care. Continuum of care is both an idea and a way of looking at delivering healthcare services. It is talked about extensively within the complete care environment. It is even applicable to the Medical Card concept now in play in the Beehive State.
Here at KindlyMD, assisting patients with their Med Cards is a high priority. But we offer additional services aimed at providing complete care. To look out for our patient's best interests, we need to do right by them through the continuum of care.
Are you confused yet? No worries. Allow us to explain how continuum of care applies to the Med Card concept.
As you know, the Utah Med Card gives patients access to certain plant-based medicines that cannot be obtained in any other way. Med Cards are made available to patients diagnosed with certain qualifying conditions under the recommendation of a medical provider.
We provide the services Med Card patients need to both get and renew their cards. We also advise on the use of plant-based medicines along with offering therapy, medication management, and other services. Still, the Med Card program is our main focus.
As for continuum of care, it is often described as a 'spectrum' or 'collection' of healthcare services that are coordinated and delivered in such a way as to ensure that patients receive appropriate care at any moment in time. The word 'continuum' implies that the process is ongoing for as long as the patient requires care.
In a primary care setting, the continuum of care would include everything from annual physicals to vaccinations to preventative services and provider advice. Throughout the patient's entire experience with primary care, the main goal is to ensure that their basic healthcare needs are met in a way that promotes good health.
We can take the same principles of continuum of care and apply them to the Med Card concept. Let us do so with the example of a patient who comes to one of our clinics looking for assistance in obtaining a Utah Medical Card. This is a chronic pain patient who has unsuccessfully tried all the traditional treatment approaches recommended by his GP.
The continuum of care philosophy demands that we do more than just make a Medical Card recommendation and send him out the door. Because we believe in complete care, we wouldn't do that anyway. But a proper continuum of care would dictate that we try to help the patient in other ways as well.
In addition to the Med Card, we might recommend working with one of our therapists. We would offer the patient assistance with medication management so as to guarantee that he's getting the most from all his medications. And in terms of addressing pain, we might recommend additional things like lifestyle changes and physical therapy.
Perhaps a good way to understand the continuum of care in the Medical Card environment is to note that the patient is more than just his pain. He comes to KindlyMD because he is hurting. But he has a whole life separate from the pain experience.
The goal with continuum of care is to provide whatever resources and therapies can help the patient return to that life rather than remaining confined by his pain. We continually strive to help him reach that place for as long as he looks to us for care.
The Utah Medical Card program has now been around for several years. It is helping tens of thousands of patients struggling to find relief through more traditional treatments feel better on a daily basis. And yet, while helping people feel better is at the root of the Med Card concept, there is so much more to it than that.
From our perspective, the Med Card concept is incredibly transformative to Western (allopathic) medicine. It is one of the key ingredients we have been missing in our healthcare system for decades. And now that so many states have adopted the concept, everything wrapped up in the Medical Card philosophy should ultimately change the American healthcare system for the better.
Among the many ways the Medical Card program has transformed healthcare in Utah is its encouragement of plant-based medicines. Med Card holders in the state have access to medicines that are not available through traditional means. These are medicines that cannot be purchased at the drug store or at the local grocery store pharmacy.
Plant-based medicines have been utilized by Eastern cultures for millennia. They used to be fairly common in North America at one time, too. We got away from them when allopathic medicine and pharmacology took root here. But now we are starting to see a return to the plant-based realm, and that's good.
The Med Card concept is also transformative in the sense that it seeks to put patients in control of their own health and wellbeing. Although most doctors and nurses have very good intentions, there is a tendency in allopathic medicine to shut patients out. They become merely recipients of care rather than active partners in their own health.
Medical Cards are somewhat unique to Western medicine because they aren't prescriptions. They are state-issued licenses to use plant-based medicines. Doctors can only recommend the medicines; they cannot issue Med Cards or write prescriptions. Ultimately, this means that a patient with a Med Card must take charge of their own health.
Incidentally, the KindlyMD team wants exactly that for each and every patient. We do not want to dictate to you how you should care for yourself. We are here to partner with you as a member of your healthcare team. At every level, we want you to be in charge.
Promoting a holistic approach to patient care is yet another way the Medical Card concept is transforming healthcare. Allopathic medicine has a tendency to treat diseases and symptoms as largely physical problems. But proponents of the Med Card concept are more likely to go beyond the mere physical. Practitioners prefer a holistic approach, which is to say treating the whole person rather than just the physical body alone.
Managing persistent pain is a particularly good example here. Pain is influenced by biological, psychological, emotional, and social factors. The point of issuing a Med Card is to address the biological and psychological factors. But clinics like KindlyMD also include other services to help address the emotional and social aspects. We treat the whole person rather than just their pain.
We have heard the Medical Card concept referred to as a 'new' way of looking at Western medicine. We do not consider it new at all. Rather, we consider it a different way of approaching healthcare. Both the concept and the principles behind it have been a long time coming. Now that they are here, we are witnessing a transformation within our healthcare system.
The Utah Medical Card gives certain types of patients in the Beehive State access to plant-based medicines that are not normally sold in grocery store pharmacies and corner drug stores. The medicines are only available to valid card holders. The question you might be asking yourself is whether a Med Card is right for you.
Looking for the answer in a single blog post isn't the best idea. Instead, it is better for patients to sit with their medical providers and have a frank discussion. That's something we do here at KindlyMD. If you are interested in a Utah Med Card, make an appointment at any of our clinics. We would be more than happy to talk things over with you. If a Med Card is right for you, we can help you get it.
The state requires patients to consult with the medical provider before receiving a Med Card. There is a good reason for this: the plant-based medicines made available through the Med Card program are not suitable for every medical condition. Allow us to offer an example.
There is no point in taking antibiotics to fight a viral infection. Antibiotics have no impact on viruses. Likewise, plant-based medicines made available through the Med Card program do not prevent viral infections either.
Utah maintains a list of qualifying conditions associated with the Med Card. Those conditions include things like persistent pain, PTSD, and nausea. Consulting with a medical provider confirms that you have one of the conditions on the state's list. As long as this is the case, a Utah Medical Card could be considered.
There is another reason state regulators want patients to consult with medical providers before getting their cards. They want to be sure that the plant-based medicines in question are an appropriate treatment for a patient's condition. That's not always a given.
A medical provider is among the most qualified professionals to help patients determine how to best treat their conditions. In some cases, traditional treatments may be more appropriate. In other cases, patients may have tried traditional treatments to no avail. Their medical providers believe that plant-based medicines are the most appropriate option.
Always remember that a medical provider's goal is to help you feel better. If your condition can be cured, doing so is the number one priority. And if it cannot, management is what medical providers shoot for. Why mention this? Because a determination of ineligibility for the Med Card doesn't mean your medical provider does not care. It just means that they believe there is a better way to treat your condition.
The point of this post is to explain how you can know whether a Utah Med Card is right for you. The answer is as simple as your doctor's evaluation. A complete medical evaluation will tell you everything you need to know. It will tell you:
If all three are determined to be true in your case, a Med Card is within your reach. You and your medical provider can complete your respective portions of the online application. Then you just pay the application fee and wait for your card to arrive electronically.
The Utah Medical Card is not right for everyone. Is it right for you? That is for you and your medical provider to determine together.
One of our goals in helping patients obtain their Utah Medical Cards is to help them feel better. But feeling better is subjective. It means different things to different people. There isn't necessarily a correct definition, but it is probably a good idea to have some goals in mind when you first apply for a Med Card.
A good place to begin exploring this topic is understanding that, from a medical perspective, feeling better and getting better are two different things. Feeling better is about symptoms. Getting better is about the underlying cause of those symptoms. Unfortunately, there are those medical conditions with no cures. Medical science can help a patient get better, but only to a certain degree. After that, treatment is about helping the patient feel better.
For many of us, feeling better involves alleviating the symptoms of whatever condition is bothering us. A person with a broken arm will feel better as the pain subsides, even though it could take weeks or months for the bone to heal. Not feeling the pain of the break is an improvement over the alternative.
The medicines made available through the Utah Medical Card are not a cure for anything. But patients do rely on them to alleviate pain. If you are dealing with persistent pain, you know that any significant amount of relief can help you feel better.
Do not feel bad about wanting to alleviate symptoms. There is nothing wrong or abnormal about wanting relief. And if you're dealing with a chronic condition for which there is no cure, finding relief is a big part of your reason for seeking treatment. Embrace it.
There are also those cases in which patients define feeling better as actually getting better. Persistent pain is a fitting example. In addition to Med Cards and the medicines they bring to the table, some conditions typified by persistent pain can be improved through lifestyle changes.
A person with osteoarthritis is not going to be cured by Med Card medicines. But their condition can be improved, at least in most cases, by getting regular exercise, eating right, and getting enough restful sleep. How so? Combining these three lifestyle changes can strengthen muscles, tendons, and ligaments. When they are stronger, they support the body's weight more effectively. This can help relieve osteoarthritis pain.
By strengthening the body, the patient is getting better. There may be no cure for osteoarthritis, but combining lifestyle changes with the right medicines can make an enormous difference. The patient can both feel better and get better to some degree.
Many of the Utah Med Card patients we work with are looking for more than simply alleviating their symptoms. They also want to take their lives back. Some have been on other prescription medications that have made living a normal life nearly impossible. Others have been offered literally no hope for their conditions, leaving them to remain living under the control of their health.
With a Utah Medical Card, they have access to medicines that provide enough relief for them to take their lives back. That is when they truly start to feel better. They can go back to work, they can enjoy spending time with family and friends, and they can resume activities that bring them joy.
Only you can define what feeling better means to you. Here at KindlyMD, we might be able to help you along your journey with comprehensive care and assistance with your Utah Med Card.
Most people with active Utah Medical Cards need to renew those cards on an annual basis. A small number of patients have shorter renewal times based on recommendations from their medical providers. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a permanent Medical Card in Utah. That is a good thing.
Card renewal is designed to accomplish several things. If patients were not required to renew, which is to say they had permanent cards, it is quite possible that they would ultimately not receive all the potential benefits of comprehensive care. And that runs contrary to the whole purpose for introducing Utah's Medical Card.
We think it is important to point out that not every patient with an active Medical Card actually renews it. Just by looking at the monthly program data published by the state, you can see that thousands of cards expire every month. While the program continues to add new patients, it also drops patients who choose not to renew.
There could be any number of reasons for not renewing:
Possessing an active Medical Card isn't an automatic requirement to renew after a year. In order for patients to fully understand whether renewal is a good idea, a discussion with a medical provider is an order. That is the whole point. Requiring renewal encourages patients to visit with their medical providers on a regular schedule.
A Med Card is just one component of a comprehensive care plan. It provides access to plant-based medicines considered alternatives to traditional treatments. But care is only truly comprehensive when it adapts to a patient's health and current condition. Both of those things can change over time.
The reality of change is one of the reasons doctors cannot write prescriptions indefinitely. A prescription can only be renewed so many times before the patient needs to visit the healthcare provider again. Subsequent visits are intended to make sure that the medication in question is still an appropriate treatment. The same is true for the medicines accessible through a Medical Card.
Something else to think about is the possibility that better treatments will come along in the future. Healthcare is constantly evolving. Science is always teaching us new things about medicine. So what works best today might not work as well as a new treatment introduced a year from now.
Visiting with a healthcare provider is the best way to stay abreast of new treatments. A healthcare provider is in the best position to know whether a new treatment is more appropriate.
All of this is to say that things change. Rarely is a person's medical condition static for an entire lifetime. Symptoms sometimes get worse. Sometimes they get better. When it comes to degenerative conditions, a patient's experience changes as the disease progresses. These are all things providers take into account during renewal visits.
If you have a Utah Medical Card, you may consider it a hassle to have to renew every year. We get it. But as a QMP group committed to comprehensive care, we know that renewals are a good idea. Renewals give us an opportunity to visit with our patients, if for no other reason than to check up on them. It is better for patients in the long run.
Pain is a topic that can be discussed from an almost limitless number of angles. There are just so many aspects to it that pain is very difficult to put in a box. So it stands to reason that managing pain is similar. There is no one-size-fits-all way to do it for every person. Enter the Utah Med Card.
Historically, the U.S. has been reluctant to embrace the plant-based medicines made available through the Utah Med Card. We will not get into the reasons why. Rather, we have seen a growing acceptance of those medicines in recent years, especially for treating chronic pain. We have made such incredible strides that the KindlyMD team is confident in saying that the Utah Med Card is a legitimate option for managing pain.
Although Utah's Med Card program has been active for several years now, there are still plenty of chronic pain patients who either haven't heard of it or don't know how it works. The good news is that the program is fairly simple. As previously stated, a Med Card gives a patient access to plant-based medicines that are not available otherwise.
These are medicines that aren't available by traditional prescription. They also are not sold down at the chain pharmacy. They are dispensed only through state-licensed pharmacies to patients with active Med Cards.
One of the things we do here at KindlyMD is help eligible patients get their cards. If you have been diagnosed with a qualifying condition, our care team can evaluate your health and then recommend you for a Med Card. Then it is as simple as completing an online application form and paying a small fee. Truly, the process of getting a Med Card isn't difficult.
Obtaining a Utah Med Card is just the start of the journey toward feeling work alongside you with a range of additional services designed to help you feel better.
It has been said that using a Med Card and its associated plant-based medicines to manage pain is more of a journey than anything else. We cannot argue with such sentiments. For so many patients, managing pain is not a matter of taking a single drug or undergoing a single procedure followed by the pain immediately stopping. That's why we discuss chronic pain in terms of management rather than healing.
After getting your Med Card, you are likely going to need additional care to improve the way you feel. Our team is here to provide it.
One last thing we would like to encourage you before closing this post is the idea of the Utah Med Card being worth considering. We have no way of knowing where you are or how pain is affecting you. However, we do know that it is not uncommon for chronic pain patients to try every traditional treatment and still find very little relief.
Med Cards are available to chronic pain patients in Utah. You have nothing to lose by getting your card and beginning a journey with plant-based medicines. If the Med Card and its medicines don't work for you, you've only lost a little bit of time along with a minimal application fee. But if you do find the relief that you're after, the time and effort you put into getting your card will pay for itself.
KindlyMD is known throughout Utah for our ability to help patients obtain Med Cards for access to plant-based medicines. But we are so much more than Med Card evaluations and recommendations. We offer comprehensive care to patients dealing with pain, PTSD, and other conditions. Most importantly, our care is patient-focused.
What is patient-focused care? This post will explain our take on it. Needless to say, we don't believe “patient-focused care” is just a slogan. It is the foundation on which we operate. Our approach is vastly different from the outcome-based approach so many medical facilities are now trying to implement.
Over a decade ago, the federal government made it clear through the Medicare and Medicaid programs that it wanted healthcare facilities to begin transitioning away from the fee-for-service model in favor of an outcome-based model. Outcome-based medicine focuses on improving patient outcomes rather than concentrating solely on how much a clinician or facility charges.
Basing healthcare on outcomes is certainly a vast improvement over the old fee-for-service paradigm, but patient-focused care is better still. Patient-focused care acknowledges that patients are individuals rather than numbers. They are people with real needs, preferences, and values. Patients are not just statistics on a computer screen.
When a healthcare provider acknowledges patient realities, the next obvious step is figuring out how to provide care that meets individual needs, preferences, and values. The end result is a philosophy of care that goes beyond disease or injury to treat the entire person.
By its very design, patient-focused care is holistic. In order to focus on the patient, a healthcare provider cannot have tunnel vision. They must consider:
Something as seemingly simple as recommending a Utah Med Card and plant-based medicine can be influenced by each of these five factors. Is plant-based medicine best for the patient's physical, mental, and emotional health? Do social circumstances and the patient's cultural background in any way inhibit getting a Med Card? How does the patient view plant-based medicines in light of personal beliefs and values?
At this point, we should explain that patient-focused care at KindlyMD goes above and beyond Med Cards and plant-based medicines. We offer Complete Care that also includes mental health services and medication management. We apply the same patient-focused model to every service we provide.
The other defining characteristic of patient-focused care is the underlying goal of making sure that patients always maintain control over their own healthcare. Under both the fee-for-service and outcome-based models, clinicians remain in control. Patients might be asked for their input, but clinicians and care teams make decisions independently. We do not feel that this is the way healthcare should be.
As a patient, you know yourself best. You know exactly how you feel – both physically and emotionally. Only you know the principles and values that direct your life. So you are the only one who can make the final decisions about your care.
As we see it, patient-focused care is a better way to provide care. If you have been looking for comprehensive care for pain, PTSD, and other chronic conditions for which your primary provider hasn't been able to help, we invite you to visit us at KindlyMD.
We believe patient-focused care is the best way to treat patients, whether that means recommending a Med Card and plant-based medicines. If you are ready for a different kind of healthcare, pay us a visit.
