It’s safe to say, relationships are the best medicine.
The team at Summit Family Health makes relationships top priority when conducting their “good ol’ fashioned house calls,” giving patients and their families a dose of compassion and understanding that aren’t always found in an office setting.
“We come to you. We listen. We educate. We validate. What our patients say matters,” said Sophia Wilmot, a certified registered nurse practitioner and medical director at Summit Family Health.
Created in the midst of the Covid Global Pandemic, Wilmot said there was a need to have a practice centered around medical freedom where patients could be heard. With offices filled to the brim and restrictions on patient visits, Wilmot first helped a friend who needed an appointment, but couldn’t get into their regular family doctor. After helping that friend by conducting a home visit and providing specialized care, Wilmot and her husband, Sheldon, created the business plan which started as Summit Nurse Consulting and has since grown to become Summit Family Health.
Although the name has recently changed, the services have stayed true to their origin. Summit Family Health provides services typically seen in a general family practice by a primary care physician but without the limitations of an office space or waiting room. Instead, patients are seen in their homes by board certified nurse practitioners. In the state of Maryland, nurse practitioners have full practice authority (FPA) which allows nurse practitioners (NPs) to practice to the full extent of their education, experience and training without physician supervision. NPs can independently evaluate patients, diagnose conditions, order and interpret tests and manage treatments, including prescribing medications, completing forms or letters, and writing referrals.
Services include newborn visits, routine check-ups, sick visits, referrals to specialists and health education, but not emergency or urgent care services. Patients of any age can be seen by the Summit Family Health Team, with their youngest patient being a few days old and their eldest patient being in their nineties, according to Wilmot, who noted the practice serves about 800 patients.
“We provide quality healthcare in a comfortable setting without judgement,” said Wilmot, who has more than 19 years of experience in the health and medical field, in both hospital and family practice settings. She is experienced in pediatrics, women’s health, emergency care, nutritional education, wellness support and mental health.
By operating on a direct-pay model, Summit Family Health has the ability to provide patients with more medical freedom because they are not confined to the parameters of medical insurance protocols. A typical visit costs $295 and includes a one-on-one visit with one of three registered nurse practitioners in the comfort of the patient’s home.
In addition to avoiding long waiting times in a doctors’ office, seeing a patient in their natural environment gives the visiting nurse practitioner the opportunity to observe their patients, such as young children, to better advise anything that parents might have questions or concerns about.
“Mothers of young children often have questions about whether their child is meeting milestones. When we are in the home, we can have a fuller picture of what the child is able to do and attend to.”
The personalized care isn’t limited to the 30-60 minute visit, according to Wilmot. Patients can communicate with their provider via email and phone calls after and between visits, providing a seamless line of communication, which also enhances the patient-provider relationship and encourages peace of mind.
“Because we don’t collect insurance, we can work jointly with our patients on treatment options,” Wilmot explained. “Our treatment plans are not driven by insurance, but instead they are driven by combining our team’s medical expertise and the patients’ personal choices, allowing for a collaborative plan of care.”
This also includes a vaccine-friendly environment, where patients are educated about vaccines, but are not governed by an insurance-driven timeline of administration. Summit Family Health providers are able to collaborate with holistic providers, specialists and other forms of treatment options.
In addition to Wilmot, Summit Family Health currently has a team of two certified registered nurse practitioners and one registered nurse: Shannon Dummer, Family Nurse Practitioner, Lynne Soper, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, and Jeanette Logan, Registered Nurse and Administrative Assistant. Interested patients can go online for an appointment and can expect to be scheduled within a few days.
“This type of service is so fulfilling as a provider and for patients. Our practice is growing because people see the value in this type of personalized, at-home, convenient care. I want people to feel like they can talk to our nurses and someone is listening.” SummitNurse.com