October 16, 2009
North Appleton Facility Changes Way Health Care is Delivered
The way health care is delivered in the Fox Cities will change Monday when the first tenants move into Encircle Health™, a Partnership with ThedaCare. The opening represents the culmination of more than three years of work redesigning how patient care is delivered.
“We are excited to finally open the doors and welcome patients at Encircle Health. Our new model of health care delivery is designed to cut out waste and duplication in practices and help manage costs in this health care cost crisis,” said David Anderla, MD, a family practitioner with ThedaCare Physicians-North Appleton and ThedaCare medical director for Encircle Health. “We also focused on delivering quality and efficiency for the patient with primary care providers, specialists, and services such as a comprehensive lab, phlebotomy, advanced CT, MRI, state-of-the-art endoscopy, ultrasound, and digital mammography all under one roof. Our goal is to provide the best care possible with the least amount of stress and strain by providing patients with a single coordinated plan of care.”
The following healthcare teams will move in this weekend and will begin seeing patients Monday at Encircle Health, 2500 E. Capitol Drive.
- ThedaCare Physicians Family Medicine-Appleton North
- ThedaCare Physicians-Internal Medicine, Appleton
- ThedaCare Physicians-Infectious Disease
- ThedaCare At Home branch office
- Appleton Medical Center’s Outpatient Treatment Center
Encircle Health’s imaging, registration, phlebotomy, and lab areas will also see patients beginning Monday while Appleton Medical Center’s Regional Sleep Disorders Lab will start seeing patients on Tuesday.
The second group of Encircle Health medical providers will move in the weekend of Oct. 24-25 and begin seeing patients at the new location on Mon., Oct. 26:
- Fox Valley Pulmonary Medicine
- Valley Urologic Associates
- ThedaCare Orthopedics Plus branch office
- ThedaCare Behavioral Health branch office
- Appleton Medical Center’s Endoscopy
- Women’s Health Specialists branch office
- Fox Valley Surgical Associates branch office
The onsite Morton’s Pharmacy will also open Oct. 26.
Simplifying the navigation and experience is core to Encircle Health. Patients will now use a single registration desk for physician appointments and ancillary services. Electronic medical records will help keep patients and care providers connected while enhancing communications on care planning.
State-of-the-art endoscopy services and diagnostics, and ancillary services such as MRI, mammography, CT, ultrasound, and lab are now all available at Encircle Health reducing the need to travel to multiple facilities for these services. Convenient parking is also available to make getting in and out of visits easier for patients and their families.
Jeffrey Klingbeil, MD, a surgeon with Fox Valley Surgical Associates and a member of the Encircle Health’s Board, said the partnership is an exciting opportunity for specialty physicians and ThedaCare to create something new that will improve patient care.
“The full name of the new building is Encircle Health, a partnership with ThedaCare, and that is truly what it is. We all retain our independent practices, names, and contact information, but we are coming together under one roof to provide improved care to patients,” Dr. Klingbeil said. “We will truly strive to put patients at the center of everything we do at Encircle Health.” If patients have any questions about the move, they can contact their individual doctor offices. While the medical offices are moving to a single site, all practices are retaining their separate phone numbers.
ThedaCare (www.thedacare.org) is a community-owned health system consisting of Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center, Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca, ThedaCare Physicians, Ingenuity First, and other health care services. ThedaCare is the largest employer in Northeast Wisconsin with nearly 5,400 employees.
For more information, media may contact Megan Wilcox (megan.wilcox@thedacare.org), public relations and corporate specialist for ThedaCare, at (920) 830-5847, or pager (920) 554-0730.