Plum Health Blog
Dr. Raquel Orlich is a Family Medicine Doctor in Detroit Michigan
Dr. Raquel Orlich is a Family Medicine Doctor in Detroit Michigan
Dr. Raquel Orlich is a family medicine doctor and she has been practicing with our clinic, Plum Health DPC, in Corktown Detroit for the past 2 years and 8 months. She provides excellent, compassionate care for our patients at Plum Health and delivers comprehensive care for all of her patients.
Dr. Raquel Orlich is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Board Certified in Obesity Medicine. She loves helping her patients with musculoskeletal issues via the use of Osteopathic Manual Medicine (OMM), she enjoys engaging in women’s health care issues, and she enjoys addressing overweight and obesity issues as she helps her patients lose weight and become healthier.
Further, Dr. Raquel Orlich’s patients love the care that she delivers. This is best captured by a recent Google review from one such patient:
By far the best in health care I've ever dealt with. I was only a patient here under a year, but I gleaned so much info and confidence in my health journey. I moved to another state and am constantly wishing I could just hop in to Plum! I saw Raquel Orlich specifically, and she was a joy as well as being supremely comfortable, knowledgeable and communicative. Every test was returned with detailed results so I was never once confused or doing my own research or guessing at how to correct the issue. She always heard me out and was willing to explore even if I was wrong. I was never brushed off and I usually left feeling confident. Chris was amazing and so welcoming as well and made all the labs a breeze. I'd honestly stand outside with a sandwich board on waiving cars into the parking lot like H&R block in tax season if they wanted me to. 🤣 They are so worth it.
Further, Dr. Orlich has been with us for 2 years and 8 months, so she knows many of the resources available to patients here in Detroit and beyond. This allows her to guide patients to the best care options and reach their optimal health.
Thank you Dr. Orlich for all that you do for our clinic and our patients!
The above photo was taken in March 2019 - Dr. Orlich was completing the last few months of her residency program and she was coming by to pick up a fresh new white coat and her new business cards. This was an exciting moment and it was so great to welcome her as part of our Plum Health team.
How to Deal with Neck Pain in Detroit Michigan
How to Deal with Neck Pain in Detroit Michigan
A common musculoskeletal issue is “text neck” where we look down at our devices like tablets, phones, and computers throughout the day. This can stretch the muscles at the base of your skull and cause those muscles to spasm when they get over stretched.
My favorite modality for treating text neck is about repositioning our bodies and stretching our neck muscles gently twice daily. These twice daily stretches will keep your neck muscles loose and diminish spasming over time. The more consistent you can be with stretching, the better your improvement.
If your symptoms persist - if you have continued neck muscle spasming, you can try medications like NSAIDS or muscle relaxants. Of course, talk to your doctor before you use these medications to make sure that they don’t cause any stomach irritation or kidney damage.
It would be reasonable to try Ibuprofen 600 mg if you experience neck muscle spasms that cannot be controlled or that cause pain. Ibuprofen is an NSAID.
An alternative would be to take Flexeril (Cyclobenzaprine) 10 mg 1 hour prior to bed time - this is a prescription medication so please consult with your physician before using a medication like this. Cyclobenzaprine is a muscle relaxant and patients get relief when they use this medication as it relaxes skeletal muscles. But it cannot be taken within 8 hours of driving or operating heavy machinery as it causes drowsiness in some patients, so we have our patients take the medication 1 hour prior to bedtime.
Another alternative to neck pain treatment is osteopathic manual therapy (OMT) that would be given by an osteopathic doctor (a D.O.). These treatments take 15 minutes to 30 minutes and they can focus on relaxing/manually stretching the muscles in the neck. Our physician at our office, Dr. Raquel Orlich specializes in this type of therapy.
A combination of the above modalities would reduce the muscle spasms that you’re experiencing in your neck.
Thanks for reading and watching,
-Dr. Paul Thomas
Dr. Raquel Orlich Reaches A Major Milestone
This week, Dr. Raquel Orlich reached a major milestone - she now has 200 patients in her practice panel. Here’s what we said on Facebook:
A huge congratulations 🎈 to Dr. Raquel Orlich. She joined our Plum Health direct primary care practice on July 1st 2019 and she’s already reached 200 patients in her panel!
Dr. Raquel 👩🏻⚕️ is intelligent, compassionate, and a relentless advocate for the health and wellbeing of her patients. She focuses on chronic musculoskeletal issues, women's health, and preventive medicine.
We’re lucky to work with you, and our patients are fortunate to have such a kind and caring doctor looking out for their best interests. 💯
Of note, Dr. Raquel has room for about 500 patients in her practice panel, so if you’d like to sign up to be one of her patients, head over to our Schedule Now page to get started!
-Drs. Paul Thomas and Raquel Orlich with Plum Health DPC
Plum Health DPC on WDET
This week, we ran an advertisement on WDET with the Corktown Business Association. I have been a long-time fan, listener and supporter of WDET and it’s one of the best places to advertise for our business because the people who listen to WDET are those who think and care deeply about Detroit and the issues facing the city.
Also, WDET does an excellent job of informing the public about important issues of the day and it’s a great platform for community-level information and journalism.
At Plum Health, we are addressing the lack of health care and primary care resources in the City of Detroit, and we know that this mission resonates with people who care about the city and its future.
As a part of the Corktown Business Association, we work with other business owners in the neighborhood to make it a better place to live, work, shop, eat, play, and be healthy. I’m proud to be in the Corktown Business Association and I’m glad we had the opportunity to tell the story about a wonderful place to be with vibrant businesses, Corktown Detroit.
Here’s the spot that we sponsored on WDET, with some images added from our archive:
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day,
Dr. Paul Thomas, Physician with Plum Health DPC
How to Find the Best Prescription Drug Prices in Detroit
As many of us are aware, the price of prescription drugs can be astronomical. People are paying for a retail markup at pharmacies, often paying 10 - 20 times as much as the drug actually costs at wholesale. Even worse, insurance companies often charge more for medications purchased via your insurance plan than the medication would cost if you bought it at the cash price.
Why is this important to me? I'm a Family Doctor in Southwest Detroit and I took an oath to do no harm, and for me that oath also includes doing no financial harm. So, I am focused on lowering the cost of health care for my patients and the greater community.
How to find the best prescription drug prices in Detroit
If you're like many people, you probably go to the pharmacy with your Rx card or prescription card from your health insurance company. You then have the pharmacist 'run the card' to find out if you get a discount when you purchase medication.
What you should do instead is ask the pharmacist, "what is your cash price for this medication?" Also, you can ask for any coupons that the pharmacist might have. If you are dissatisfied with the price, then pull out your insurance card and ask for them to 'run the card'. This will ensure that you have a fair price point to start from.
In addition, you can shop around for the best prescription drug prices in Detroit or in your local community by comparing prices online. Using tools like GoodRx.com can help you find the exact price for the medication you need.
Using Direct Primary Care to Lower Drug Prices
There is another option to find even lower prescription drug prices. That option is called Direct Primary Care. In the Direct Primary Care model, doctors aim to provide as much value as possible for patients' health care dollars. In simple terms, we DPC doctors try to lower the cost of health care.
What does this look like? It looks like 70% - 90% savings on prescription drug prices in Detroit and the Metro Detroit Area. Just check out this chart and see for yourself the actual, wholesale cost of the medication compared to the price you would pay at the pharmacy with the retail pharmacy mark up, or the inflated price.
Original image taken from Consumer Reports.
How do we do this? At Plum Health DPC, we buy the medications at a wholesale price and then we sell them to our patients at-cost. This means if we buy a bottle of 1000 blood pressure medications at $10, each pill costs 1 cent. Then your monthly prescription cost for that blood pressure medication is 30 cents.
In the above example, we are able to get Pioglitazone (Actos) for $4.30 per month, Celecoxib (Celebrex) for $6.47 per month, Duloxetine (Cymbalta) for $7.04 per month, Atorvastatin or Lipitor for $2.09 per month, and Clopidogrel or Plavix for $4.28 per month. The total monthly cost would be $24.18 for our patient, and that is a huge cost savings compared to the nearest retail pharmacy.
By lowering the cost of medications, we can improve access to primary care services, better control blood pressure and diabetes, and therefore decrease the risks of heart attacks, strokes, and complications of diabetes in our community. This will lead to lower rates of disability and death, or a healthier society.
We are proud to make a difference in this way. Thank you for reading and learning about the cost of prescription drugs, and let me know if I can help you or a family member lower the cost of health care.
Sincerely,
- Dr. Paul Thomas, MD with Plum Health DPC
Barriers to Starting a Direct Primary Care Practice and How to Overcome Them
I am so excited for this weekend! I'll be speaking at the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians annual conference on Saturday morning. The title of my presentation is "Direct Primary Care: Barriers to Adoption and How to Overcome Them." The lecture will be held at Western Michigan University and will start at 8:10 am.
Here's what the MAFP has to say about the presentation:
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a dynamic and exciting practice model well-suited for Family Physicians. Its adoption in Michigan, however, has lagged behind other states, such as Florida, Colorado, and Kansas. This engaging session will begin by defining DPC and identifying successful practices in Michigan, as well as regionally and nationally. We will then identify barriers to starting a DPC practice and how to overcome them. Paul Thomas, MD, Plum Health Direct Primary Care (Detroit)
I am speaking because I believe that we have a unique opportunity to remake our healthcare system into one that is truly compassionate, and one that benefits all parties involved - namely patients, their families, their physicians and allied health professionals.
I am so enthusiastic about Direct Primary Care because it removes the middle men and barriers between patients and their doctors, and allows for a restoration of the doctor patient relationship. It also lowers costs on everything from office visits, to lab work, medications, and imaging studies.
If you're available, please join me for this lecture, Saturday July 14th at 8:10 am in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Sincerely,
Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Below is a PDF from the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians quarterly magazine about the upcoming presentation, and beneath that is a short video from the conference:
Finally, if you’re a Primary Care Doctor or Allied Health Professional that is looking to Start and Grow a Direct Primary Care practice, check out our sister site www.StartUpDPC.com.
What is Family Medicine?
Hello, this is Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC and I'm a Family Medicine Doctor in Detroit. I operate Plum Health Direct Primary Care, which delivers affordable, accessible health care services in Detroit.
This week, I'm talking about Family Medicine Week, an official announcement from Governor Rick Snyder that makes February 19th - 25th Family Medicine Week. I'm a month late in bringing this up, but it's still important to recognize Family Medicine and the contribution of Family Medicine Doctors across the State of Michigan.
For starters, Family Medicine Doctors compete four years of undergraduate education, four years of medical school, and three years of residency. That's 11 years after high school and 7 years after college. Furthermore, some Family Medicine Doctors sub-specialize within Family Medicine.
They complete a 1 year fellowship to become Sports Medicine doctors, or Family Medicine doctors that sub-specialize in adolescent medicine, geriatric medicine, addiction medicine, etc...
The point is that Family Medicine doctors are highly trained, and specialize in taking care of the whole patient in the context of the family and the community.
Family Medicine doctors care for people of all ages and stages! We help deliver babies, we help infants meet developmental milestones, we complete school, work, and sports physicals, we take care of injuries like fractures and lacerations, and we take care of chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma.
Family Medicine doctors also work across a variety locations. Family Medicine doctors work in emergency departments, in-patient hospital settings, and out-patient clinics. Family Medicine doctors lead health departments for Cities, Counties, and States. Family Medicine doctors teach at medical schools, volunteer at homeless clinics, and travel abroad with organizations like Doctors without Borders.
Personally, I love being a Family Medicine Doctor - I love taking care of people regardless of their age, race, gender, and orientation. I love being able to offer care and compassion to those who need it, along with the standard medical care.
Finally, we need more Family Medicine doctors to create healthy communities, healthy cities, and a healthy nation. Family Medicine doctors address small issues before they become big, complicated problems. Family Medicine doctors and Primary Care Physicians can effectively increase the health of a community and lower the cost of care in that community.
Primary Care and Family Medicine is vital, and I'm glad that we have a week to recognize the work that Family Medicine doctors carry out each day in the State of Michigan.
Thanks for your time, and have a wonderful day,
- Dr. Paul Thomas
Plum Health at Bamboo Detroit
This week, we held office hours at Bamboo Detroit, on Washington Boulevard in the Central Business District of Detroit. If you follow us, you know that we've spent time at WeWork Detroit and are looking to engage with PonyRide in the future.
So far, we've found that the majority of our customers are small business owners or folks that are responsible for their own health care expenditures. Once these entrepreneurs know about us and what we do, they are excited about our brand and what we have to offer.
That's why it's so important for us to go out into the community and meet entrepreneurs where they're at! So many times, we get so caught up in our work that we don't take the time to take care of ourselves. With Plum Health, we work on your schedule, not the other way around. And, as an entrepreneur myself, I know the hustle and work ethic that it takes to be successful, and it's easier for me to relate with my members who are entrepreneurs and vice-versa.
Strategy aside, Bamboo Detroit is an excellent co-working space in the Central Business District (CBD) in Detroit. They have offices, hot desks, and great amenities for growing entrepreneurs. They invited me over for an office hours type session, and this gave me an opportunity to answer any questions their entrepreneurs had about health and wellness. I had a few moments to spare, so I shot this video - enjoy!
Thanks so much for reading and watching!
- Dr. Paul with Plum Health DPC
Plum Health Featured in Healthcare Michigan
On February 9th, I was invited as a panelist at the Future of Healthcare event at Wayne State University School of Medicine. While at the event, I met Paul Natinsky, a writer for Healthcare Michigan. Friendly, outgoing and genuinely interested in the work that I was doing, Mr. Natinsky and I scheduled to meet up a few weeks later.
When Mr. Natinsky came to our Plum Health office, he brought his tape recorder and camera, and most importantly he brought his insight and some tough questions. We talked for well over an hour on a variety of subjects. This week, he released his notes from that meeting in the form of a publication in Healthcare Michigan.
The work that we're doing with Plum Health is the feature story in the March 2017 issue, and we couldn't be happier about spreading the word about Direct Primary Care in Michigan. You can read the article in full, here.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!
- Dr. Paul
