Taking Care of People with Auto-Immune Conditions in Detroit

Auto-immune conditions can be very difficult and expensive to manage. We recently had a patient present with swollen fingers and painful joints going on for 6 weeks. It was disabling for him and he was having a hard time doing the work he needed to do at home and at work. Worst of all, he was having a hard time playing/being active with his grand kids.

We were able to complete a work up of his condition for about $100 in terms of labs, and about $50 in terms of x-rays. He pays our monthly membership and is able to have as many appointments as he needs in our office without co-pays.

After collecting the labs and x-rays, and after thoughtful deliberation, we came up with a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis or RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system – which normally protects its health by attacking foreign substances like bacteria and viruses – mistakenly attacks the joints. This causes joint swelling and joint pain, as seen in our patient.

Once we had the right diagnosis, we were then able to start him on Methotrexate, a medication to manage his Rheumatoid Arthritis. The medication costs $4.08/week or about $16.32/month, which is affordable for our patient.

Best of all, the medication works really well for our patient and he can now do the work that he needs to do at work and at home, without the considerable joint pain that he initially experienced. Above all, he has a better quality of life, because he can now play with his grand kids and be the grandpa he wants to be.

I love taking care of people - people of all ages and stages, with diverse backgrounds and conditions. Thanks for reading and have a great day.

- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC in Detroit Michigan

Wholesale Medications in Detroit

At Plum Health DPC, we get wholesale medications for our members in Detroit, Wayne County, and Southeast Michigan. Just this week, I've helped more than a few of my patients or members with wholesale medications.

For example, I had a patient with  lower back pain due to paraspinal muscle tenderness. A common treatment for this is with Cyclobenzaprine or Flexeril. This medication can retail for $5 - $15 at retail pharmacies. At Plum Health, we wholesale Flexeril for 2.8 cents/pill. When the patient got the bill for $0.28, he thought that it was an error, but that's the actual cost of the medication.

Next, I have a patient with chronic allergic rhinitis. He told me that he got Flonase or Fluticasone at Costco at a bargain price of $48 for 3 bottles. At Plum Health, we wholesale Flonase for $7.26. He was pleasantly surprised by the cost savings!

Finally, I had a gentleman with Diabetes and High Cholesterol. He had been paying roughly $50/month for his medications at the retail pharmacy. At Plum Health, we were able to wholesale the Lisinopril, Glipizide, and Simvastatin for under $5, essentially saving him $45/month! 

These are just a few examples of how we save people money on their medications and on their healthcare. If you have any questions about how we can help you, don't hesitate to call 313.444.5630 for a free consultation.

Thanks for reading and thanks for watching,

- Dr. Paul with Plum Health

Match 2017 at Wayne State University School of Medicine

This week, I was happy to hear about the highly successful match at my alma mater, Wayne State University School of Medicine. On Friday, March 17th, WSU SOM matched 97.3% of its graduating seniors into residency programs! This rate is much higher than the national average of 93%. In addition, 40% of those new doctors will be training in primary care specialities. 

This is one of the points that I continue to emphasize: we need more primary care doctors in this country, in this state and in this region. And training primary care doctors begins with inspiring medical students to chose primary care specialties like Family Medicine, General Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology. 

In other news, this Saturday I volunteered at Cass Clinic. I try to get out to Cass every month, and this month I helped the medical students take care of about 15 or more homeless, uninsured, and otherwise medically underserved people in the community. This mostly consists of managing blood pressure and diabetes as well as performing physical exams for work or school opportunities, just like all other people.

Finally, I'm talking about the EpiPen - $600 if you buy it via Mylan Pharmaceuticals. What you're paying for is a patented delivery device as the actual epinephrine medication costs $2 at wholesale. When I make this for my patients, I use an AutoInject 2, which costs $35 and insert the epinephrine into a syringe and place the syringe in the Auto Injector.

My Beta name for this product is the Epinephrine Delivery Device (EDD). I probably need to come up with a better name, but it is epinephrine within the AutoInject 2 and it is roughly equivalent to an EpiPen. Here's the video from Saturday:

Stay tuned for more updates!

- Dr. Paul with Plum Health DPC