Bluestem Health Offers Added Family Medicine Benefits to Patients

Family medicine providers offer a broad scope of services, from immunizations to annual checkups to chronic disease management. Bluestem Health offers various services at five locations in Lincoln, Nebraska, making access to care convenient and affordable for their patients.

When you get sick, you probably make an appointment with your family medicine provider to find out what is causing your illness or condition. Family medicine providers offer a broad scope of services, from immunizations to annual checkups to chronic disease management. Bluestem Health offers various services at five locations in Lincoln, Nebraska, making access to care convenient and affordable for their patients.

In addition to family medicine services, Bluestem Health also provides a number of value-added benefits for their patients that most primary care clinics don’t. This centralized approach to care makes these additional resources available to the patients they serve and, in most cases, at no extra cost.

Chronic Disease Management


Six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, according to the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, or other diseases are the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. That’s why Bluestem Health’s family medicine program is committed to helping people in the Lincoln community prevent chronic disease and promoting health and wellness. Through their integrated approach to care, their family medicine providers help patients manage illness utilizing screenings, check-ups, monitoring and coordinating treatment, and patient education. This model of care improves a patient’s quality of life while reducing their health care costs by preventing or minimizing the effects of a chronic disease.

Diabetes Education


Patients at Bluestem Health in Lincoln who live with chronic disease or complex medical conditions have access to specialized education and counseling services at no charge. The Patient Health Education team at Bluestem Health includes certified diabetes educators, nutritionists, chronic disease nurses, and a community health worker.

The certified diabetes educators and chronic disease nurses at Bluestem Health in Lincoln provide additional disease management support to patients who have chronic diseases. Meeting with each patient individually, the Patient Health Education team is able to educate them on their treatments, talk about alternative therapies, and spend extra time with them when their primary care provider isn’t available. Our diabetic patients know that we are here to provide them with ongoing education about their chronic disease and to support them in making healthy lifestyle choices.

Our community health worker is a certified paramedic who performs an important role in connecting the provider, behavioral health consultants, certified diabetes educators, chronic disease nurses, and discharge planners and nurses in the hospital setting. If requested by the provider, the community health worker can travel to a patient’s home to assess various aspects of care being done there, such as blood sugars and/or medications are being taken correctly, analyze the living situation for patients, and provide a report to the patient’s provider and care team on any barriers identified. In addition, the community health worker at Bluestem Health may also provide assistance in finding wheelchairs, housing, or relatives.

Patient Support Services


Patient Support Services at Bluestem Health in Lincoln, Nebraska offers a “one-stop shop” for resources that our patients, or individuals in the community seeking to become Bluestem Health patients, can apply for without the need to travel to multiple locations. Our knowledgeable team can assist with applying for the Sliding Fee Discount Program, enrolling in the Health Insurance Marketplace or in Medicaid, or accessing Economic or General Assistance programs.

The most common reason people contact Patient Support Services is to find out if they can get assistance paying for their healthcare or receive a discount for the services offered at Bluestem Health. Many people are surprised to find that they can qualify for assistance. The sliding fee discount can be applied to co-pays, deductibles not met, share-of-cost amounts, co-insurance, and services not covered by a patient’s plan. Patients do need to meet the eligibility requirements to enroll, but the Sliding Fee Discount Program is especially beneficial to qualified recipients who have high deductibles.

Sliding Fee Discount Program


As a Federally Qualified Health Center, Bluestem Health in Lincoln is able to offer discounted office visits, labs, and x-rays for patients who may be 200% or below the Federal Poverty Limits. Many patients who qualify for our Sliding Fee Discount Program pay anywhere between $30-$70, depending on the procedure. If you are a patient of Bluestem Health in Lincoln and have insurance with a high deductible plan, the amount that you pay out-of-pocket could be reduced. Our team can help to determine your eligibility and provide you with an estimated cost for services.

What if I Don’t Have Insurance?

The providers at Bluestem Health often refer patients who are uninsured or without prescription coverage to the Support Services Team to discuss the Medication Access Program (MAP) when they see a patient who can’t afford their medications. MAP can help cover the cost of prescriptions for certain medications. Patients who are enrolled in MAP are far more likely to take their medications as prescribed instead of changing their dosages or avoiding medications due to the cost.

Having a team dedicated to enrollment assistance benefits both the patients themselves and Bluestem Health. If patients can afford to see a provider at the clinic at a discounted rate, they will be less likely to incur more costly services at an Emergency Room.

SNAP Assistance


SNAP assistance offers supplemental assistance for nutrition to low-income individuals and families going through difficult financial times. The goal is to help alleviate food insecurity. SNAP assistance is available at Bluestem Health. Contact Bluestem Health to apply‚ 402-476-1455. Learn more about SNAP assistance here!

Interpreters


At Bluestem Health in Lincoln, Nebraska, we provide on-site, full-time interpreters that speak many different languages in addition to English, including Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish, Karen, Burmese, Vietnamese, and American Sign Language. For languages or services that are not available in-house, we use telephone and video conferencing.

Bluestem Health’s on-site interpreters are unique in that each staff member establishes a trusted relationship with the patients for whom they interpret. In addition, interpreters provide ongoing support to Bluestem Health’s medical staff and providers, such as making return phone calls to patients, providing further instructions and/or results, and scheduling non-English patients for appointments.

Why Do You Need an Interpreter?


When discussing health concerns, the Bluestem Health providers know how important it is to make sure that information about an illness or treatment is clearly communicated to the patient. The interpreters at Bluestem Health in Lincoln, NE are extremely good listeners, picking up on intent and meaning, as well as every word communicated between the provider and the patient. They are sensitive to the cultural differences behind each language, and they have excellent knowledge of health issues, clinical abbreviations, and medical terms, and how best to translate that to the patient’s preferred language.

Bluestem Health in Lincoln, Nebraska is committed to providing integrated and comprehensive services that are client-driven, culturally sensitive, and family focused. For more information about all of our services, click here.

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