THE PHYSICIAN
Edward R. Rensimer, MD, FACP is a board-certified specialist in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases (multisystem, not organ restricted) with over 35 years experience in both outpatient and inpatient medicine. The practice has an unique capability delivering comprehensive care to complex and acute care cases regarding triage and appropriate intervention. For example, multiple cases each year are referred for difficult to treat cellulitis (bacterial soft tissue infection) of the lower limbs. Under the care of others, most of these cases have already incurred extraordinary charges because of hospital admission for IV antibiotics and costly scans. Dr. Rensimer has often been able to quickly and effectively diagnose and resolve the problem using simple acute gout medicines or compression stockings for venous stasis dermatitis, at nominal cost.
IN-HOUSE PHARMACY
The practice includes an in-house pharmacy that has the advantage of “buyer-group” leverage to stock a complete inventory of routine medications as well as costly vaccines. The pharmacy also provides intravenous medications and total parenteral nutrition supplies. This allows for optimal pricing without exorbitant fees from third-party middlemen, such as home health companies.
RABIES PREVENTION
Rensimer and Associates is one of only two providers in all of Harris County that stocks rabies vaccines and human rabies immunoglobulin because the practice is devoted to rapid access for patients to help avoid costly visits to hospital emergency departments for this care. We are increasingly known as the “go to” place for evaluation for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, and are a preferred provider of the Centers for Disease Control and the Harris County Public Health Department for such services.
TURN-KEY MEDICAL SERVICE
Because of Dr. Rensimer’s expertise with acute care medicine, especially his ability to discern stable illness vs. instability/deterioration, the practice runs much like an urban “MASH” unit. We see acutely ill patients the same day and often treat with IV antibiotics through our office, when indicated. Most other physicians would immediately direct the patient to an emergency department or an unfamiliar hospitalist (hospital-based physician) while we choose to treat as much as we can from the office as an outpatient. As you know, the cost of office care has gone up considerably as a delivery model for the services I am describing, but it saves money for payers in the long run with avoided hospital stays and the costly involvement of layers of consultants and services ordered by them. We pride ourselves on being turn-key, with probably the least need of any other physician in your insurance system for other co-managing physicians on particularly difficult cases. Our mission is to handle medical cases expertly and efficiently, moving a case to the hospital only when there is no other option to optimize the outcome.
We are a vertically integrated model for acute and difficult cases which prides itself on resource management, optimal outcomes, and unparalleled patient satisfaction. An insurance company would only need to audit the costs of cases we were involved in and compare the costs to others to realize we save payers a significant amount of money. We are known by the nurse case managers as the place to deliver their most difficult cases (Worker’s Comp nurse case managers direct cases to us). We get the job done and we get it done cost effectively. We practice the highest quality of medicine in our community on the most challenging cases and we refer to only the best physicians when needed.
OUTPATIENT FOCUS/ACTION-ORIENTED
Finally, most Infectious Disease (ID) specialists concentrate their professional time in the hospital. They have offices, but often only as the business component of their practices. Commonly, their staffs are not highly trained or effective in processing cases since ID docs gravitate to the hospital. ID doctors are inclined to have referring physicians move patients to the hospital where they can treat them while keeping their fixed office costs down.
From the beginning, our practice has been committed to an highly evolved outpatient operation created to handle all but unstable medical cases, believing that the cost-center hospital environment is unhealthy for patients and the healthcare system. We challenge you to find an operation that exceeds our excellence and effectiveness. In fact, we are convinced that if payers audited certain diagnoses that are commonly admitted to the hospital they would quickly designate our organization as a preferred provider.
• The physician personally reviews every appointment request for medical urgency. Even before the patient arrives, if it appears the patient may need IV antibiotics, a process is immediately activated to obtain real-time payer approval for the problem as well as starting the process of PICC-line (central venous catheter) placement. This often allows initiation of IV antibiotics same-day, during regular office hours, without the need to admit to the hospital. This is an example of our proactive culture.
• We never say “no” to our referral sources and concentrate on seeing patients as soon as possible, based on actual or perceived need. Many new patients are seen “same day” as first contacted; virtually all within the week.
• It is likely that, by providing such extraordinary access, we are addressing problems before they intensify to hospital admission level. For the level of our cases, we minimally involve other consultants.
Summary
Our effectiveness is known throughout our community – we stand on our reputation among other physicians, especially in the field of Infectious Diseases where we are considered at the top of the field.
We will guarantee meticulous attention to your case, personally and intellectually. We will gather, organize, and analyze all the facts, with an open mind to all possibilities. Our primary aim is to achieve the correct diagnosis; the most efficient, cost-effective, and balanced (risk/benefit) plan of action to bring about an optimal outcome for our patient.