Technological advances in medicine over the past 75 years have been the driving factor behind improved patient outcomes. However, a collaboration between independent providers for the benefit of the patent has remained limited and a source of much grief and unnecessary complications for patients. AMI continues to innovate the healthcare sector by showing doctors how to implement systems that allow them to work with other provider types. This develops each practice to the new standard in desired holistic medical services.
AMI founders discovered more than a decade ago that the physical medicine practice of the future is needed now.The founders of AMI are Michael Carberry, DC and Coleen Carberry, PT. The Carberrys have been integrated since the day they met. Who would have thought that a chiropractor would marry the adversary of the profession, a physical therapist, and together go on to create the HEALTHCARE MODEL OF THE FUTURE?
Social attitudes about what it means to be healthy, combined with a lack of responsibility and oversight in the medical and pharmaceutical industries have led to the current opioid epidemic in the U.S. No longer can practitioners stand on the sidelines hoping for change; it must come from within.
AMI provides doctors with a proven path to make a positive change with a multi-specialty health care model that addresses physical pain and loss of muscle, bone and joint function. Every patient deserves to receive a customized treatment plan and the most conservative care options as a first-line remedy to their problem. A multi-specialty team consisting of medical doctors, chiropractors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists and rehab specialists make this possible.
AMI’s Effort to End the Opioid Epidemic by Innovating Healthcare:
Americans spend $4.01 trillion dollars annually as of 2020 on healthcare. That’s $11,582 per person, or 19.7% of our national GDP. Yet among 180 nations, Americans rank 37th by the World Health Organization in the overall health of our people.
Today, the most common reason someone goes to the hospital as an adult is to address back pain. If you go to the office of an ordinary American medical clinic you will likely walk out with a prescription for some medication. If you are in pain, it will be a painkiller like an opioid which is very addictive.
During the 90s the drug companies, primarily Purdue Pharma, owned and operated by the Sackler brothers, created a group of painkillers, including Oxycontin. They were marketed as “nature’s miracle and were not addictive. Doctors began prescribing them right and left. The result has been people getting hooked on these opium-based drugs. Patients turned into addicts would then turn to cheaper drugs such as heroin, and then later to fentanyl, a deadly synthetic which is now being imported from Mexico.
The prescriptions are for temporary relief, not a permanent solution. It seems that modern healthcare is primarily a Band Aid, a sworn devotee to Big Pharma’s answer to all health care issues.
WHAT AMI DOES AND HOW IT’S DIFFERENT:
The mission and philosophy of Advanced Medical Integrated clinics is that no drugs will be prescribed if the natural means of holistic treatment can handle the patient’s problem. This has proven to be a fact in 95% of the clinics created through AMI. Our philosophy and practice is a rock solid prerequisite to any clinic integrated through AMI. We will not help integrate any clinic without this understanding.
What AMI has found is that when a patient has another option than an opioid there is a greater than 70% chance that they will choose something other than an opioid. And with most opioids being prescribed for back pain, which is something that our integrated clinics are exactly able to help with, we are able to reduce the amount of patients prescribed with opioids thereby helping to reduce and end the opioid crisis right at its root starting point.
Innovating Healthcare with Regenerative Therapy:
What is regenerative medicine? Regenerative medicine involves using Human Cellular Tissue Products (HCTPs) to help your body to heal itself. What is regenerative therapy? Regenerative therapy involves using HCT/ Ps (Human Cells, Tissues and Tissue based products) which is transplanted from a donor to recipient, often by injection, healthy donor material (stem cells, growth factors, exosomes, cytokines, Hyaluronic acid, etc). These powerful factors stimulate the body’s natural healing process. AMI doctors have reported that these regenerative therapy procedures have revolutionized treatment of chronic pain and injury patients.
Adding these regenerative therapies alongside of a traditional conservative care physical medicine practice creates comprehensive practice that is changing the way health care is delivered. AMI emphasizes to it’s doctor network the importance of patient first, and right treatment for the situation—not undertreatment and not over treatment, but the right treatment. Combine that attitude with the often quoted line from the hypocritic oath, “first, do no harm”— and you have a recipe for outstanding patient outcomes and incredibly happy patients.
Ending a Stigma – Why Medical Doctors and Chiropractors Should Want to Work Together:
Years of bias and prejudice have led to a rife between Chiropractors and Doctors. However it doesn’t have to be that way. When a licensed MD and Chiropractor team up they can consult and coordinate to ensure the best treatment possible using a variety of methods.
Millions of patients benefit from chiropractic care, and millions more benefit from various forms of medicine. Any conflict between professions is based on a lie, or hidden special interests. The truth is that the vast majority of procedures performed by any medical specialty has a time and place—a patient that can be helped. The solution is collaboration. And that is at the center of the patient treatment model espoused by AMI.
When AMI succeeds in its mission, there are more medical professionals collaborating on behalf of patients around the country. And when AMI doctors succeed, patients win.
When doctors build an integrated clinic as opposed to a chiropractic or family medicine center, they expand the scope of service to their patients and as a result expand their potential patient base. Additionally, with the expanded scope of service, doctors increase their access potential codes and reimbursements and increase the number of cash services as well. This is what makes integrated practices revolutionary in the healthcare industry.
How AMI innovated to survive and help other businesses thrive during COVID:
Despite the global pandemic, AMI managed to survive and thrive, while helping hundreds of medical practices to do the same. When asked how they did it, Dr. Mike Carberry said, “Our whole team stepped up. Our board of directors worked daily with our marketing team to create a daily show (videocast) for almost 2 months to provide practical and inspirational tips to help all doctors get through the shutdown that impacted medical facilities that offer what was considered by some to be non- essential services.
The problem is that most medical services are essential, to the patient who needs them—not to mention the business that offers them. We used this situation to reach new doctors with our message. We helped them implement telemedicine, and develop other unique ways to continue serving those in need.” AMI made this series available to all doctors, regardless of specialty or affiliation. For months, AMI received letters of thanks from doctors who said that AMI’s work during the pandemic helped them to continue delivering care to patients in need.
The mission of AMI includes changing the focus of healthcare from symptom management to functional improvement. This is being accomplished one community at a time as AMI expands to cities and towns throughout the US. The goal is to have a multi-specialty medical center providing conservative physical medicine and pain relief in every community—giving every person the option to pursue healthcare that matches their needs, addresses the root cause of the problem, and maybe most importantly, does no harm.
The purpose of the integrated clinic is to get to the root of the problem and go for the cure, not just symptom-handling with drugs. This is a very different system than what is seen in American Healthcare right now.
In 7 years, Advanced Medical Integration has exported its model into 500 practices across the country. AMI has plans to boost that number to 1000 practices in the next two years. AMI’s focus is on helping clients to develop a positive employee culture with straightforward administrative procedures and effective treatment options, AMI is innovating the healthcare system by building the model for independently owned physical medicine practice of the future.
