Group Medical Appointments

Group medical appointments (GMAs) are customized, extended medical appointments with a patients’ own doctor and a behavioral health professional. Patients served best by GMAs are those with chronic conditions who require extensive monitoring, support, and follow up. Group Medical Appointments offers medical group managers, private practice clinicians, nurse executives, and behavioral health professional’s vital information for increasing patient’s and health professional’s satisfaction and level of care.

This must-have resource details the plethora of possibilities afforded by group medical appointments, including a wider range of support, greater focus on the individual’s care, as well as more efficient, cost-effective treatment – essentially a “how to” book for Group or Shared Medical appointments. It includes the definition, how to use groups and all of the tools and scripts needed for a successful start-up. These groups have been found to address access issues in a practice and often leverage the providers productivity by 200% during the same time as individual appointments. They have been found to increase positive outcomes of Chronic Disease which is covered in the book. They are first and foremost a medical appointment by providing support, education and are found to be therapeutic by participants.

Author Biography

DeeAnn K. Schmucker, MSW, LCSW, graduated from Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Bowling Green State University and completed a Master of Social Work Degree, specializing in health care, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Throughout her career, DeeAnn has created focused therapies for a wide range of populations. She has worked in long-term care facilities, neonatal intensive care, in-patient acute and rehabilitation hospitals, and in a variety of out-patient settings.

Whatever the setting or situation, DeeAnn is always nudging others to take action to improve the quality of their lives. As a health educator, she implemented a walking club and a book club for seniors to maintain their physical and mental abilities and to develop and foster supportive relationships. She became a trusted confidant and mentor, encouraging each participant one step further today than yesterday or one question deeper into the theme of a novel. The interest and trust shown allowed participants to often share aspects of themselves and stories that are part of their life history they had never had the opportunity or been able to share with others before. As a result, healing occurred, and each person’s health was taken to a new level. DeeAnn has written a variety of health education courses covering the topics of Mental Health and Retirement, Stress Management, Healthy lifestyle choices for Seniors, and staff training manuals about sensitivity training for Senior Citizen Patients. Collaborating with Kate Lorig, R.N., Dr.P.H., Stanford University School of Medicine Professor and Director, Patient Education Research Center, DeeAnn co-developed a course for patients with chronic pain. By helping these patients understand the pain cycle, the patients could see behaviors that contributed to their pain and make modifications in those behaviors. Recently DeeAnn has broadened her study of pain learning from John E. Leonard, Ph.D, and his NeuroBehavioral Programs, another tool to help patients turn off their pain. DeeAnn is currently President of DeeAnn Schumucker and Associates, a consulting firm specializing in Group Medical Appointments, Chronic Disease Management and Change Management.