78 • <strong>September</strong>/<strong>October</strong> <strong>2017</strong>
It’s not your run-of-the-mill doctor’s office. There’s no receptionist. No non-descript waiting room. Instead, it feels more like stepping into a luxury spa. Smiling faces greet those who walk in like valued clients. NewCare MD is the new look of how medical care is delivered, and patients are loving it. “We offer a totally different way of getting primary healthcare than you get at a regular clinic,” said Dr. Micah Walker. “Everything is centered around the patient-doctor relationship. For too long, we seem to have accepted healthcare as impersonal. There are just too many people between the patient and the doctor. Doctors, myself included, went to school to care for people, but our medical system has made that increasingly difficult. Where, along the way, did doctors end up having to deal with so many levels of management?” For a guy from the small town of Tchula, Walker has always had big dreams. He started his own computer company when he was a sophomore in college, and graduated from Delta State with a degree in business administration. Marriage, children and working for a huge international company never stopped Walker from dreaming big. At age 30, he started his journey into medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and became a family physician. While there, he befriended Dr. John Vanderloo, an attending physician at UMMC who was becoming increasingly burned out. A conversation between Walker and Vanderloo developed into an idea and then a business plan and finally, the first location of NewCare MD. “In <strong>October</strong> 2016 we had no building, no lease, and no loan. But on January 3, <strong>2017</strong>, we opened the location in <strong>Madison</strong>,” Walker said. Located on Fountains Boulevard, NewCare MD offers patients a personal level of care that far exceeds other healthcare experiences. “We spend a great deal of time with our patients – about thirty minutes, which is something they’re not used to,” said Walker. “We develop relationships with our patients. We want to know about their families, what’s important to them, things that a ‘normal’ patient-doctor relationship doesn’t allow time for.” The financial end of the business is different for patients as well. There is a monthly fee of $69, less than most cell phone bills, and no co-pay for office visits. “We don’t take insurance,” Walker explained. “Our costs are very low. For example, a normal CT scan may cost $1200 or more. We charge $300. The co-pay on a Z-Pak may be $10 or $15 or more, but we only charge $3 and you don’t have to go to a pharmacy to pick it up.” Walker said they have most prescriptions at the clinic, and they explain how to take it when they dispense medications to the patient. “I feel fortunate that I was able to partner with Dr. Vindaloo on this clinic,” said Walker. “We have the same vision, and this has afforded both of us to be the kind of doctors we really want to be. This is working well in <strong>Madison</strong>, and now we want to solve problems everywhere.” Another NewCare MD clinic is set to open in Flora in early <strong>September</strong>, and Walker and Vanderloo are seeking a doctor for another clinic in Brandon. “We want to replicate this model all over.” n A New Kind of Patient-Doctor Experience Susan Marquez <strong>Hometown</strong> madison • 79