About Urban Medical
For 30 years, Urban Medical has delivered innovative and compassionate responses to the primary care needs of elderly, chronically ill and underserved. We care for our patients in their homes, at our office at the hospital and in nursing homes. At a time when health care is increasingly fragmented, we maintain lifelong relationships with our patients and their families.
The nationally recognized Urban Medical model, based on teams of physicians and nurse practitioners, results in high quality care that reduces total health care costs while benefiting our patients, their families and greater urban community.
Commitment to the service of complex patients
Urban Medical has always sought to care for those individuals at the margins of the health care system: the elderly, the chronically ill disabled, and the urban poor. Urban Medical providers coordinate care and advocate for these medically underserved populations.
Continuity of Care
A hallmark of our model of care is that patients can be cared for by their provider, no matter where they are. This is in contrast to the recent trend of doctors caring for patients only in the office and transferring care to another doctor when the patient becomes sick enough to require hospitalization or nursing home placement. Urban Medical doctors care for their patients in the office, in nursing homes, and make house calls to the homebound.
Innovation and creativity
Urban Medical has pioneered the creation of new systems of care to meet defined problems. Examples include: House Calls, Boston's first physician-directed home care program; the establishment of the role of nurse practitioners in long term care facilities; on-site primary care in elderly housing; and a primary care program for home-bound quadriplegics and other disabled individuals. Urban Medical's innovative practice model, which features the nurse practitioner as the lead provider in a community-based setting, was described in the New England Journal of Medicine (Master, et al, NEJM, 302:1434-40 (June 26), 1980), and served as the model adopted nationally by United Healthcare's Evercare nursing home practice. The group has a strong tradition of encouraging its providers to develop new medical care initiatives consistent with its mission.
Not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizational structure
Urban Medical has the operational characteristics of a private practice (as opposed to a Community Health Center or a hospital-based clinic) to encourage continuity of medical care and continuous coverage for its patients. However, Urban Medical is a not-for-profit organization with an independent Board of Directors with shared ideals. The Board provides critically important guidance to Urban Medical. Not-for-profit status also makes us eligible for and attracts funding to our programs that improve access to care for patients.
Commitment to Teaching
Urban Medical has long had a strong commitment to teaching. In the 1970's, Urban Medical defined the role of the nurse practitioner in long term care, and trained the first adult NPs in the country. Urban Medical continues to play a key role in educating NPs, medical students, residents, and geriatric fellows. Our physicians are all Instructors at Harvard Medical School.
Promoting Patient Advocacy
Urban Medical providers also work to advocate for the needs of their patients and influence public policy by speaking to the press, collaborating with organizations that promote healthcare access such as Health Care for All, Health Law Advocates, and HEARTH, and by teaching the Urban Medical model to other providers.
Financial Viability
The Urban Medical model of care is intensive in its use of clinical resources. In addition, the flexibility to develop innovative programs requires financial investment without an expectation of immediate financial return. To balance these costs and be an employer of choice, we establish financial benchmarks and are successful in managing our contracts and securing external funding for our programs.
