By Meredith Knight
When you have back or neck pain, it can be hard to think about anything else. Each day is gauged by how much or how little pain you’re in. And, looking for help can feel like traversing a labyrinth of specialists and insurance requirements. Baylor Scott & White Health has come up with a better way to provide you with the care you need, through their new Back and Neck Center. Here’s how it works:
- Contact the Baylor Scott & White Health Back and Neck Center at 469.814.2225 or by email at [email protected], where you will be assigned a nurse navigator who will assist you through your care journey from the initial consultation right through treatment.
- For your ease and convenience, your nurse navigator will set up a virtual telehealth appointment with a nurse practitioner who specializes in medical and surgical spine care.
- During your telehealth visit, your medical team will collect any imaging you have available or order any you may need.
- Your nurse practitioner will review the results with you and, together, you will determine a plan of care specific to your needs.
- Your nurse navigator will assist with any needed referrals. If you need physical therapy, referrals to pain management, rehabilitation, or a follow up appointment with a neuro or ortho spine specialist, your nurse navigator will schedule these appointments and follow up with you after.
Once the ball is rolling, your nurse navigator stays in touch with you to make sure your appointments are going well and to answer any questions you may have along the way. You will be given their phone number so you can contact them when you need to. And they do all of this virtually for your convenience.
“It’s concierge-type medicine with the patient’s convenience at its core,” said Nurse Practitioner Elizabeth Clark who serves as program lead at the Baylor Scott & White Health Back and Neck Center. “Our goal is to work collaboratively with primary care and ER physicians who see patients with back and neck pain in their facilities. These physicians can contact us so that we can work together toward getting a patient on the right path through our program.”
The Baylor Scott & White Health Back and Neck Center has an expanded care team that consists of a group of specialized providers who have opted into the program and practice in an area close to where a patient lives – Rowlett, Rockwall, Wylie, Wills Point, Garland, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Carrollton, Richardson or Allen.
“If a patient is experiencing low back pain and pain down their leg,” Elizabeth said. “We may order an initial MRI which could indicate a need for surgery in the future. For now, the focus is on eliminating their pain. Surgery is always the last resort. The patient’s nurse practitioner can also order physical therapy and pain management. And, if the need arises, the nurse practitioner can schedule an appointment for the patient to meet with a surgeon.”
“Our goal is a customer-focused and frictionless experience,” Elizabeth said. “Care is comprehensive, encompassing anything back and neck related. Patients have their own personal nurse navigator so they know they’re not going to slip through the cracks, and the doctors they see will be in their own service area making it very convenient.”
It’s easy to schedule an appointment at the Baylor Scott & White Health Back and Neck Center. You can contact the center by email at [email protected] or by calling 469.814.2225.
The Back and Neck Care You Need Right Where You Need It
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Lake Pointe is proud to serve the residents in Forney, Greenville, Rockwall, Rowlett, Wylie, and the surrounding communities. Founded in 1987, Baylor Scott & White – Lake Pointe has developed into a 176-bed acute care hospital in Rowlett located near you at 6800 Scenic Drive. With more than 500 physicians on its medical staff, we offer a wide range of medical specialties and services, including a Fast-Track Emergency Department, intensive care unit, women’s services, Level III NICU, interventional cardiology, diagnostic imaging, robotic-assisted surgery, orthopedics, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, and urology. As patients can attest, the medical center has grown yet maintained its small-town heart and commitment to the people of the Greater Lake Pointe area.
Find out more at BSWHealth.com/specialties/orthopedics/back-and-neck-care.
Physicians provide clinical services as members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Scott & White Health’s subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and do not provide clinical services as employees or agents of Baylor Scott & White Health or those medical centers.
