Three Types of Primary Care at Nice Healthcare

Nice Healthcare is an integrated healthcare service that partners with employers to offer their employees and their families virtual and in-home healthcare services with no out-of-pocket costs (with few exceptions). Employers pay a low, fixed monthly rate and enjoy a healthier, more productive workforce, increased employee retention and downstream cost savings.

When a Nice patient logs into the Nice app and schedules a virtual visit with a clinician, we use three categories to determine the nature and urgency of the patients needs:

• Acute Care: Short-term illnesses and conditions like colds, sore throats, rashes, stomach aches, etc that last less than three months.

• Chronic Condition Management: The ailments that you live with for longer than three months but shouldn’t define patients such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, depression, etc. 

• Preventative Care: That “annual” exam that patients should have to be proactive about their health and obtaining the recommended screenings for their age group. 

To address those issues, Nice offers patients a variety of services, including in-home visits for 35 free labs and physical tests, in-home imaging (x-ray and ekg) services, virtual physical therapy and virtual mental health therapy. Plus, Nice clinicians can prescribe patients with over 550 free medications that can be picked up at over 60,000 pharmacies nationwide or, in some cases, delivered to your home that same day. 

Nice’s services address over 95% of the issues patients schedule visits to discuss with their Nice clinicians. Only 4% of our patients are referred to external specialists to manage a particular condition.

The rest of this post will dive deeper into acute care, chronic condition management and wellness and preventative care by providing more examples of each and what the patient experience with Nice may look like.

Disclaimer: The treatment recommendations for the conditions below are hypothetical and should not be used to treat conditions. Every treatment plan is customized for the patient and highly dependent on their confidential conversations with their clinician.

Acute Conditions

Acute conditions are short-term issues that need relatively quick attention (minor illnesses, injuries and rashes). If patients have an issue that needs in-person attention within 2 hours, they should contact an urgent care service. Otherwise, they may send their clinician a message in the Nice app and get a reply within minutes.

Acute conditions that Nice treats: 

• Musculoskeletal pain

• Sprains/strains

• Upset stomach

• Constipation

• Skin rashes

• Minor cuts

• Minor infections

• Sore throats

• Ear pain

• Coughs

• Congestion

• Urinary infections

• Pink eye

• Burns

• Grief/loss

• Appetite changes

• Sleep changes

• Mood swings

• Irritability

• Substance abuse

• Example - Patient with Sore Throat

  For a sore throat, the patient would schedule a virtual visit (chat or video) with a Nice Clinician. After gathering information about your symptoms and looking at the images you’ve uploaded to the app, a provider will determine the need for a home visit in order to test for strep throat.  Another Nice Clinician will be sent to your home or workplace to assess you, perform a rapid strep test and determine the need for an antibiotic. If you are positive for strep throat, we are able to prescribe you the antibiotic at the time of your visit which will be covered by the Nice pharmacy program.  

• Example - Patient Dealing with Bereavement

  Mental Health treatment for an acute phase of mental illness includes providing support for a recent stressor or disruptive live event, recent change in severity or exacerbation of an existing mental illness, and/or significant decline in functioning in daily activities such as a sleep disruption, changes in appetite, social isolation, or decline educational/work performance. For example, upon learning about the death of a patient's family member, the Nice medical provider would make a referral to the Nice MH clinician for an initial MH consultation or “needs assessment.” At this visit, the MH clinician will review treatment history, assess symptom severity in all clinical domains, provide an intervention to assist the patient in managing their grief/bereavement, and coordinate a plan with the patient for follow up visits. Subsequent visits would focus on providing the patient education on the grief process, strategies to help improve mood, and behavioral interventions designed to maintain or improve functioning.

• Example - Patient Dealing with Acute Ankle Sprain

  For an acute injury like a low grade ankle sprain, the physical therapist would conduct a video visit to assess the ankle and make sure there was no risk for fracture or severe ligamentous instability. If the injury was determined to be a minor sprain, the physical therapist would educate the patient on symptom management which would likely include ice, reducing weight bearing activities, and possibly wrapping or bracing the ankle. The physical therapist would provide stretching and strengthening exercises that the patient could tolerate to gradually improve the overall function of the ankle. The physical therapist would work with the patient over the course of a few weeks to gradually increase the strength of the ankle and increase the patient’s ability to tolerate weight-bearing while reducing the need for symptom management supports like ice and bracing.

Chronic Condition Management

Chronic conditions are issues that last months or even years. They can be persistent (back pain) or flare up every so often (herpes). Nice is uniquely positioned to build lasting relationships with patients as we manage these conditions with you.

• Herpes

• Gout

• Migraines

• Eczema

• High cholesterol

• Asthma

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Arthritis

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Low thyroid and more

• High blood pressure

• Diabetes

• Example - Patient with Diabetes

  With Nice Healthcare, you will have an initial virtual visit with a Nice Clinician to gather the history of your diabetes along with your overall health. A home visit will then be ordered for another clinician to come to your home (or workplace) to conduct any necessary assessments and obtain the necessary labs. Once your lab results are back, a clinician will contact you to review your results and make adjustments to your medications as needed. Our clinicians are able to spend up to 40 minutes with you on the virtual appointment and an hour in the home so that we truly get to know you as we will be a part of your healthcare team moving forward.  And when it’s time to pick up the medications associated with your diabetes, we’ve got a few of them covered through the Nice pharmacy program. If you have any questions in between your appointments, you are able to message your provider in the app and receive a quick response to your question. 

• Example - Patient with Osteoarthritis

  Physical therapy treatment for patients with arthritis would consist of symptom management strategies to reduce pain as well as exercises and activities designed to improve the strength and mobility of the joint and surrounding tissues. For example, if you have arthritis of the knee, strengthening of the quadriceps muscle on the front of the thigh may help to support the knee and take pressure off the joint during walking, reducing pain. Your therapist would prescribe targeted exercises to improve your strength in a way that is comfortable. Your therapist can also help you monitor your symptoms during day to day activities, and over time you could safely and effectively increase your walking distance without causing an increase in pain.

Preventative Services

At Nice, we believe that the best care is proactive and the more frequently patients use their primary care, the higher quality of life they’ll attain. As such, we offer a variety of wellness and preventative services to help you live your best life.

Wellness and preventative services Nice offers:

• Well child checks

• Annual physicals

• Sports physicals

• Preoperative physicals

• Birth control management

• Example of a Well Child Check at Nice Healthcare

  For a well child check, you will make a virtual appointment with a Nice clinician through the app. The Nice clinician will collect information about your child and their development during the appointment.  A home visit will then be ordered and another Nice clinician will come to your home to assess your child and provide any final recommendations regarding their growth and development while they are in the comfort of their own home.