The Little Clinic partners with Via Christi Health

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Little Clinic, now located inside select Wichita-area Dillon stores, is working with Via Christi Health to provide convenient routine health care services to patients in the Wichita community, the clinic operator announced on Friday.



“We’re exploring how our organizations can leverage our respective strengths to collectively better serve the community,” stated Ken Patric, chief medical officer for The Little Clinic. “Our service delivery model is based on making low-acuity healthcare services more accessible and affordable. And, because our clinics are open for extended hours seven days a week and are geographically dispersed, The Little Clinic can provide a variety of routine health care services close to where patients live and work.”



For those patients who come to The Little Clinic and do not have a primary care provider or may need follow-up care and services outside of the scope of what’s offered at the in-store clinics, The Little Clinic will assist those patients in identifying a community provider and help them set up an initial appointment.



“Our goal is to work with other providers to better coordinate and integrate the care being provided in our community, which has been shown to lead to better outcomes at a lower overall cost,” stated Dave Gambino, chief strategy officer for Via Christi Health, whose Wichita hospitals, physician clinics and outpatient therapy centers offer a wide breadth of services, ranging from outreach and prevention to care for the most critically ill and injured.



Via Christi physicians will serve as collaborating physicians for the nurse practitioners who staff each walk-in site.



Efforts also are under way to develop a team-based approach to caring for patients.



“Ultimately, we want to develop a link between our single electronic medical record and theirs so that we can share the information needed to provide those we serve with the highest quality care in the most convenient and cost-effective manner,” stated Ed Hett, Via Christi’s medical director for New Models of Care.