Dr. Egan is a physician that impressed me the first time I met him. It was because of his standards and ethics that I asked him if I could interview him for one of my blogs. I was delighted when he said, “Yes” and couldn’t wait to hear more about him.
To honor his expertise I wanted to feature him in both our Newsletter and our regular blog. I am truly honored to feature him as a provider of choice in our next newsletter, so our patients/clients can learn more about him and his services.
Bio
Dr. Egan was born and raised in southern Minnesota. He attended Swarthmore College where he majored in psychobiology and medieval studies. It was there that he also met his future wife, Rachel. He then attended the University of Minnesota for medical school where he discovered his talent for developing relationships with patients. During his residency at Abbott Northwestern Hospital he found his calling in primary care; however, he also realized that he didn’t want to be only in clinic or hospital settings. He is a board-certified traditional internist, practicing on the Abbott Northwestern campus.
He has a passion for medical ethics and performs ethics consultations at the hospital. He is also a board member of the political action committee of the Minnesota Medical Association, where he is able to influence state politics to improve the health of all Minnesotans. He and his wife, Rachel, along with their miniature schnauzer, Darth, enjoy spending time together at home, cooking, gardening, and staying active.
Our Interview
Dr. Egan: I was born & raised in Fairmont, MN. Good old pig & corn country; very rural and conservative.
I attended Swarthmore College, a private Liberal Arts college, where I received a degree in Medieval Studies & Psychobiology. From there, I attended the University of MN Medical School. Under their Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP), I spent 9 months in a rural primary care setting to get immersed on how to be rural provider since there is a shortage of physicians in rural areas.
Along the way I got married to my beautiful wife, Rachel.
I served my residency in Internal Medicine at Abbott Northwestern Hospital (ANW) until spring 2013. I chose ANW for two reasons:
- Because of the leading use of technology – they started using the bedside ultrasound (one of the first programs in the entire nation to teach this technology to internal medicine residents)
- They allowed me to sit on the Ethics Committee as a resident, what I deemed an indispensable component of anything I wanted to do in the future.
I applied for a residency in both Internal Medicine & Pediatrics. Ranking first in ANW meant I chose to pursue Internal Medicine (IM). Had fate turned another way, my second choice was going into Pediatrics in Hawaii or Seattle. I was also considering becoming a primary care doctor for adults with congenital heart disease with a residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology. Since last spring I have been working at Specialists in Internal Medicine, PA (SIMPA).
Dr. Egan: Continuity of care between the clinic and hospital is important to me. They offer this unique hybrid between the two, providing opportunity to establish meaningful relationships with patients, including time for ever-important counseling. I had fallen in love with this model of care in residency and wanted to continue this in my own practice.
Dr. Egan: Our clinic is located on the ANW Campus on the top floor of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Building. Parking is available in the ANW hospital ramps and we validate parking for our higher tiers of service (so be sure to bring them in with you for validation!).
Note: SIMPA has the following equipment on-site:
- Basic labs (BMP, CBC machines)
- Urinalysis
- Point-of-care ultrasound
- Chest x-ray
- EKG
- and many other state-of-the-art equipment & technologies
ANW or Quest is also utilized for their more complex lab abilities.
Dr. Egan: We are affiliated only with ANW, so ANW is the only hospital at which we see our patients. In fact, one of our physicians, Dr. Jason Reed, is the current Chief of Staff for ANW. We are not associated with Allina.
Dr. Egan: We are an “Out of Network Provider.”
We used to accept Medicare and other private insurances but we were unable to continue delivering the same level of services that our patients required and desired. Years ago we opted out of Medicare. That means we do not bill Medicare or accept direct payment from Medicare. We actually have a subscription model that works very well for our Medicare-age patients. All of our patients are free to send their claims to their insurance (or Medicare supplemental insurance) for direct reimbursement themselves. Most services are paid out of pocket. Thankfully, we have a lady who is our billing and insurance guru to help us and our patients navigate the frustrating insurance landscape. Our Payment Models work like this:
For our patients with private insurance (that is, most patients younger than 65 and not on Medicare), our clinic’s services are fee-for-service. This model is pay-as-you-go, and our clinic can submit claims to private insurance so that patients can get reimbursement for any services covered by out-of-network providers.. A special option we offer is called SIMPA Gold, which is all our clinic’s comprehensive services for an annual subscription fee.
For our Medicare population, we offer what we call the Senior VIP program. With Senior VIP, all the same services are available under different subscription models called Tiers of Service. There are 4 options and our website has an easy-to-read chart to help:
Tier 1 is all-inclusive, including not only clinic cares (physicals, in-house labs, imaging, and so on) but also all hospital care from our doctors. Tier 2 is most clinic cares without hospital coverage included (though patients often still choose to have us care for them in the hospital).
Tier 3 is more bare-bones but still includes all office visits and some in-house procedures.
Tier 4 is entirely pay-as-you-go without an annual fee. This is generally the choice of the healthiest patients who don’t expect to need many visits.
All of these options are designed to give our clients options to fit their preferred arrangement and their expected health needs.
Dr. Egan: As internists,we see seniors, adults, and young adults. We do not see kids (only upper teens). Also, we do not do OB care. The majority of our patients are older with chronic medical issues. We also see seniors who are basically healthy, young patients with complex medical conditions, and young and healthy patients. Basically, we see the full spectrum of clients except pediatrics.
We also offer an Executive Health Care service which targets high level executives across the state as well as internationally. See our website for more information on this specialty care service. In this specialty service we see high power executives, foreign royalty, politicians, and more—it is a very interesting and engaging side of our practice.
We also pride ourselves in our cultural diversity. Going to Swarthmore helped me have an amazing understanding of various cultures due to the experiences and relationships I was introduced to while there.
Dr. Egan: Direct Primary Care is my area of expertise; Primary Care in the most personalized sense. We deliver and intend to continue to deliver the highest level of care possible. We offer personalized primary care in order to get to know our patients on all levels. We do this not by simply doing more lab tests or more imaging studies; instead, we take the time to offer a higher level of service. We are a General Internal Medicine office with 80%-90% of our day-to-day patients in the clinic and 10%-20% are in the hospital. We perform minor surgeries; things like getting rid of boils, getting rid of pre-cancerous skin lesions, and such.
Sometimes patients go elsewhere for insurance-covered care. However, interestingly, most quickly come back when they discover that it is not the same level of service or the same level of access to their physician as they have with us. They tell us how much more difficult it is to see “their doctor” at other clinics compared to ours.
As for our “Mission” it’s quite simple. We want to provide a personalized high level of service with the best medical care possible.
Dr. Egan: Our website is http://www.simpa.bz and our website is the best way to learn more about us. We don’t advertise, we don’t have brochures, and we don’t do ‘outreach.’ We rely upon nothing but word of mouth advertising for our marketing because we feel that hearing it straight from those who have experienced our system is the best way to understand and learn about us.
Dr. Egan: Yes we are accepting new patients. Office visits can almost always be booked the same day. We can almost always accommodate patients since we make it a point not to be overbooked because of the streamlined system we have in place.
Dr. Egan: Patients check in at the front desk. They don’t need to bring anything unless, though any and all outside information or records is welcome.
The nurse brings the patient into an exam room where they get the patient’s chief complaints, vital signs, basically nursing intake and triage. The nurses then inform the doctor of the patient and the visit is off and running.
All visits are scheduled to be 30 minutes. This makes it so we are never pressed for time, allowing everyone to be thorough. We always have time for questions.Physicals require more time, typically a full hour. Some complex appointments run even longer.
Our in-house labs and imaging can give us results very quickly which our patients really appreciate. A personalized letter with visit summary, including test results and recommendations, is routinely mailed (or emailed) shortly after the visit is closed.
Phone calls after hours (after 4:30 PM daily and on the weekendsare messages answered by our physicians. Otherwise, during the day our nurses respond quickly.
Though we mail or email out patient’s test results, if it ends up being something serious, the patient receives a personal phone call from the physician. (For example, Dr. Egan once received a colon cancer result after hours on Friday, called patient late Friday night, and met with the patient and family in clinic on Saturday morning to discuss.)
On rare occasions we will make house calls—that’s right, it still exists!
Dr. Egan: Yes, we’re always accepting new patients and we would definitely appreciate referrals from your practice. As I mentioned, we work solely by word of mouth ‘advertising.’
I hope you are as impressed with the philosophy of care, the amount of time and the exceptional service Dr. Egan and his practice offers to their patients as I am. Check out their website to find out more. I’d like to thank Dr. Egan for taking the time to do this interview and being so open about his thoughts and ideas as an Internal Medicine Physician at Specialists in Internal Medicine. I hope we can continue to have a long and prosperous friendship that benefits many patients in the future. I sincerely thank you, Dr. Egan.
Dedicated to Keeping You Healthy, SAFE & Active,
Dr. Eva Norman
President & Founder
Doctor of Physical Therapy
Live Your Live Physical Therapy, LLC