Internal Medicine Clinic
Our Vision
We provide access to high value, high quality care for all of our patients, partnering with them to enhance their health of mind, body and spirit. We are fully present to them and to one another, embracing this community as a family. In this way, we will inspire and train our residents to be the next generation of exceptional primary care physicians.
The Internal Medicine (IM) Clinic at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - St. Louis is an integral part of residency training, providing a heightened understanding of primary care and preventative health, developing relationships through continuity of care and professionalism.
The IM Clinic serves as a medical home to some of St. Louis' most vulnerable patients, as two-thirds of the patient population are underinsured (Medicaid) or uninsured. The IM Clinic strives to reduce healthcare disparities in the community with compassion and comprehensive care for all patients. By serving the area's most vulnerable patients in the context of a true continuity teaching clinic for our Internal Medicine Residency Program, the IM Clinic exemplifies the Mission of SSM Health every day.
As of June 2020, the IM Clinic has been formally recognized as a Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This recognition emphasizes the Internal Medicine Clinic’s ability to provide systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication and patient involvement.
Benefits of training in the Internal Medicine (IM) Clinic:
- Enjoy the privilege of developing a trusting relationship with a diverse group of patients as part of an exceptional multidisciplinary team.
- With the 4+1 block schedule, each resident will have the opportunity to spend a week in the clinic every 5th week. It is during the IM Clinic week that the resident PCP will see his or her own patients for follow up visits, in addition to acute visits and cross coverage for other residents.
- Receive training in Primary Care under the direction of experienced clinician educators and a multidisciplinary support staff of exceptional and dedicated nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists and a pharmacy technician who oversee a large program of patient assistance, a social worker, transportation leader, and administrative staff.
- Cultivate a team approach to individualized patient care. Each resident has a panel of patients with diverse backgrounds that he/she will acquire, build upon, follow throughout the three years of residency with the expectation of comprehensive, holistic, high value care with attention to overall health and wellness.
- Clinic responsibilities also include review of literature with didactic presentations and discussions, quality interventions, rapid improvement events, and preventative health maintenance.
- Serve as the primary care physician while training in the management of acute and chronic outpatient problems, transitions of care, preventative health education, high value care, on call responsibilities, documentation, coding, and communication in the ambulatory setting.
- Be involved, on an almost continuous basis, with quality improvement projects to improve care of clinic patients.
Subspecialty & Transitional Care Clinics
The Internal Medicine Clinic offers training in not only a longitudinal primary care experience but also allows residents to see their own patients across multiple disciplines while being supervised by ABIM certified sub-specialists.
The resident PCP communicates directly with the various subspecialty attending physicians to provide longitudinal subspecialty care in areas of psychiatry, pulmonary medicine, infectious disease including long term management of HIV in our Ryan White Clinic.
The IM Clinic has received recognition for its noteworthy success in the Transitional Care Clinic (TCC) due to a significant reduction in admissions to the hospital as well as for enhanced care and follow up of patients in the St. Louis community.
Residents have the opportunity to spend some time in the TCC, and time each month in the subspecialty clinics working alongside specialists from different fields.