Clinical Component

Navigating the Clinical Component

These are outpatient Family Medicine practices built around bread-and-butter primary care. You evaluate and manage your patients, and you refer to a specialist when it makes sense. Baylor Scott & White has deep specialty infrastructure, so referral access is easy and you are not expected to perform every procedure yourself.

The daily experience is designed to let you build a patient panel at a sustainable pace, with technology and support that reduce administrative burden.

Clinical Snapshot

Patient Population

• Outpatient primary care across the age spectrum
• General Family Medicine patient mix in a metro and suburban setting
• Weatherford patients may present a more rural population given the practice's location further from the metro core

Procedures

Procedures are optional across these practices. With extensive specialty access in the metro, many physicians refer procedures such as injections and women's health to specialists rather than performing them in clinic. If you want to perform procedures and the practice can accommodate it, that is welcome. Weatherford may offer more procedure opportunity because its more rural patients are often less inclined to travel into the city for specialty care.

Patient Volume and Ramp-Up

• A general target is approximately 18 or more patients per day once you are established
• Some physicians see around 16 per day, which is viewed as lower than preferred
• New physicians ramp gradually, starting around one patient per hour
• The ramp period gives you time to learn Epic, build efficiency, develop MA and staff relationships, establish your panel, and build templates and smart phrases

Scheduling Flexibility

• You can build your schedule around 15/30-minute or 20/40-minute appointment templates
• Posted clinic hours do not dictate your required start and end times; you have flexibility as long as the clinic stays adequately staffed
• Example schedules discussed include starting around 7:00 AM and leaving around 3:00 PM, or starting closer to 9:00 AM and working later
• Virtual visits are encouraged, including during clinic downtime such as a closed lunch hour

Call

Call is clinic only. There is no hospital call.

• Typically rotated, usually about one week at a time
• Nurse triage screens calls first, so most routine matters never reach the physician
• Physicians often receive only two to three calls during their week, rarely more than five
• Smaller clinics may partner with another clinic to form a call pool of roughly four to five physicians; larger practices may handle call within their own group
• APPs are not expected to participate in physician call
• There is no additional call pay; call is part of the overall arrangement

Technology

• Epic at all locations
• Abridge ambient listening assists with documentation, which reduces note-completion burden and administrative load

APP Support Model

Support is provided through a shared APP model rather than a dedicated APP per physician. The exact structure varies by clinic.

• APPs may carry their own patient panel, often around three-quarters of a full panel, with open slots for physician overflow
• In some practices an APP partners more closely with a specific physician, more common in established settings
• APPs are expected to see other physicians' patients when access requires it
• A new physician is generally not expected to supervise an APP right away

Mentorship

Mentorship is available across the Fort Worth practices and is particularly valuable for new graduates.

• Each practice typically has a lead physician who provides mentorship
• Regional mentorship resources are also available and can supplement practice-level support
• Formal regional mentorship can be arranged when a clinic does not have an on-site mentor