Make Pain a Thing of the Past – pain relief – Physician Partners of America

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PPOA Patient Care Champions – Terica Cox

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TERICA COX – REGIONAL MANAGER, TEXAS

Our employees are all patient care champions, but some go the extra mile and we want to give them the recognition they deserve. They embody the PPOA values known as S.I.T.E. – Safety, Integrity, Teamwork, Empathy – which informs our service to patients and the community through high quality health care. 

Terica Cox manages her Texas clinical teams on one key principle: “I tell them that we are all one fall away from being a patient ourselves and we should treat patients the way we would want to be treated,” she says.

It comes in part from personal experience. A lifelong Dallas resident, Cox says her mother suffered a bout of sickness and had to have several emergency surgeries. “Healthcare intrigued me. I wanted to learn more about it and how I could help my mom in her time of need,” she says.

That led her to study at PCI Health Training Center in Dallas and become a certified medical assistant (CMA). She worked in a variety of specialties including occupational medicine, cardiology, labor and delivery, and internal medicine, before finding pain management.

“I love patient care. I love specialty, so anything that’s a specialty allows me to learn new things. I like to learn new things all the time,” she says.

She joined PPOA in November 2014, in a position that was then known as a clinical coordinator, in the Grapevine location, now closed. She was later promoted to practice manager of the North Dallas clinic, and assumed her regional manager position in 2016.

She now oversees practice managers in Carrollton, Desoto, Frisco, McKinney and Richardson, plus two Capstone Pain and Spine partner clinics.

 

“I love the relationships you build with patients because these are the people you see every month,” she says. “Knowing we’re making a difference, seeing patients relieved of some of their pain, is rewarding to me.”

For Terica Cox, that means not only making sure patients receive excellent health care, but also asking them about their day, or a recent vacation, or their children. She embodies the patient-focused concept of AIDET and instills it in the people she supervises.

She is also known for both leadership and interpersonal skills. “I want to be the kind of manager that people feel they can come to and talk about anything,” she says. “I try to make it personable and be approachable.”

She has been known to invite team members for holiday dinners, check on those who are sick, or just call and say hello to someone she hasn’t heard from in a while.

“Terica Cox is very passionate about every patient having a great experience,” says Rhonda Boysen, Cox’s supervisor. “I’ve also found her to be engaged and resourceful to providers and support staff in her clinics.”

As you might imagine, family is everything to Cox. She and her husband have two daughters: Nature, who turns 24 this year, and Breyanna, 11.

Nature is following in her mother’s footsteps, taking classes toward her nursing degree. Mother and daughter are study partners, too: Cox is now working on her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at West Coast University in Dallas.

“I look forward to continuing to learn and grow,” she says.

 

 

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4 Money-Saving Tips for End-of-Year Health Insurance Costs

Don’t miss a money-saving opportunity –

The clock is ticking on your health insurance costs and expenses for the year. Have you met your deductible? Have you used up your FSA or HSA? On Jan. 1, many insurance plan deductibles – the amount you’re responsible for paying before your insurance plan picks up the bill – reset to $0. You have just a few weeks left to “use it or lose it.”

If this applies to you, here are four health insurance tips to help you make the most of your healthcare dollars.

Have you met your deductible?

If you have or are close to it, schedule a visit to a primary care doctor for those tests you’ve been putting off. If your goal is to get pain-free in the new year, schedule an appointment with an interventional pain management specialist or laser spine surgeon. Physician Partners of America offers fast appointments at its pain management, laser spine and orthopedic practices.

To get a handle on health insurance costs, it’s also a good idea to refill prescriptions and schedule lab work and imaging before year’s end if insurance is likely to pick up the tab. Of course, it’s important to check your plan, as your coinsurance must also be factored in.

Still have a way to go to meet your deductible?

You should not put off seeing a doctor for serious or nagging conditions; but if you’ve only used up a fraction of your deductible, any major expenses in November and December will likely come out of your pocket. If you have chronic spine pain, here’s good news: You can schedule a second opinion with a laser spine surgeon in Texas or Florida, and have the procedure when your deductible resets in January.

Do you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA)?

Flexible Spending Accounts let you set aside tax-free money at the start of each year to pay for certain healthcare expenses. The downside? What you don’t use by Dec. 31, you lose. It’s important to get everything you need now. The list of eligible expenses is long and surprising: it includes prescriptions, imaging, and even travel expenses related to medical treatment for patients and certain caregivers. Pain patients eligible for laser spine procedures by renowned specialists Dr. James St. Louis and Dr. Phillip Kravetz may be able to get reimbursement for airfare, meals and lodging.

What if you have a Health Savings Account (HSA)?

Unlike the FSA, Health Savings Account dollars roll over from one year to the next. There is no pressure to spend it by the end of December. If you are young and in good health, some financial advisors suggest putting any leftover HSA funds in a tax-free investment like mutual funds to increase its value.

Good health and more money top the list of New Year’s resolutions. Get a start on both by using your end-of-year health insurance dollars wisely.

 

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3 Risk Factors for Sciatica

Are You At Risk for Sciatica?

A factory worker has to lift heavy boxes all day and toss them in a truck. The sheer amount of pressure applied to their spine with each lift and toss is potentially dangerous.

An elderly man who doesn’t like getting assistance who wants to continue doing things on his own. The natural wear-and-tear on his spine over the many years makes his back incapable of handling what would otherwise be routine movements and physical activities like sweeping the porch or sliding an end table over.

An overweight woman who has been battling obesity for years and can’t seem to manage it. The sheer amount of excess weight bearing down on her spine at every movement will eventually cause spinal disorders.

What do these people have in common? They are each at risk for sciatica due to increased risk of a pinched sciatic nerve in their spine due to a herniated disc. Occupation, age and obesity are three major risk factors for sciatica. While one cannot easily change their job or weight, extra care must be taken when doing strenuous activities to avoid injury. When it comes to age, at some point the body simply can’t do what it once did and this is why medical assistance is available.

Sciatica Pain Relief in Tampa

Sciatica is often lumped together with lower back pain, which in some instances it can be, but this disorder also speaks to pain in your hips, buttocks and legs. The pain is often only felt on one side of the body or the other, and it can be either be mild or extremely painful.

Our pain management doctors offer sciatica relief in Tampa. Please contact Florida Pain Relief Group if you feel you are suffering from lower back, hip, buttock or leg pain and can identify with any of the three risk factors listed above. Pain relief can begin immediately.

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