All-in-one-spot health provider poised to grow

Matt Person and his business partner, Dr. James Stevens, look at the Triangle's booming, affluent suburban pockets and see people in need of health care -- their kind of health care.

Person, a former hospital executive, and Stevens, a Raleigh doctor, are the driving forces behind the American Institute of Healthcare & Fitness, a Wal-Mart-size health-care mall that puts doctors, nutritionists, physical therapists, counselors, a fitness center and more in one place. It's called integrative medicine, and it encourages teamwork among physicians and others who provide health care.

With the North Raleigh center open for more than a year, the two men are planning two smaller expansions, one of them in Wake Forest. They are keeping the third location a secret to keep the competition guessing.

Dawn Carter, a Durham health-care consultant to hospitals and health systems in the Southeast, said the two need not worry. They are already a step ahead of their biggest competitors in the Triangle: the area's largest hospitals.

Indeed, Carter said, integrative medicine, which can rely on services not usually covered by health insurance, has yet to take off at most U.S. hospitals. "Hospitals don't know how to take cash," she explained.

Beating big hospitals

The concept, which encourages physicians and other health-care and social-services providers to work together to make patients well and try to keep them that way, has support from major academic centers such as Duke University Medical Center, philanthropists and the federal government.

One large, urban hospital system, Trinity Health in Detroit, has taken a stab at a service smorgasbord similar to AIHF.

But WakeMed and Rex Healthcare, Wake County's two largest health care providers, are still pursuing more traditional approaches. Both are trying to open urgent care centers and other services in North Raleigh, Cary, Holly Springs and Garner. A month ago, state hospital regulators denied them permission to build the facilities. Both are appealing.

Carter thinks Triangle hospital executives are paying attention to what Person and Stevens are doing with integrative medicine. But she said, "It looks like these guys are beating them to it."

Spread across four stories and 187,000 square feet, AIHF combines more than two dozen providers under one roof. Patients can see a family physician, work out in the fitness center, have a cavity filled and pick up prescription drugs. They can also have acupuncture done, talk to a mental-health counselor or see a plastic surgeon.

All of AIHF's providers are well-established groups, Person said. That should give providers and patients confidence to try something new.

Putting concept to test

Dr. Brett Foreman, a physician with Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine, used the collaborative atmosphere at AIHF to treat a patient in his 80s with multiple health issues and memory problems.

To get the patient to take his medication correctly, Foreman said he worked with the man's other four physicians, who are not part of AIHF, to have all prescriptions filled at AIHF's pharmacy. The pharmacy agreed to dispense the patient's medication sorted in pre-filled containers, a month's supply at a time. When a prescription changes, Foreman gets a call from the pharmacist.

"It makes a big difference when the pharmacy is just upstairs and you know people look out for stuff," he said.

Person said the new center in Wake Forest will follow the same concept, but at about 75,000 square feet, it will be much smaller. To offer a similar variety of services in a smaller facility, Person is considering having providers share space and rotating specialty clinics on a weekly schedule. He said he's talking to the same providers who leased space in the North Raleigh center, but he is also looking to expand the roster of providers.

The facility is already under construction and scheduled to open in about 10 months. It will serve Wake Forest, Rolesville, Louisburg and Franklinton, among the fastest-growing small communities in the state.

This summer, the partners plan to announce their third Triangle location.