Family Medicine
When searching for a primary care provider for your family, you need someone you trust and who has your common interests at heart. Family medicine at Hammond-Henry Hospital offers a wide range of primary care services for patients of all ages, ensuring you have ready access to the care your family needs in a friendly and local setting.
Hammond-Henry Medical Group serves Geneseo, Kewanee, Port Byron, and surrounding communities with high-quality family medicine close to your home. Find a clinic near you and schedule an appointment today.
What Is Family Medicine?
As defined by the American Academy of Family Physicians, family medicine offers a first point of contact for patients and provides continuing, comprehensive medical services across their entire lifespan regardless of gender and reproductive stages. This allows family physicians to develop long-term relationships with their patients and create personalized care plans based on their experiences. Family physicians are trained in a wide variety of medical specialties, allowing them to take a holistic approach to diagnosing and treating illnesses, providing preventative care, administering vaccinations and immunizations, and counseling patients, allowing them to adapt their services to the changing needs of their communities.
Like pediatricians, family physicians are equipped with the skills and knowledge to treat children. Unlike pediatricians, however, family physicians may continue seeing patients into adulthood.
When Should I See a Primary Care Provider?
Consult with a family physician for any of the following conditions or services:
- Diagnosis and treatment for minor illnesses and injuries
- Treatment and management of chronic illnesses and conditions
- Annual checkups and physicals
- Vaccinations and immunizations
- Preventative care and counseling
FAQs
What does Family Practice mean?
It’s easy to get lost in translation when dealing with the medical field. Family Practice refers to patients of all ages and general health issues. HHH Medical Group offers a wide range of services including but certainly not limited to:
- Acute and chronic care management
- Minor procedures like excisions, vasectomy, IUD implants, and fracture care
- Tobacco cessation
- Family planning
- Vaccinations
- Weight management
- Wellness visits
What is a Physician Associate?
A Physician Associate (PA) or Physician Associate Certified (PA-C) is a healthcare professional who works with doctors and gives medical treatment. You can find physician’s associates in virtually all primary care and specialty medical fields. Although PAs work alongside a supervising doctor, that doesn’t mean they work under the doctor’s direct supervision. Instead, they are in partnership with the doctor. They are independent clinicians within the scope of state law.
- Making rounds (checking on patients)
- Doing patient exams
- Helping doctors in surgery
- Diagnosing illnesses
- Writing prescriptions
- Creating and managing patient treatment plans
- Offering advice to patients on preventive care and best health practices
What is a Nurse Practitioner?
Even though Nurse Practitioners (aka NPs or APNs) have been around for decades, many people are still confused by what they can do. NPs are registered nurses who have acquired additional education in the medical field. Independently or in collaboration with other healthcare professionals, NPs can provide a wide range of primary, acute, and specialty healthcare services.
- Ordering, performing, and interpreting diagnostic tests, such as labs and x-rays
- Diagnosing and treating acute and chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, infections, and injuries
- Prescribing medications and other treatments
- Counseling
How will I be billed for my visit?
No matter who you visit for your primary care, you should always consult with your insurance company about your individual coverage. For more information about Hammond-Henry Hospital billing, be sure to check out our billing and collection policies.
Will providers visit a patient in a nursing home?
When you have a loved one in a nursing home, it can be necessary to have a provider visit outside of the office. Certain HHH Medical Group providers routinely perform visits to area nursing homes.
How do I know what vaccines my child needs?
Keeping track of vaccines for your children can be a daunting task. When they need them and what type are all questions that swim inside of a parent's head. A phone call to your nearest HHH Medical Group Clinic can help. HHH Medical Group participates in the Vaccine for Children program through the Illinois Department of Public Health striving to keep youth up to date on vaccines. HHH Medical Group offers a wide variety of immunizations to patients not eligible for the Vaccine for Children program such as pneumonia, influenza, chickenpox, Gardasil, meningitis, and tetanus to name a few.
