Locally Owned: Lacamas Medical Group Talks Primary Care

Locally Owned will highlight local businesses in the Camas, Washougal/East County area. Many of us prefer to support our friends and neighbors; these articles will help you get to know them a little bit better.

In this edition, we visit a Camas stalwart for nearly a decade – Lacamas Medical Group. Nestled on the corner of 3rd Street and 2nd Street, Lacamas Medical Group or LMG has been treating small emergencies and been a family doctor to many of us. I was able to sit down and have a conversation with founder and clinician, Scott Jonason, PA-C.

SS: Where do you see Primary Care today?
Jonason: I have been a clinician for over 18 years now. For the first time, there is a focus on primary care. As a medical society, we have come to realize that we can save lives…and money through preventive medicine. By understanding our patients and uncovering problems early and by intervening early, we are able to lessen the effects of chronic disease. Chronic disease is such a large component of illness and cost in our healthcare challenges.

SS: Tell me a little about Lacamas Medical Group.
Jonason: We started from the ground up in 2003. We began right out of the gate with EMR (electronic medical records) which was unusual for new clinics at the time. We started with and have maintained an Open Access model to scheduling. That means we don’t fill our time slots solid, we force gaps so that we have room to see patients when they need to be seen. That is better for them and better for continuity of care so that they are having to seek treatment elsewhere. This model works for helping patients with Same Day or Urgent Care needs.

SS: What sets Lacamas Medical Group apart from other clinics?
Jonason: We are small enough to provide more personable care and service than larger clinics, yet large enough to offer extended hours, onsite lab and X-ray, as well as having enough varied provider personalities to match patient needs.

SS: LMG has implemented many innovations to improve your patients’ health care experience, tell me about some of those.
Jonason: We are always looking for ways to be more efficient and effective for our patients, always making their care better and not diminished by those changes. One such addition is our in-clinic pharmacy. We are now able to offer several generic medications right in our office, saving them the trip to another location. We have a HIPAA compliant patient portal that offers secure communication between LMG staff and patients – covering everything from lab results to appointment reminders. We recently upgraded to a digital X-ray machine offering a dramatic improvement to the quality of images. This allows us to see things that might have been missed or more difficult to see.

My take: Lacamas Medical Group sets itself apart from much of today’s blurred and sterile turnstile healthcare by offering personable, personalized health care. In my opinion, a bit of a rare find today. Having a more personal relationship between the clinician and the patient allows more access, better knowledge of the patient. This makes it easier to identify and manage both acute and chronic illnesses. In my conversation with Scott, he admitted, “That personal insight has many times helped me catch something early… that might have otherwise easily been missed.” Imagine, a medical provider that knows you well enough to spot subtle changes in you that they recognize something warrants a closer look. Small enough to be personable, large enough be technologically advanced.

Lacamas Medical Group is open Monday through Friday 8am to 7pm, Saturdays 9am to 2pm. Visit www.LacamasMedicalGroup.com or call 360-838-2440.