Nurse Practitioner Care

John B. Woods, M.D., is pleased to integrate advanced practice nurse providers into his medical practice.  As patients, you know Dr. Woods has worked hard to build a unique independent practice that focuses on personalized care.  Faced with declining reimbursements for primary care services, Dr. Woods has refused to shorten visit times or make other changes which would make patients feel hurried or make their visits impersonal.  Instead, we at John B. Woods, M.D., remain committed to our founding ideal of providing superior personalized primary care to the people of Jackson and West Tennessee. 

“I realized I could use carefully selected nurse practitioners, who are trained by me and who buy into my philosophy of medical care, to provide care for more patients without lessening the worth of those visits,” says Dr. Woods.  Our most recently hired provider is Diane Butler, who in May completed her terminal degree studies and was awarded her doctorate in nursing practice.  Dr. Butler joins Tina McCall and Stacie Grantham, who, along with Dr. Woods, will serve patients as a knowledgeable, caring, and now even more accessible team of providers.

Dr. Woods says, “It’s critical that patients understand that if their visit is with Diane or Stacie or Tina, it’s really still a visit with me.  They are trained to do things the way I like them done, and in the vast majority of cases I’m personally reviewing the patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan before the patient has even left the office.” Such is the benefit of our electronic medical record, which also ensures that Dr. Woods signs off on 100% of the charts of patients seen by the practitioners.

“I am convinced,” says Dr. Woods, “that if we do not adapt to the reality of decreasing primary care reimbursement, I will be forced to either sell out to corporate or hospital interests, or in the alternative, become a ‘patient mill’ seeing fifty people a day for five minutes per visit.  I certainly would not enjoy that, and I know my patients wouldn’t.”

Dr. Woods reveres the sanctity of the traditional relationship between patient and health care provider, and he is pleased with the feedback that patients have given thus far about the new system.  Furthermore, Dr. Woods says, “Diane and Stacie and Tina are fine people, and very sharp, and I know my patients will like them.  You have shown your trust in me as your doctor, and I want you as my patients to have that same level of trust in our nurse practitioners.  Thank you for the honor of allowing me to serve as your physician.”