Connected Care
a new style of Primary Care
The Ikigai Physician Group proudly announces the Connected Care Program for Full Spectrum Family Medicine. We hope you will find our ideas for creating a new model of medicine for Humboldt as exciting as we do!
As a Connected Care Program patient, you will enjoy a more direct line of communication with your physician, a focus on preventative care and health, and shorter wait times when you have an urgent medical need. This is how all Primary Care should work, but unfortunately is rare in today's world. We provide an old-fashioned connection between the physician and the patient, attention to detail, and modern medical excellence.
Please continue receiving all of your medical needs as you currently do through your current health care professionals until such time as you are able to establish care with IPG after our clinic opening."
Join Our Patient Waiting List for Connected Care
Dr. Dittmer is no longer seeing any patients at Open Door. Her panel is currently closed to new patients until November 2021.
Dr. Estlin is no longer seeing primary care patients at Open Door, but will continue with a limited number of hours at Open Door for prenatal care, procedures, and suboxone management. She will also be seeing a limited number of primary care patients and prenatal patients through our Connected Care Program.
Dr. Shegog provides psychiatric consults via telemedicine through our Connected Care Program.
Dr. McAtee will be seeing a limited number of primary care patients and prenatal patients through our Connected Care Program beginning July 1, 2021. She will also continue serving patients in the local hospitals and by providing hospice and palliative care through Hospice of Humboldt.
Drs. Estlin and McAtee are continuing to see prenatal care patients at Fortuna Open Door, and are able to attend births at St Joseph Hospital in Eureka.
We are currently experiencing a higher than expected backlog of patients on our waitlist, particularly at the Basic membership level, and it is taking us longer to get them enrolled. However, patients seeking to enroll at Essential levels and higher can expect to be enrolled in 1-2 business days.
We will have smaller panel sizes and will not be able to invite all of our previous Open Door patients to the Connected Care Program.
Our goal is to do right by each patient immediately when the need arises and to have shorter wait times.
Please note that signing up for updates via our Patient Interest Form is not acceptance into our Private Practice. Even if you complete an authorization form for disclosure of health information with your current provider you are not a patient under our care until you have signed our patient agreement form.
Once enrolled in our practice as a patient you will be able to contact your physician through a variety of methods depending on your membership level. Patients who enroll at the Comprehensive and Enhanced levels receive the personal mobile number of the physician and can call or text when they need to. Patients enrolled in Essentials and Basic will need to use our patient portal to communicate with their physician and will get answers between 2 business days (Essentials) and 5 business days (Basic).
We accept all insurances.
We will be providing additional services in addition to what insurances covers - preventive exams and whole person wellness.
There will be a monthly membership to cover the cost of these additional services outside of insurance.
Most people will find the Essentials Program the best level for them, but if you are a person who finds a higher level of connection to your physician important, or if you wish to support the practice so that we can provide care to more people who need sliding scale fee options, please do consider the Enhanced or Comprehensive Options.
We are still working on securing a clinic location in the Eel River Valley and McKinleyville. We will continue to encourage community members interested in learning more to sign up using our Patient Interest Form.