Dr. Hover has completed additional training in management and quality issues through the American College of Physician Executives. She teaches women’s health at the Eastern Maine Family Practice Residency and is on staff at both local hospitals. She also spent the 2006-07 academic year practicing medicine in Melbourne, Australia, learning a broader vision of health care. While at Stillwater Family Medicine, she was responsible for the office quality program.

High Quality in medicine means treating the same disease correctly every time. For many common diseases, like diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, experts have evaluated all available scientific research and have developed guidelines which spell out the best practice. These guidelines are listed on the internet, published in scientific journals, and discussed in local hospital staff meetings. Patients are individuals, so not all recommendations apply to all patients, but patients should be offered appropriate care routinely.

Office Structures: The Family Doc is committed to creating office structures that support  guideline based care, always recognizing that patients have individual needs. The  office computer system, Amazing Charts, has built in case management tools that enable us to track patients with complex disease to make sure they have been offered quality care. Each quarter, we review the guidelines for treatment of a common disease and evaluate our practice.

Pharmaceuticals: We do not see drug representatives or maintain a sample closet. Drug companies sell medicines. Their job is to market their product, not to manage medical problems correctly. They intend to change prescribing practices. For The Family Doc this would mean a drift away from our evidence based approach. In general, new drugs have two liabilities: first, they are under a seven year patent protection from competition and tend to be expensive, and second, they are less than seven years old, and post marketing surveillance has not had time to discover major problems. Some new drugs have to be recalled or relabeled after the general public has used them.  

Laboratory tests: We log all samples leaving our office and make sure we get results back. Normal results are filed. Patients will be contacted about all abnormal results, unless they already have an appointment to review results. Usually we telephone and request that patients come to the office. If we cannot reach a patient by telephone, we also send a letter. It is the patient’s responsibility to keep follow-up appointments, and to make sure we have correct phone numbers and addresses.