AHN primary care provides comprehensive healthcare your way
Lynne Browne was experiencing severe pain in her lower abdomen. She immediately called her primary care physician, the trusted family doctor who had been part of the Allegheny Health Network (AHN) she has relied on for more than half of her 60 years. The doc knew Browne intimately and was able to help diagnose a cyst in Browne’s fallopian tube that was about to burst. Weeks later, lying in a hospital bed, waiting to go into surgery, Browne was uncertain and concerned about her future, and that of her husband and daughters, when her phone rang. It was her primary care physician calling to check in.
“AHN has been such an important part of my life for the past 31 years,” says Browne. “Just hearing her voice and realizing that she took the time to let me know that I was going to be okay sealed in my mind that I was right where I needed to be—with the right hospital and the right primary care physician.”
That empathy, trust, skillful clinical care, and continuous healing relationships are key to AHN’s mission to ensure high-quality primary care for everyone, from infants to seniors, throughout western Pennsylvania. Our 400 family physicians, internists, geriatricians, family nurse practitioners, and physician assistants work closely with the rest of the primary care team to provide comprehensive, convenient care across the region, in person or from the comfort of your home via telehealth.
Primary care is the keystone of long-term health for people of all ages. That’s because your primary physician and care team get to know you closely over time. Every interaction from regular check-ups to managing your chronic diseases, and getting you through illness builds that relationship . And your primary care physician is also your connection to every other branch of medicine that you might need.
“It’s a wonderful thing that people in these communities in Pittsburgh, all the way over into Grove City and all the way north as far as Erie have access to primary care because now they have access to the full range of our services,” says Emily Cottrell, MD, a family physician and psychiatrist with Allegheny Health Network.
At AHN, we realize that good health also encompasses emotional health, attention to stress, diet and exercise, and expert input about complex medications. So our primary care teams include integrated behavioral health consultants, clinical pharmacists and registered dieticians who provide care onsite and through virtual consultation.
Our goal is to make getting this care straightforward and easier. “Everything a patient might need is accessible to those communities,” says Manasa Irwin, MD, family physician and faculty member at Allegheny Health Network. “We want to try and prevent our patients from having to fight through this system of going to all these places to get all this care.”
But convenience is only part of the bigger picture. By keeping these services closely connected, AHN physicians can better understand and become more familiar with each patient’s medical journey. That not only provides the doctor with invaluable insight that can improve the patient’s care, but it also helps strengthen the bond and trust between doctor and patient. Because AHN providers—including nurses, health coaches, and medical assistants—view each person as an individual with unique treatment, educational, and support needs.
“There are studies out there that indicate that patients that do the best in mental health recovery from whatever illness, the thing that dictates the quality and duration of their recovery is the level of engagement with their primary care provider,” says Dr. Cottrell. “It’s not what type of medication or therapy or what their illness is. It’s what their relationship with their providers is like.”
Lynne Browne certainly feels that her longstanding relationship with her PCP helped her overall wellbeing as she successfully underwent and recovered from her operation. She knew that pre-op phone call came from more than just a healthcare professional. It came from a person who knew her and cared for her and had her best interests at heart.
“After you’ve had a doctor with you for that many years, they’re not only your doctor whom you love and trust. They also become your friend,” says Browne. “She always asks me about my girls or how my husband doing. That, to me, speaks high volumes for AHN. They have doctors who are genuinely compassionate—not only about the patient that they’re treating, but also about the whole family.”