In Jarrettsville, It’s All about Family

Situated in scenic northern Harford County, Jarrettsville Family Care is GBMC’s newest addition to its growing primary care network. While the practice only recently joined the GBMC HealthCare system, it has long been part of the Greater Baltimore Health Alliance, GBMC’s Accountable Care Organization (ACO), where the goal is to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital. That goal closely aligned with Jarrettsville Family Care’s patient-centered philosophy, making its union with GBMC HealthCare, Inc. a perfect match.

Physicians Mary Elizabeth Craig-Buckholtz, MD, and Linda A. Walsh, MD, have practiced together for more than 15 years. They lead a robust team of employees, which includes advanced practitioners Bridget Diehl, PA-C, and Kristen Jubb, PA-C, a care coordinator, medical assistants and administrative staff. Dr. Craig-Buckholtz, who has been part of the team for 16 years, says, “We truly enjoy our patients. We enjoy spending time with them.”

“My philosophy has always been patient-driven,” says Dr. Walsh, who joined the practice in 1997 and purchased it three years later, remaining the owner until 2015. “The first challenge for me is to find out where the patients are in their desires and expectations, and then develop a plan together for their health.”

The team understands that people have busy schedules, so they’ve created a “one-stop-shop” of sorts for patients, offering in-house lab work, onsite ultrasound availability by appointment and extended hours in the mornings and evenings on select days. The patient-centered medical home also has bilingual clinicians and administrative staff available for the Spanish-speaking population. Another added convenience for patients? A dedicated on-call provider at all times. “It’s very important to us that patients can reach someone when needed,” says Stacey Reed, practice manager. “There is always a provider from our staff on call outside of normal hours.”

All GBMC primary care physicians value the importance of preventive healthcare — including cancer screenings, vaccinations and physicals — and offer the services of care coordinators to act as a liaison between physicians and patient. The patients at Jarrettsville Family Care have access to Care Coordinator John Cottrell, who connects them with resources and assists them with things such as managing prescriptions, navigating insurance paperwork and making follow-up appointments. He also ensures that the physicians have their patients’ records from specialists or hospitalizations. Care coordination helps to streamline care and prevent patients from wasting money and time on unnecessary testing or rehospitalization.

As family medicine physicians, Dr. Craig-Buckholtz and Dr. Walsh see patients of all ages. “It’s really neat to watch children in the practice grow up. We see a lot of families in which we care for the parents, grandparents and kids,” says Dr. Craig-Buckholtz. Family medicine places an emphasis on treating the whole person. Dr. Walsh notes, “It’s our job to give patients all the information about their health. It’s their job to decide what they want to do with that.”