Founder/Owner, Physicians Quality Care
After a series of events led Jimmy and Melanie Hoppers, both board-certified physicians to consider leaving their practices, they came to the realization that there had to be a different approach to providing urgent care that was better than what they had been doing. After weighing their options, the Hoppers went back to what they knew best, providing acute care, only this time their basic philosophy is to follow the “Golden Rule.”
“Melanie and I had been working urgent care for years. However, at our previous job, the only area that we had any control over was direct patient contact. We just weren’t happy with how things were going and felt like we needed a change. We wanted to try doing things could be differently,” said Hoppers. “After considering our options, we realized medicine is what we knew best and since we had been doing acute care for years, we figured that is where we needed to stay.”
In developing their ‘new’ business, the Hoppers relied upon the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, which examined more than 500 companies and identified what it took to elevate a good company to greatness. The principles outlined in the book resonated with the Hoppers and they chose to incorporate them into Physicians Quality Care. Their model of care was based on the principles of treating others as you would want to be treated, giving staff “ownership,” and taking responsibility for the practice as a whole.
“Doctors are excellent at treating people as patients. Their focus is to make a diagnosis to get the patient better and they have to believe that their decisions are the right ones. But doctors are sometimes not the best at treating people as consumers,” said Hoppers. “It is easy to get into the mindset that the only part of the visit that counts is when the doctor actually enters the exam room to see the patient.”
The Hoppers started their new endeavor with a mobile Occupational Medicine program in early 2008. They purchased a medical RV and equipped it with a three-person audio room, exam room and lab. “We started going to industrial parking lots for the eight months before our urgent care clinic, Physicians Quality Care, opened,” said Hoppers. “Our mobile unit has gone through 3 or 4 incarnations and now is primarily used for on-site audiograms. This allows us to be there when the client needs us any hour of the day. ”
In August 2008 Physicians Quality Care opened. It included Boomers, a small, personal gym with state of the art equipment. In 2012 physical therapy was incorporated into the clinic. Over the past year PQC has begun seeing primary care patients for ongoing medical care. “Through the years, patients would ask us if we could be their primary doctor and a lot of patients considered us their ‘regular’ doctor anyway. We make appointment times fit their schedule and are always looking for ways to make it easier on folks, like online check in. Whatever we can do to make life easier for patients is what we want to do.”
In July 2013, PQC opened a second location in Milan. “We learned a lot from Jackson and made some design changes. PQC Milan is a separate entity from Jackson and we wanted to make it specifically fit the needs of Milan and Northwest Tennessee,” said Hoppers.
One of Hoppers’ heroes is Walt Disney. “At Disney their business philosophy centers around customer service. Their product is customer service delivered through theme parks,” said Hoppers. “Our widget is customer service delivered through healthcare. Every company has a foundational tenet that never gets violated. At Disney it is safety, for us at Physician Quality Care, excellent medical care trumps everything else.”
Hoppers worked to create an atmosphere where patients felt more at home than in a doctor’s office. “Our concierges make our waiting rooms seem more like a living room. We never call patients by their last name. It is a rule in our clinic that we do not leave patients without some form of staff contact for more than 10-15 minutes,” said Hoppers. We reinforce the idea that that healthcare is more than doing a test and giving a shot. We may no longer be able to make a house call, but it is our hope to bring a house call back to our house.”
At PQC, Hoppers says there are some basic mantras: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; if you see the problem, you own the problem; and the presumptive answer to every question is yes. “None of us ever says that something is not my job. We also are very aware that someone in a separate department may be able to offer a different perspective on a problem and we invite everyone’s input no matter what their position.” said Hoppers. “Our philosophy is that this is team sport. It is not a matter of who gets the credit but more ‘what I can do to serve the patient better.’ At the end of the day, if one of us wins, we all win.”
While PQC faces many of the same challenges as other clinics with healthcare reform, one of the biggest it has faced is rapid growth. When the clinic opened six years ago, it had a staff of around 25 employees; today that number has grown to 115. However, the biggest challenge, Hoppers sees, is ensuring the core philosophy permeates everything. “Everyone knows our core values and how seriously we take them,” he said. “Mistakes are going to happen and we will forgive a multitude of sins except not being nice to one another.”
Hoppers feels fortunate and blessed that patients have accepted the way care is provided at PQC but is always looking for ways to innovate and strives to continue providing excellent medical care. “We know we can never get complacent,” he said. “Our staff are the ones making PQC successful and we have to be careful never to lose sight of that. It is they who deserve the credit.”
Having the ability to surround themselves with really good people they can trust to excel at their jobs without micromanagement is something Jimmy and Melanie are proud of. “In Good to Great, Collins says even if you don’t have a position for a person, if they are excellent, hire them,” said Hoppers. “Look for the best people you can find then turn them loose. Most leaders in our organization started out low on the totem pole and have worked their way up. We have really great people that have bought into the philosophy of treating people right. We continually try to put ourselves in the patient’s position. We treat your illness while striving to lift your spirits and make your total experience in our clinic a positive one.”
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