Membership Plans

To our patients,

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Greetings from all of us at Shamarie Sais, MD, PC. We wanted to thank you for entrusting us with your care and let you know about upcoming changes for 2025.

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Dr. Bell will be leaving on March 31, 2025. She is moving to Texas where there are better physician employment opportunities, higher reimbursement rates, and a more reasonable malpractice climate.

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The last five years have been a whirlwind of challenges in healthcare in New Mexico. First, COVID in 2020 changed everything for the entire world, especially in healthcare. Then, during this challenging time when physicians were heralded as “healthcare heroes,” the New Mexico Legislature amended the existing Medical Malpractice Act to increase cap limits on physician liability. This led to a greater than 50% increase in malpractice insurance premiums for some New Mexico physicians. In fact, the state just informed us of another 10% increase in malpractice premiums for 2025. Finally, Medicare reimbursement rates will be cut another 10% starting in 2025.

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Most private insurance companies reimburse as a percentage of Medicare, so this leads to a decrease in reimbursement for nearly all patients. All of this is occurring on a background of historic inflation and supply chain issues with large increases in the cost of medical supplies.

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This has led me to conclude that the current model of doing business as a small, private-practice urogynecologist is no longer feasible. Without change, the practice will have to close its doors.

 

Given that background, effective April 1, 2025, we will be switching to a Membership Model. This will entail an annual membership fee based on a tiered system which will allow you to choose a model that best works for you. Each tier will have limited slots and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis (see Membership Plan form for details). This does not apply to current med spa only patients.

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This model will allow me to provide you with more time and attention for each visit as well as focus more on preventive medicine and long-term health and wellness. Your membership will include all of the services offered at my medical practice (see shamariesaismd.com), as well as discounted services from our medical spa, La Vida Sana (at the same office location, see LaVidaSanaMD.com).

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Your insurance company will continue to be billed as usual for each visit. This membership will have no impact upon co-pays, deductibles, or any insurance contracts. This allows us to remain in-network for ancillary services such as labs and imaging.

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Enrollment for April 2025-March 2026 starts December 2024. Those who enroll in December 2024 will receive a 10% discount off the annual membership fee.

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Prior to March 31, 2025, Dr. Bell and I will see patients as usual. After March 31, 2025, we will be unable to schedule any patients unless they are enrolled. If this new model does not work for you, this is the required 90-day notice that we will provide emergency care until March 31, 2025. If needed, we can provide a list of gynecologists/urogynecologists in town for you to establish care with. We can also assist in transferring your medical records.

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Thank you for your understanding during this time of transition. We look forward to a continued relationship with you and hope that this new model will provide you with a better healthcare experience.

 

Sincerely,
Shamarie Sais, MD