Family Medicine and Community Health Patient Care

What is Family Medicine?

Family Medicine is the medical specialty which provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and the family. It is the specialty in breadth which integrates the biological, clinical and behavioral sciences. The scope of family practice encompasses all ages, both sexes, each organ system, and every disease entity.

Quality health care in family practice is the achievement of optimal physical and mental health through accessible, cost-effective care that is based on best evidence, responsive to the needs and preferences of patients and populations, and respectful of patients' families, personal values, and beliefs.

History of Penn Family Care

Penn Family Care opened its doors on July 1, 1997 with five physicians (Drs. Bowman, Fisher, Krause, Neill and Nicklin) and, since that time, has grown dramatically, now including over 40 physicians. Annually, there are over 45,000 outpatient visits, 1,500 inpatient stays, 400 deliveries. Many of the patients come from the surrounding West Philadelphia neighborhood, with others making the trek from elsewhere in the Greater Philadelphia region and further.

Interested in being a patient?

Our physicians, nurses and staff want what all patients want for themselves — to live well in good health. In Philadelphia and throughout the world, we embrace the responsibility of improving the lives and communities that need care the most. We care for those in the community because there is a need, a responsibility and a shared humanity. In the family practice process, the patient-physician relationship is initiated, established, developed and maintained for both sexes, for all ages, across time and independent of problem type.

Penn Family Care is a teaching practice. This means that the providers teach medical students from Penn's School of Medicine on a regular basis. Being a patient at Penn Family Care, the family physician is the physician of first contact in most situations and, as the initial provider, is in a unique position to form a bond with you. The family physician evaluates your total health needs, and provides personal care within one or more fields of medicine. The family physician refers you, the patient, when indicated to other sources of care while preserving continuity of care.

Our teams of physicians navigate a role as a cost-effective coordinator of patient’s health services which is integral to the care provided. Family physicians work together to see patients, answer phone calls, and take care of urgent problems that arise in the practice. Patients should always ask to see their specific doctor but, if unavailable, help can be provided by one of the other team members. Penn Family Care offers the following clinical services:

• Adolescent Health
• Adult Health
• Health Information
• Hospice & Palliative Care
• Family Planning
• Integrative Care
• Laboratory/Testing Services
• Obstetrics (Prenatal Care and Delivery)
• Pediatrics
• Women’s Health