Novello brings choice, affordability [The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.]

Record-Eagle, The (Traverse City, MI)

Nov. 1—TRAVERSE CITY — One doesn't need a medical degree to understand that access to basic health care procedures and services is getting more complex — and expensive — than ever before.

A group of Northern Michigan physicians is trying to counter those trends through their work at Novello Imaging, a 7,200-square foot multi-service health care facility located in the Copper Ridge complex off Silver Lake Road in Garfield Township.

Novello Imaging offers medical imaging services including X-rays, MRIs and CT Scans to provide area residents with lower-cost options and more-immediate access for those services beyond the region's traditional health care providers.

"Novello Imaging is not designed to make a lot of money," Director of Operations Kris Elliott said. "It is designed to provide high-quality, low-cost imaging, giving patients a choice and providing lower costs."

Novello Imaging is the creation of a group of area physicians known as the Novello Physicians Organization, which originally formed in the mid-1980s as the Northern Physicians Organizations.

It includes more than 350 doctors from throughout the region and beyond that are primarily independent practitioners from Traverse City, Manistee, Petoskey, Gaylord and the Lansing area that organized to help navigate the managed care health care system in the region.

Elliott said the goals in forming the organization including continuing to provide quality care for area residents, provide a better experience for patients, control costs and to support existing health care practitioners.

"In general, if you improve in one of those areas, you're improving on at least one other," Elliott said.

Novella Imaging is staffed by a dozen technicians that provide medical services including X-rays, MRIs, CT scans and ultrasounds. The clinic uses a cash pricing system so patients can easily compare costs with other providers.

According to its website, X-ray costs start at less than $60 up to $125, with ultrasounds from $108- $260, and CT scans from $200 — $700.

The cost of an MRI ranges from $390 to almost $800.

The costs are inclusive and don't include added fees for staff or facility charges.

Novello can also offer same-day appointments and offers evening and weekend appointments to better accommodate their patient schedules.

The clinic accepts more than a dozen insurance plans including Medicaid and Medicare.

It also serves many patients who don't have health insurance because of its lower costs, and patients who pay cash because of the steep deductibles on their insurance plans.

The affordability of the services is an important part of Novella's business model.

"People are strapped — they have other costs to consider," said Dr. Gail Gwizdala, an internist who retired from Thirlby Clinic in Traverse City and now serves as Novella's Health Director. "We should be able to have some control over what we can control."

Novello opened just over two years ago, but preparations for the facility and its operation started at least two years earlier.

The business had to acquire a certificate of need from the state health department to bring its mobile MRI Lab and CT machines online.

The Novello Physicians Organization also lined up a vast majority of the several million dollars in financing needed to develop and equip the Copper Ridge site, along with a smaller investment from local employers that wanted to create better value for its health care services, according to Novello Finance Director Philip Lieffers.

"It was a planned project over many years where we brought the funds together to make it happen," he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic that started in the spring of 2020 also complicated the launch of the facility.

Novello was trying to spread the word about its new services to area residents and medical practices just as the COVID-related lockdowns were being implemented, which made it difficult to market Novella's services to area practitioners.

But word is spreading now and Novello is currently drawing patients from throughout northwest Michigan including Bellaire, Petoskey, Cadillac, Big Rapids and beyond.

Novello has also expanded its operations to include a specialty clinic offering urology, neurology and rheumatology health services to provide patients more choice and access to some specialists who weren't available in the community.

"This whole idea of keeping this group of independent practitioners, in my mind, is really important to patient care," Dr. Gwizdala said. "I realize it's changing and it will never go back to getting a chicken for (treating) a sore throat...but we still can provide quality and cost-effectiveness, but we need things like Novello health is providing."

___

Visit The Record-Eagle (Traverse City, Mich.) at record-eagle.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.