There are many reasons why someone suffering from uterine fibroids should seek out the Atlanta Fibroid Center®. Its founder and medical director, Dr. John Lipman has one of the largest uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) experiences in the world (~10,000 women). Patients have traveled great distances for his expertise and he has improved the quality of life for these women and their families.
In addition to this unparalleled experience, what really sets apart Dr. Lipman and Dr. Mitchell Ermentrout (his associate) and his outstanding team is the personal approach they take in each and every patient.
How Atlanta Fibroid Center® Stands Out in Fibroid Care
There are other places in the community that provide fibroid care, and it’s very important that women suffering from fibroids understand the differences between these centers and the Atlanta Fibroid Center®. The other fibroid treatment centers often consist of academic centers, large hospital system centers, or “chain store” fibroid centers where this personal touch is completely lost.
1. Academic Centers
They are important for the community and provide a training ground for physicians to learn in. However, patients may meet an attending physician only to have the UFE procedure performed by a doctor in training. Because of their inexperience, fibroid patients often receive unnecessary placement of a catheter in their bladder – to keep urine out of the bladder due to long procedure times.
They may also get admitted overnight in the hospital. The unparalleled experience of Drs. Lipman & Ermentrout ensure the best chance that the patient will have an excellent clinical outcome.
2. Large Hospital System Centers
With increasing consolidation, large hospital systems are becoming increasingly prevalent. The doctors that work there are faceless and often unknown to the public. Patients may seek out care from these hospital centers largely due to convenience and the incessant marketing of this hospital brand to the local community.
Interventional radiologists (IR) that work in these hospitals often have exclusivity to practice interventional radiology which means no other IR physicians can work there. Patients seeking fibroid care at these facilities will often be assigned a random IR based on which IR is on that particular day and not based on any expertise in fibroid care.
In some cases, they may see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant and not even see the IR physician until the day of the procedure. Like the academic centers, some of these centers will also admit their patients overnight which increases the cost to the patient.
3. Chain Store Fibroid Treatment Centers
These are chains of multiple centers in multiple different cities that are typically not owned by the interventional radiologist that works there. Sometimes an interventional radiologist in a different state is the owner, and sometimes the owner is a doctor of another specialty, e.g. cardiothoracic surgeon.
What is most troubling in this latter situation is that the owner is often viewed as a fibroid expert, even though they have never cared for fibroid patients and have never performed a UFE procedure. These owners often hire young, inexperienced interventional radiologists to work for the different centers, i.e. “hired guns”.
Often these centers started as outpatient dialysis centers and then they pivoted into performing venous procedures, e.g. varicose veins, and then they converted to treating fibroids. These fibroid treatment centers typically rent space in strip shopping malls and use substandard, less expensive C-arm technology to perform their fibroid procedures.
Recovery is usually a common shared area with flimsy curtains between patients. An inquiry from a patient is typically handled by a large call center located in a different city and routed to the facility nearest to the patient. This is in dramatic contrast to the patients we are privileged to serve at the Atlanta Fibroid Center®. The Atlanta Fibroid Center® has always been about caring for women with fibroids. It wasn’t a converted dialysis or vein center.
Maintaining the Best of Georgia™ Award
Our center was specifically designed to serve the female patient and their needs. Every patient sees Dr. Lipman or Dr. Ermentrout in their office. The new fibroid patient may spend 45 minutes with the doctor, which is unheard of in a typical medical setting today. Every patient has the doctor’s cellphone number for immediate night and weekend access.
Dr. Lipman and Dr. Ermentrout take great pride in providing the highest level of personalized care. Other fibroid treatment centers often have midlevel providers or other doctors covering for them. These providers are likely completely unfamiliar with the patient.
The Atlanta Fibroid Center® is conveniently located and much more accessible than other centers. The parking is right outside of the facility and is free to patients and their families. Each patient has their own private nurse and their own private room which is not typically seen in the other settings mentioned above. The Center is equipped with a state-of-the-art fixed unit angiography system – technology that is not found in other outpatient fibroid treatment centers.
If you or someone you know is suffering from fibroids, come experience for yourself the personal approach to fibroid care with the experts of the Atlanta Fibroid Center®. This has been the choice of CEOs, Olympic athletes, fellow physicians, and celebrities alike who insist on quality, privacy, and the attention to personalized care. Call (770) 953-2600 today to make your appointment or make an appointment online at ATLii.com.
