Heber Valley Life

Author: Hannah Lambert

  • Premium Access is Now Available Through Concierge Health

    Premium Access is Now Available Through Concierge Health

    “I have been a patient before. I can understand from that perspective that if your experience is slow in getting a response, and you’re not a medical professional, that can create a lot of anxiety and mental anguish.” Dr. Boker and his partner, Dr. Wyatt Horsley, aim to eliminate as much of that distress as they can through their work with the Intermountain Healthcare Concierge Health program.

    What, exactly, is concierge medicine? Dr. Bokor describes concierge medicine as “creating a more personalized healthcare experience with direct access to your primary care provider. In that vein,” he explains, “we have set out to create a very patient-centric and personalized experience for each of our patients.” Patients in the program pay a yearly membership and, in exchange, receive access to services such as: round-the-clock access to their doctor via cell phone communication, annual preventative exams and testing, assistance navigating what is becoming an increasingly complex medical and hospital system, and an overall higher level of care than what might be available in a traditional primary care practice. By relying on the membership model as opposed to a traditional insurance-based practice, Concierge Health is able to limit the number of patients in the program; meaning that each patient has greater access to their doctor and more of their doctor’s time available to them. And according to Dr. Bokor, that time is what makes all the difference.

    “We were able to lower one of our patient’s drug costs by $450 per month,” he says, “because we were actually able to look at each medication…and actually have time to one-by-one go through those medicines with their insurance plan. We were able to overcome those barriers and get their medicine costs down to the point where they’re saving $5400 per year.”

    “And I think the difference between us and regular clinics is time.” He continues, “They don’t have that kind of time. As a physician that operated in the insurance-based space for many years, I didn’t have that kind of time. My patients didn’t have that kind of access to me; to be able to set aside time just to review medications and go through them one-by-one to see if we can lower costs.”

    And while saving money is a benefit Dr. Bokor can frequently offer his patients, he also often saves his patients time, and sometimes their lives. His clinic’s experience with the healthcare system, and the extra time they are able to devote to individual patients, allows Dr. Boker and his team to aid patients who need specialized care to receive that care sooner. Utah’s high rate of growth means that many patients in the state find themselves waiting many months or sometimes up to a year for access to specialist care. “With our patients,” Dr. Bokor explains, “we’re curating those visits and they’re getting in more smoothly and more quickly.” One patient who required a surgery was able to access that care weeks earlier than they would have otherwise had they not had the assistance of Concierge Health. “So again, we’re getting people back to that previous state of health faster than they would have otherwise been able to achieve that.”

    Dr. Bokor tells the story of another patient — a patient who had spent a decade living with an undiagnosed condition. After ten years with no answers, Dr. Bokor and his team were able to diagnose the illness on their very first visit with the patient. “Had we not seen that patient,” Dr. Bokor shared, “I fear that [they] would have succumbed to their illness within the year. So just by catching things and being active and spending time with our patients we are saving lives. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

    When asked what kinds of patients might benefit the most from a program like Concierge Health, Dr. Bokor insists that nearly anybody might receive a benefit from the program. “If somebody wanted more convenience where they have more direct access and their doctor’s cell phone number,” he says, “that patient benefits from concierge medicine. The patient that has a high-deductible plan would save money — probably more often than not — by using concierge medicine…so any of those patients that want prompt healthcare delivery and that’s important to them. Anybody that feels their healthcare is a priority, they also benefit from concierge medicine because they’re actually having a personalized relationship with their doctor — a personalized dialog with that provider.”

    Dr. Bokor’s goal, and the goal of IHC Concierge Health, is to “serve individuals that also take an active role in serving their families and communities.” From business leaders and employers, to single parents. “We take care of anybody at any socio-economic level that wants to put their best foot forward in their health.” Dr. Bokor describes the program as “an investment in your health…most people look at their cell phone charge as a necessary charge,” he points out. “That goes on their bill every month, and they just pay it. How much is your healthcare worth to you? And I ask that rhetorically to all patients that are considering this. How much per month or per year is your health worth to you? And how much is it worth to you to have a doctor in your corner when you need them the most? We’re there for those people.”

    How successful does Dr. Bokor think concierge health has been so far?

    “I think we’ve been very successful. I think the biggest evidence of that is that we’re creating more and more new relationships. That’s the best sign of growth in this day and age; creating more positivity and more relationships that are beneficial to all participants.”

    Dr. Bokor describes his practice as a two-way street, where he can be there for his patients, and his patients can count on him and his clinic. And that, he says, “is a really formidable goal in medicine, with all the distrust and changes to our healthcare system. We have not only set out to do that, but we’re growing and achieving that goal.”

  • Günther Vonhaidenthaller

    Günther Vonhaidenthaller

    Everything comes down to contrast.

    Günther Haidenthaller points out the window at a car dealership across the street. “Look at the highlights off those two jeeps, and that cold, steely kind of stainless steel quality to the light.” He also indicates the snow-covered mountains further in the distance, pointing out the blue tones in the shadows and the warmer tones — the hint of cadmium yellow — where the sun shines.

    Günther is a man of contrasts. Born in Austria and raised mostly in Utah — two wildly different landscapes — both, he says, feel familiar. Günther still speaks his native German language as well as English. An artist and an adrenaline junky; Günther has summited Mount Rainier more than once, has skydived over the Great Salt Lake, and describes himself as “comfortable” riding class four white-water rapids. When it comes to Günther’s art — mostly landscapes in oil and sometimes in pen and crayon — at first glance it might be difficult to picture their creator taking life to the extreme. However, upon closer inspection one can sense the peace, serenity, and calm, comfortably merged with just the right amount of play and fun.

    “I love painting outdoors because of the light,” he says. “When you’re painting on location, the light constantly changes. Every time you look up, the shadows are different. You’ve got to have a good memory, and it forces you to make accurate decisions quickly. Lay in the big shapes, get it all down, and then you can play. Then you can experiment.”

    Experimentation is also a major theme in Günther’s work. When he found himself, some years ago, at an art workshop with nothing more to work with than a ballpoint pen and a box of crayons in his backpack — he took the challenge. While other attendees worked in watercolors or oils Günther experimented with the ‘tools’ he had. He couldn’t have known at that point just how much he would enjoy the results, or that he would continue to work in pen and crayon throughout his career. “I was just playing,” he says. “Like when I was a kid, coloring in coloring books.” He laughs. “I could never color inside the lines. I was always trying to do gradients and fades and trying to come up with effects.”

    As a young boy in the first grade freshly immigrated to the states and still learning the language, Günther was often easily distracted in school; frequently gazing out the window, daydreaming, or drawing on his school work. According to Günther, not much has changed. “I get bored easily,” he says. “There’s always something new around that next bend in the path or on the other side of that hill. That’s what drives me.” Some of Günther’s works feature scenes from his home country of Austria — a heritage to which he feels a deep and profound connection. But more often he paints the landscapes of Utah, and he finds beauty and fascination in the ways that his current home both differs and is similar to his first one. “What I look for when I’m painting is the light,” he says. “European light, it’s hard to describe.” But Günther tries. “Like smoky light,” he says. “Light that has a tint to it like it does in the fall. That kind of light reminds me of Europe. Reminds me of home.” When asked if he primarily seeks out landscapes that remind him of home, or that are different, contrasting from that European feel, Günther’s answer is, “Both.” Utah is nothing like Austria, and yet for Günther it is still fascinating in its stark, red rock, desert beauty. “And realistically?” he says. “You go up in the Uintas and that’s what Austria is like.”

    After twenty-seven years working in graphic design, and ten years as a professional soccer referee and administrator, it was Günther’s wife, Diane, who eventually gave him the push he needed to turn to painting full-time when she found his old design and illustration portfolio. “I come home from work and she grabs me and she goes, ‘why aren’t you painting?’” Günther laughs. “I mean, I always wanted to do it. And I never took the time, until she finally convinced me that I was wasting my life and I needed to paint.” Diane encouraged Günther and even bought him a set of oil paints. “The last time I had touched oils was in junior high school, so it was an absolute disaster,” he says. But eventually, “It clicked.”

    He’s come a long way since then. Now, a full-time artist, Günther says that, while it’s hard to make a living doing art, it’s never been about the money for him. It’s the experience and the satisfaction of accomplishing something. “The purpose of life is to have joy,” he says. “That’s why I paint.”

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