One Patient At a Time: Dr. Danielle Ivey’s Story

by Jane Burbank

Photos by Brooke Mathis: Beautiful Evolutions Photography

“I’m passionate about taking care of patients, but I also am so passionate about educating people—not only my patients….”

The American healthcare system serves a necessary but often frustrating purpose in many Texans’ lives, wherein patients undergo an exhaustive search for diagnoses. When a patient needs answers to burning health questions, they can’t afford to be left in the dark.

If you’re a patient whose patience with the system has worn thin, fret no longer! Dr. Danielle Ivey, MD, is an internal medicine doctor whose practice, Arbor Internal Medicine, is based in Burleson, TX. You can rest well knowing that this well-learned wellness guru has got your back.

Dr. Ivey is known to be a skilled problem-solver. She listens intently to the needs of her patients and engineers solutions that better assist said clientele.

Her pursuit of understanding unique health problems is not only impressive, but also proves her passion for assisting each and every patient in her care.

In the process of launching her efficient, patient-centered practice, Dr. Ivey learned straight away that “no one is an island when you’re starting a business or networking and connecting with people in our community.”

Shares the medical professional, “[Community] how we all thrive. And I’ve just been so impressed as I’ve gotten to know the people in the Burleson Chamber of Commerce and other small business owners… how much everyone is just working together to serve our community and help grow and shape it.”

Aside from her magnetic qualities of kindness, charity, and compassion, Dr. Ivey demonstrates her expertise and love of her community by taking opportunities to educate others about various health topics.

“I’m passionate about taking care of patients,” the expert elaborates, “but I also am so passionate about educating people—not only my patients. I teach about health, preventive health, and those types of things.”

Dr. Ivey is currently involved with the Burleson Seniors Center, a women’s health panel, and the Burleson Chamber of Commerce. She enjoys giving health talks at lunches, being a part of various health panels, and creating opportunities for the community to come and learn about their health.

Dr. Ivey would also like members of the community to learn just how accessible and personalized her care is. She holds herself to high standards when it comes to treating each individual, and cares about the effect she has on their wellbeing.

Dr. Ivey wisely, and admirably, measures success in the effectiveness of her practice—How efficiently, and with how much care, is she treating her ailing patients?

The “biggest thing” Dr. Ivey wants people to take away from her practice is her goal “to provide patients with personalized health care that’s accessible to them.”

“If I could get anybody to remember anything of what I’m about,” she continues, “it’s personalized healthcare, where your doctor truly cares about what’s going on holistically with your life, as well as being accessible to you, whether that’s through extended office visits, through texting and phone calls during office hours, or available for urgent things on weekends. That’s my number one thing.”

“I can think of so many different patient interactions that I’ve had where I’ve been able to help people either overcome a medical concern or improve their quality of life,” recalls the health expert. “And those, for me, are my favorite successes.” She goes on to share another (of many!) successes: “As of September 1st, it will be our one-year anniversary for Arbor Internal Medicine. And that I think is a huge milestone, especially since we are sort of navigating a new area in health care and are really trying to bring health care back in control of the patients.

Dr. Ivey calls herself “passionate” about patients’ liberty. “If I could do anything with the business,” she relays, “I would help patients realize they are important enough, and they need to take back control of what they deserve in healthcare. They don’t have to put up with waiting two or three weeks to be seen for a rash. They don’t have to put up with not hearing back from their doctor. That’s not good enough.

“And unless patients realize that and start saying no,” Ivey continues, “it’s just going to become a downward spiral. I’m so excited to continue to work in this area, not only to help serve patients, but also change the mindset of what healthcare really is.”

This touch of personability is just one of several traits that set her practice apart from other Texas clinics.

“Because we’re direct primary care,” Dr. Ivey pontificates on the exciting prospect, “I can see my patients as many times as they need me during the week!”

“They can text me or call me, I am available after hours for my patients, and that type of access is what’s so hard in the traditional healthcare system. Instead of waiting days for an appointment or an answer to your medical question, you can simply text or call your doctor and get a prompt response. You also get a response from your physician, not an office worker that is simply relaying a message. That makes a huge difference, because you really need to have that communication. I can even follow up with my patients a week later, after I’ve made changes, and ask, ‘How are your symptoms? Are they improving?’ And if they’re not, I can change rather than waiting six weeks until the next appointment. We can change in-between appointments, we don’t waste time, and the patients are feeling better faster.

“We work outside the typical fee for service insurance based programs because dealing with insurance can often be a hassle for patients and that often hinders proper medical care. Patients are already paying out-of-pocket for their visit, especially for small business owners, those who are self-employed, or patients who have really high deductibles. “With these crazy deductibles, why would you not be interested in getting higher quality care for a monthly fee at a much lower cost than insurance premiums?” Dr. Ivey proclaims that paying for accessible care does not have to have so many strings attached. “Now,” she continues, “I encourage all my patients to have some sort of insurance, but a lot of times now there’s options for patients to get what we call a catastrophe plan, or direct primary care insurance, where they would be covered if they had to be in the hospital or had to have surgery or those types of things. But anything that would be primary care related would be done at my office and would be cash-based. So the monthly membership fee and then anything that’s done in my office, I have cash price deals with different labs so I can get blood work for a fraction of the cost when compared to the insurance price.

“Another key difference is the continuity of care I provide. You will always see your physician—someone who knows your medical history and life—rather than being handed off to another healthcare provider. This ensures that your care is both personalized and consistent.”

While Dr. Ivey treats both men and women, she enjoys working on women’s health. “As a female physician, this allows a unique opportunity for me to connect with women about sensitive health concerns, specifically in the realm of hormones, urinary issues and pelvic health. ,” she responded when asked if there was something about her business that people may not know. So in addition to my primary care services, we started offering treatments to help with patients who deal with urinary incontinence, vaginal laxity, vaginal pain, or recurrent urinary tract infections. Anything pelvic-floor-related is evaluated, and then we recommend appropriate treatment, whether that’s hormonal therapy or medications. There is also a special vaginal laser therapy called vaginal rejuvenation that we do in our office that can significantly help people or women with their symptoms.”

“Now, as I practice,” she explains, “I am well-versed in handling patients with multiple chronic conditions who are on numerous medications. I make sure there’s no unsafe interactions. In addition to this, I also am able to really work with people with undiagnosed symptoms, and rather than just being a referral for them— ‘you’re having stomach pain, let me send you to a GI doctor—’ I can really sit down with patients and say, ‘Okay, tell me more. Help me figure this out.’ I can order appropriate tests. Most of the time, I’m able to come up with a diagnosis or a pretty significant direction before we ever go see a specialist.

“That’s why I like having this format;” the physician continues, “I have the time to be able to spend with patients to figure things out so that they’re not going to fifty different doctors trying to figure out this one issue. They can really start with me and we can either get it diagnosed or at least narrow it down to one or two types of things before we ever send a referral.” The fact that she has worked to become an all-encompassing health professional is cementing proof that Ivey is an incredible, mold-breaking expert who will get patients’ results.

When compared to mainstream, insurance-based clinics, Dr. Danielle Ivey surpasses her competition with efficiency, holistic expertise, and personability. She only hopes she can ease the burdens of many more patients to come. Above all, the medical expert extolls the value of communication—building bonds of trust by listening and sharing. Through this, Dr. Ivey has cultivated many wonderful relationships with the people she serves.

All she could ask for is the empowerment of her patients with the knowledge they need to lead healthy lives. “We’re on this journey together,” she beams. And she wouldn’t want her journey any other way.