After 20 years in health care, nurse practitioner Joan Lanfear has found a forum to work with patients on wellness instead of seeing them for just 15 minutes when they become ill.

Now practicing with Wellness Compass at Kalispell Regional Healthcare, Lanfear serves as the program’s medical concierge nurse. As such, she knows every detail of her patients’ health and makes herself available for consultation around the clock.

“We’re able to spend the kind of time with patients truly doing preventive care, which is going to prevent a lot of problems down the road,” she said.

Lanfear spent the majority of her career at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. She returned in December from working on Cape Cod to join the Wellness Compass medical team.

She said the program consists of a health assessment and the personal medical concierge nurse service with same or next day access to family or internal medicine physicians if needed. As a nurse practitioner with hospitalist experience, Lanfear can diagnose and treat many ailments.

“Me, being an advanced practice nurse, has been helpful,” she said. “I can do a lot for the patient without having to call the physician.”

A comprehensive health assessment, often called an executive physical, forms the other half of Wellness Compass. The package includes advanced testing, hearing and vision screening, pulmonary testing, cardiovascular fitness testing, preventive screening tests, lifestyle assessment and fitness coaching.

Optional services include thallium stress testing, a CT scan of arteries with calcium scoring and other cutting-edge imaging and screenings. Since becoming the concierge nurse, Lanfear said she has been amazed to learn the array of sophisticated testing available at Kalispell Regional Healthcare.

“One of the coolest things we do that I have never seen before is the cardio pulmonary stress test,” she said. “We can tell your oxygen consumption. It tells us your exact metabolic rate and exactly where you need to be exercising.”

According to Kalispell Regional Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Velinda Stevens, more than six months was invested in refining and piloting the many aspects of the health assessment.

“For several years, people have been calling us, asking why we don’t have this,” she said. “A lot of our requests were by people who were traveling out of the valley just for an executive physical.”

Stevens said the assessment was designed to equal or exceed what was offered by the renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The industry considers that program the gold standard.

“We looked at what they provided and talked to people who had been there and made sure that ours was one step ahead,” she said.

Ted Hirsch, senior executive director at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, said one man who went through a Mayo Clinic executive physical confirmed that he received a more beneficial assessment here.

“It’s a well-rounded, very comprehensive physical,” he said.

Hirsch said Wellness Compass clients include people who want to enjoy activities or work longer. He gave the example of avid skiers who wants to keep their knees healthy or pilots who need to pass physicals to keep their licenses.

Employees working for out-of-area corporations can use the program to meet the medical requirements of their employers. Hirsch said they can pay to have him or her go through this program, with an ongoing relationship with the concierge nurse and physicians.

“There’s an assurance to the individual and the employer that the employee is in a good program,” Hirsch said.

He said the elderly represent another segment of the population that could benefit from Wellness Compass, especially to answer questions about medications or symptoms that arise.

When clients sign up for Wellness Compass, Lanfear begins by taking an extensive medical history, including a family history.

“We’ll send for medical records wherever you had services before so we’re not repeating if you had tests before or there’s something you’re not sure about,” she said. “We’ll decide whether or not you need a comprehensive assessment or if you need something less than that.”

The comprehensive assessment involves a day of extensive testing. Lanfear spends the next morning updating the patient’s electronic medical records, putting the results into a notebook and a digital format like a jump-drive to give to the patient.

“We meet with the physician in the afternoon,” she said. “The physician does the exam, reviews the information and we sit down with the patient and make a plan.”

With the concierge nurse service, Wellness Compass participants receive Lanfear’s cellphone and email address for anytime access. If they feel under the weather, she can assess their symptoms to advise if they need an emergency room or clinic visit.

“I would rather have patients call me at 11 p.m. at night to ask questions rather than having to call the emergency room,” she said. “They don’t know the patients and they don’t have their backgrounds. I could very well save a trip to the emergency room. The health-care system needs that.”

The Wellness Compass health assessment package costs $3,500, some of which may be reimbursed by insurance. For $1,500 a year for adults or $500 for a child, patients receive Lanfear as their concierge nurse and access to a full range of physicians and specialists.

Stevens said this service appeals to a segment of people who put a priority on their health and want quick access. It could save people money through preventive care, not duplicating services or making unnecessary visits to providers.

“We compared what people were paying at many other locations and made sure that ours was competitive,” Stevens said. “If you have many chronic illnesses, this might not appear to be a lot of money to you.”

With a shortage of as many as 90,000 family doctors looming as more people become insured due to the federal Affordable Care Act, Lanfear and Hirsch said programs like Wellness Compass could ease that problem and lower costs by creating medical homes.

Hirsch said a personal medical adviser knows the patient and diagnoses things quickly before the issue progresses.

“Our belief is that well-coordinated care by a care navigator/concierge nurse can help make that care more efficient and probably in the end, less costly,” he said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.