Janice Bilby, M.D., family doctor, establishes south Indianapolis practice with Franciscan Physician Network

INDIANAPOLIS – Janice Bilby, MD, has joined Franciscan Physician Network Greenwood Parke Family Medicine and is accepting new patients.

She has been in medical practice for more than 25 years.

Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, Bilby received her undergraduate degree in biology at Ball State University, where she was an honors student. She earned her medical degree at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and completed an internship and residency training at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Bilby, a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, resides in Indianapolis.

Greenwood Parke Family Medicine is located at 8920 Southpointe Dr., Suite E-1, in Indianapolis. For appointments and other information, call 317-882-0535. Get directions.

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St. Francis Health surgeon steers orthopedics ‘Road Show’ to Plainfield

PLAINFIELD, Ind. – You can overcome hip and knee pain and get back to leading an active and rewarding life — and Franciscan St. Francis Health wants to show you how.

Franciscan St. Francis Health will present an arthritis and hip and knee replacement seminar at 6:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Primo West, 2353 E. Perry Road, Plainfield. Light refreshments will be served, beginning at 6 p.m.

Board-certified orthopedic surgeon Philip M. Faris, M.D., will explain the latest procedures in joint replacement and arthritis treatments. He specializes in adult reconstructive surgery and joint replacement.

Faris is a surgeon with Franciscan Physician Network Joint Replacement Surgeons, a practice group affiliated with the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery at Franciscan St. Francis Health–Mooresville.

The Center has been ranked No. 1 in Indiana for joint surgery five years in a row (2007-2011) by HealthGrades, one of the nation’s premier health care rating companies.

To register for this seminar, call toll-free at 1-877-888-1777.

More information about the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery is at centerforhipandkneesurgery.org.

Spinal stimulator proves to be game changer in easing chronic pain

St. Francis Health doctor treats patients with new device using Wii, iPhone technology

INDIANAPOLIS – A new motion-sensing neurostimulator is being used successfully to treat patients with chronic pain conditions at Franciscan St. Francis Health.

It’s called the AdaptiveStim™ with RestoreSensor™ stimulation system from Medtronic and is the first of its kind to gain recent Food and Drug Administration approval. The ideal patients are those with chronic back and/or leg pain, who have not been helped by other treatments.

Just as a smart phone “knows” to change its image vertically or horizontally and a Nintendo Wii Fit adjusts to a user’s motion, AdaptiveStim uses an accelerometer to detect a person’s change in position.

Robert Prince, M.D., a pain management specialist with St. Francis Medical Group Spine Specialists, is the first physician in Central Indiana to use the system. So far, he  has treated about10 patients and  the results have been dramatic.

"There are many patients who have residual pain after multiple spine surgeries, and this therapy can be amazingly successful for them in many cases,” Prince said. “Once the device comes on line the pain goes off line. They are the happiest patients I treat because they thought all hope was lost."

Chronic pain – defined as ongoing pain lasting for more than three to six months – is said to afflict more than 116 million Americans. For many, such pain is so severe it interferes with working, eating and overall quality of life.

Physicians have been using neurostimulation therapy to treat patient for three decades. It uses an implantable device (about the size of a pacemaker) to send electrical impulses through the spinal cord and squelch pain signals to the brain. Essentially it tricks the brain into translating pain as a tingling sensation.

While effective for the most part, such therapy has its drawbacks. Patients must use a remote control type of device and manually adjust them with each distinctive movement. Also, the implants have a battery life from three to seven years.

AdaptiveStim stores the stimulation level a patient has chosen when standing, lying down, upright and active, bending and stretching.

ROBERT PRINCE

“Essentially, this technology learns from a person’s movements and immediately responds by automatically adjusting pain-relief settings to the optimal level,” said Prince, who is board-certified in both pain and anesthesia and trained at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Prince implants the device in a minimally invasive outpatient setting. AdaptiveStim with RestoreSensor is tested before the procedure gets under way. A small incision is made for placement of the device, and tiny electrodes are carefully placed in the spinal column.

The patient is sent home with a remote control device to adjust pain-blocking remedies for all motions, all of which is recorded and stored. When the patient returns to Prince’s office a few weeks later, the sensor recording device is fine-tuned and adjusted. In most cases, a remote control is no longer needed.

AdaptiveStim is rechargeable and can last up to nine years, Medtronic officials say.

One of the other advantages of this pain-blocking stimulator is that it is a drugless therapy; thereby not requiring prescription narcotics, which are highly addictive.

To learn more about Prince’s work visit St. Francis Medical Group Spine Specialists. Visit  AdaptiveStim with RestoreSensor for more information.

Large internal medicine, specialists group aligns with Franciscan St. Francis Health

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana Internal Medicine Consultants (IIMC), one of the largest internal medicine and specialty groups in Indiana, and Franciscan St. Francis Health today (Oct. 11) announced an exclusive services provider agreement, formalizing and strengthening the relationship the two organizations have shared for decades.

IIMC specialists include internal medicine, pulmonary, critical care, rheumatology, family practice, infectious disease and sleep medicine specialists serving central Indiana

The agreement, effective Oct. 1, supports an even more integrated continuum of care and case management. Patients will benefit because there will be less rotation of physicians and nurse practitioners from outside the St. Francis system.

“The agreement advances a more holistic framework,” said Robert J. Brody, president and CEO for Franciscan St. Francis Health. “IIMC physicians treat highly complex internal medicine, pulmonary and critical care cases.

“They have a crucial role in the development of integrated care management, which provides a full spectrum of population care from wellness to hospital outpatient and inpatient care to home and hospice care,” Brody continued. “Coordinated delivery of expert care, enhanced communications, and outstanding technology paired with the mutual goal of providing the highest level clinical outcomes for patients, results in better care and patient experience.”

“Our decision to align exclusively with Franciscan St. Francis Health is based in trust and a shared history of providing outstanding care to patients, said William Buffie, M.D., who has served as IIMC’s CEO since 1997 and directs Franciscan St. Francis’ hospitalist program. “Of the integrated heath systems or accountable care organizations being formed, we know that St. Francis offers the specific advantages such as the electronic medical records system, range of associated specialists and many convenient access points.”

With hospitals in Indianapolis, Beech Grove and Mooresville, Franciscan St. Francis Health is part of the Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance, a 14-hospital system in Indiana and Illinois. The system employs 18,000 workers including more than 600 physicians, provides care for more than 2.9 million outpatient visits and more than 100,000 inpatient discharges each year.

To learn more about Franciscan St. Francis Health, go to http://www.stfrancishospitals.org/.

Indiana Internal Medicine Consultants has nearly 40 specialized physicians caring for thousands of patients in the central Indiana. To learn more about this group, go to http://www.iimconline.net/meet.html.