WRITTEN BY GREGG L. PARKER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOSHUA BERRY

At Integrity Family Care, doctors give conscientious attention to patients, while incorporating today’s breaking technology with K Health, an app that informs and prepares patients before an office visit – if one is needed.

The practice’s two founders grew up in the Huntsville/Madison area and are former classmates of Vanderbilt University business school. Integrity Family Care started seeing patients in February 2017 at its main clinic at 1041 Balch Road, Suite 300, near Madison Hospital.

Integrity’s staff includes Dr. Ashley Burchfield; Dr. Cathy Spear; Katie Koshofer, PA; CRNPs Laura Roche, Jenny Ryder and Katie Band; and co-founder/president Dr. Jason Lockette.

A full-service primary-care clinic, Integrity offers on-site labs, X-ray and examination rooms with same-day, one-hour, in-and-out appointments. Physicians specialize in chronic care management and building long-term relationships with patients.

Accepting patients 12 years old and older, Integrity doctors help with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and all common acute conditions, such colds, flu and allergies. “We also coordinate the relationship between you and any specialists needed for your care,” Lockette said.

Integrity doctors promise an experience that will be friendly, informed, convenient and smooth.

“Our office is modern and efficient, and we strive to create a better healthcare experience by respecting our patients’ time while we deliver best-in-class healthcare,” Lockette said. “We also utilize modern and digital communication tools to ensure our patients have radically improved access to our providers, with no VIP charges.”

In their determination to inform patients, Integrity physicians have collaborated with K Heath, a health technology company that empowers consumers by giving them access to more relevant, reliable health information.

That access is available “through our AI-powered health app, K, which just launched in the United States in the Huntsville/Madison area May 1,” K Health co-founder/CEO Allon Bloch said. “Chat with K about your symptoms and find out in seconds what people like you had and how they were treated. The app is free and available for iPhone and Android for adults 18-85.”

The K app gives consumers access to more relevant health information than online searches.

“Search your symptoms on the web, and what you find will be overly general and often scary and misleading,” Bloch said. “The content isn’t aware of your context.” K Health pursued a totally different approach. “K uses machine learning to understand what happened (previously) to millions of real people like you. When you chat with K about your symptoms, K compares your case to similar cases of your age and gender. You can learn what they had and all the different ways they were treated.”

Using K requires a few steps:

• Download K from the app store.
• “Chat” with K about symptoms. “You’ll see what people like you had, and learn about the doctors, tests, medication and other treatments that were part of their road to recovery,” Bloch said.
• For a provider to review your case, share it from the app with Integrity’s provider team. The app does not provide any diagnoses or medical advice by itself.
• Integrity doctors will review your comments and respond with advice about your next steps. An Integrity provider will reassure you or prescribe medication to you – without requiring an office visit.

The K reports inform Integrity providers about a patient’s symptoms, symptom attributes like duration and severity and relevant symptoms they don’t have. “Often, this information is all a provider needs to assess the patient,” Bloch said.

In some cases, the patient will need a test or physical examination. “In those cases, the provider will review your K report with you during a visit to the clinic,” Bloch said.

A launch party May 1 offered an enjoyable venue for area residents and medical professionals to meet doctors from Integrity Family Care and learn about the potential of the app from K Health. Old Black Bear Brewing Company at 208 Main St. in historic downtown Madison furnished the setting for the upbeat event.

Launch guests enjoyed “light bites,” such as beer-battered pretzel snacks, hummus dip and fresh vegetables, plus craft beer, at the informal gathering.

K Health representatives served a free beverage to any guest who downloaded the K app.

For more information, text khealth to 31996 for a link to download the app or search for “K Health” in your phone’s app store.

For an appointment, call 256-325-1540 or visit integrityfamilycare.com. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.