Direct Primary Care Provider Finds Patient Success with Allergychoices

Since 2000, Allergychoices has supported providers from every corner of the country with offering sublingual immunotherapy — a disease modifying allergy treatment. Each provider has their own story about offering this treatment, with personal anecdotes of how it has ultimately impacted both practice and patients.

Amber Beckenhauer, DO, added allergy testing and sublingual immunotherapy to her clinics’ offerings and has found it to be a success for her patients. As a Direct Primary Care provider, she says it fits into her practice seamlessly and in general, it has made a positive impact on her patients. Here’s why.

High Compliance Rate

When it comes to sublingual immunotherapy using the La Crosse Method™ Protocol, compliance means that a patient takes three doses of custom treatment a day for the entirety of their treatment — on average, three to five years. Dr. Beckenhauer says, “I truly feel that in-home sublingual therapy is making these patients compliant.”

With other treatments that require frequent office visits, it can be difficult for patients to stay on track with their treatment. Sublingual immunotherapy following The La Crosse Method™ Protocol requires minimal office visits and the treatment can be taken on the go, making compliance simpler.

This flexible but effective treatment method sets patients up for success. “They’re able to just be as successful in treating their allergies as possible,” Dr. Beckenhauer says.

Less Medication Use

Allergy can be related to a large variety of conditions — asthma, eczema, sinusitis, ear infections, and more — so treating the cause of allergy may positively impact these conditions, too. Dr. Beckenhauer has found that by getting to the underlying cause by treating the identified allergies in her patients, medication use for related conditions is reduced.

She says, “My numbers in antibiotics and steroid use over the last year for my patient panel has gone down by one third.” This keeps appointment slots available for those with more critical needs and allows patients to stay in their daily routines. “My patients are seeing the full effects of treating their allergies head on,” Dr. Beckenhauer says.

Patients Feel Better

Overall, patients enjoy the treatment and feel better throughout their allergy season and beyond, and Dr. Beckenhauer finds this to be the most rewarding part of providing allergy care in-house.

“Patients tolerate it really well and they really appreciate it when they get going,” she says of disease-modifying allergy treatment. “That’s the fun part, when patients start to feel better and get back to work and school.”

Get Started

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can add this treatment to your practice, reach out to our implementation team to set up a call.