DMC Today
Here are the views on the present and future of Divine Mercy Care…
Other Programs Sponsored by Divine Mercy Care
The Future of Divine Mercy Care
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The Seed
- Our Mission: Transforming Hearts through Healthcare
- Our Vision: The Renaissance of Catholic Healthcare
"Over the past year, Divine Mercy Care (DMC) has become
a community model with national implications
for the renaissance in Catholic healthcare."
Recognizing the need to lead by example, and understanding the "signs of the times" regarding the crisis in the cost, access and business of healthcare, DMC is already making a difference as a beacon of hope for patients (you) and providers (us).
The secret to Divine Mercy Care is found in its dependence on the merciful heart of the Father. Health care in general, and Catholic healthcare in particular, will fail if the dignity of the human person is not respected from conception to natural death. We are called to provide healthcare shaped by moral convictions and focused on this dignity of each individual, the pursuit of the common good, and the protection of the weak and vulnerable. This mission requires us to do what we ought: to love God and to love our neighbor. Divine Mercy Care addresses all of the issues facing healthcare today, while building solidarity with the local community.
In 1989, Dr. John Bruchalski sensed an interior call at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. As a response to serve the underserved in medicine and to see each person as an image of God, he began Tepeyac Family Center in 1994. Divine Mercy Care was founded in 2000 and purchased Tepeyac Family Center in 2005.
Thanks to appearances on EWTN and FOX News, front page articles in The Washington Post and several Catholic, periodicals, and speaking engagements across the country, Divine Mercy Care is solidifying its presence in our community of Northern Virginia, as well as across the nation.
We continue to be a source of encouragement to many faithful medical professionals across the country who call, email, or visit us to better understand: who we are; why we are so joyful; and how we run such an organization in this turbulent, tragic profession we all love and cherish—healthcare. Some of us practiced medicine using an anti-life approach earlier in our medical careers, so we understand the power of this work in light of the mercy of the Father because we came "to our senses" and lived the prodigal story.
Divine Mercy Care is…
- a way for us all to be healed,
- the hope that medicine needs in the Third Millennium
…today, right here, right now.
The number of the poor is increasing tremendously. Now is not the time to alter our path of loving God and loving neighbor in healthcare. The "perfect storm" of the attack on conscience from the pro-abortion lobby, coupled with the economic depression, will not keep us from doing our duty in this time of crisis. In fact, it strengthened our resolve, and increases our trust in the love of the Father. Divine Mercy Care believes we must lead by serving—now more than ever. The problem of insufficient access, unbridled greed, excessive cost, and conditional life or death choices are everyday conversations at Divine Mercy Care.
The Harvest
Tepeayc Family Center
The Tepeyac Family Center (TFC) now has a medical staff that includes six obstericians/gynecologists and one nurse practitioner. From the most advanced laparoscopic surgeries, to detailed hormonal analyses and complicated pregnancies, TFC is gaining regional and national attention for providing excellent faith-based healthcare in a trusted, competent, loving environment. More media and medical professionals are turning to TFC for answers and comments on the medical-moral issues of the day, such as conscience protection, contraception, abortion, stem cell research, and the general practice of medicine.
The first-fruit of DMC, Tepeyac Family Center, has seen amazing growth in the last year. Tepeyac Family Center has increased the number of patients for the first 10 months from 8,200 in 2007 to 11,267 in 2008 (an increase of 37.5%). Thus far in 2008, TFC has absorbed more than $285,000 in non-reimbursed charges for those patients who are uninsured, underinsured or in crisis pregnancies. That is nearly 10% of the total budget. The number of babies delivered to patients without commercial health insurance has increased 35.8% over last year and 97% over the previous year.
Firmly committed to the sanctity of life, and seeing the underserved in our daily business, we are positioned to face the coming economic downturn and assault on conscience with your assistance. Your contributions are spent on patient care: from obstetrical care for crisis pregnancy patients, to critical ultrasounds or pelvic surgeries, to improving our documentation with electronic medical records. Your generosity is disseminated throughout the practice for families of all backgrounds. The community will know we are Christian when we continue to serve the Northern Virginia area during difficult economic times. "These are the times that try men's souls." This is not the time to back down from our mission at TFC. Your generosity enables us to move forward.
Facts and Figures About Tepeyac Family Center—2008
- New obstetric patients increased 50% over last year
- Total patients increased 33% over last year
- New patients to the practice increased 160% over last year
- Babies delivered to patients without commercial health insurance increased 35.8% over last year
- Total costs associated with charity care increased 200% over last year
Tepeyac Family Center pays at least 50% of all costs associated with any referral from a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Tepeyac Family Center is reimbursed for less than 40% of the costs associated with a Medicaid patent's pregnancy and delivery. Divine Mercy Care's Donor Fund pays for 100% of all costs associated with patients accepted into that program.
What makes Tepeyac Family Center unique? It is the:
- Only Catholic medical practice in Northern Virginia and the only pro-life OB-GYN practice in a 150-mile radius.
- "Largest known contingent of NFP-only OB-GYNs in the world"—Steve Koob, President of One More Soul
- Largest OB-GYN practice of its kind in the United States
- Only known medical facility using the language of John Paul II's Theology of the Body in their daily work
- Largest private provider of OB services to Medicaid patients in Northern Virginia
- Home of the only perinatal hospice program of its kind in the area
In addition, TFC was featured in The Washington Post in August 2006.
Other Programs Sponsored by Divine Mercy Care
Kristen Anderson Perinatal Hospice Project
Operated within Tepeyac Family Center, this special program offers an alternative to abortion by providing medical, emotional and spiritual comfort to pregnant women and their families, after they discover that their life and/or the life of their unborn child is threatened. This program connects the family to community services that care for the spiritual and physical needs that arise from such difficult diagnoses, and offers assistance until one year after delivery. This program is the only one of its kind in the area and has received patients from other practices and hospital systems within the area.
Educational Resource Center
Responding to the overwhelming number of inquiries via emails, phone calls, and personal visits to Divine Mercy Care and the Tepeyac Family Center, our Educational Resource Center (ERC) is a program whereby medical providers, medical students, patients, and clergy can access our approach to medical/moral situations and find direct, clear, practical solutions and conversation.
The Future of Divine Mercy Care
To be in the right place at the right time with the right people who have the right talents is a gift and an opportunity. In response to patients and providers alike who are struggling with healthcare, Divine Mercy Care is praying for God’s guidance.
We will continue to speak with other medical specialties and practices on ways to partner to serve the community more thoroughly.
We will continue to improve on the information of healthcare with Electronic Medical Records to decrease mistakes and improve efficiency.
We will continue the mission of combining the best of modern medicine with the healing presence of Jesus Christ in the face of the crisis in healthcare and the overall economy.
We will continue to communicate on the internet to facilitate the exchange of ideas and solutions between providers regarding the practice of faith-based medicine.