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Obstetrics
There is no joy in medicine greater than helping a new life come into the world, and no bond in medicine stronger than the relationship that develops between the doctor and family when that joyous experience is shared. That is why the doctors of Lawrence Family Medicine & Obstetrics enjoy obstetrics so much. Together, we have experienced at least 10,000 deliveries and still get a thrill every time. The practice offers a full range of obstetrical services, including C-sections and forceps and on-site sonograms, non-stress tests and biophysical profiles. Our broad medical training helps us better understand and care for the medical problems that develop concurrent with pregnancy and their effects on the pregnancy. And when the fun is over, we’ll still be there to care for your and the baby’s medical needs. We don’t walk out after a nine-month relationship.

Pediatrics
Your new bundle of joy doesn’t come complete with a user’s manual or a maintenance schedule. That’s where we come in. From questions to crises, rashes to respiratory infections, and boo-boos to broken bones, we’re there for you. We’ll offer guidance, monitor growth and development, immunize against disease, and diagnose and treat those things we can’t prevent. Our little patients are our favorites because they change every time we see them. Watching them grow up brings us almost as much pride and joy as you experience. Our knowledge of the family and the relationship with the parents, developed from their own experience with us, makes our job easier and, hopefully, reinforces the trust so necessary when something as precious as a child’s health is involved. 

Primary Care
The modern age of medicine is both marvelous and amazingly complex. Organ specific specialists can perform miracles undreamed of 20 years ago. But people are more than just a collection of organs, and symptoms are seldom organ specific. That is why everyone needs a medical home to care for the whole person, body and mind...and to provide access to preventive medical advice and services, to triage between serious and worrisome but non-threatening symptoms, and to categorize serious problems into the appropriate organ systems for definitive care. For instance, back pain can be a symptom of stress or depression needing emotional support. Or it can be a muscle strain, needing nothing more than rest and hot packs. But it also might be a ruptured disc needing epidural blocks or surgery, or a kidney infection needing antibiotics. Other symptoms can be equally non-specific. 

So you can see why everyone needs a primary care physician, a medical home that is the first stop in care and the guide to a confusing and complex medical system. Primary care with an electronic health record provides that single reservoir of information that allows detection of conflicting conditions or therapies and duplications of services that a physician working only on his distinct organ system might not recognize. Finally, in the age of care measurement, the primary care record becomes that check-point for quality assurance programs that make sure you receive the best care possible and spend your insurance dollars as efficiently as possible. A well functioning, efficient medical care system depends on primary care. That’s what we do.

Preventive Medicine
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Those old sayings have a lot of truth in them. The truth is that people largely decide whether they are destined to live healthy lives or to lead lives of infirmity based on their lifestyle choices and other addressable attributes. From the immunizations against disease starting in infancy and extending throughout life to screening for osteoporosis and risk of falls in our advanced years—with stops in between to deal with smoking, obesity, cholesterol and cancer screening—preventive medicine has a huge potential to help you live better, healthier and longer. 

Preventive medicine is an emphasis in our practice and we would like to make it an emphasis in our relationship with you. We rely on the recommendations of the U.S. Taskforce on Preventive Medicine to select the most effective preventive care and procedures. If you make us your “cold doctor” and only show up during illness, you will have missed out on a large part of what we have to offer you. Our special Electronic Medical Record allows us to monitor recommended preventive medical services and remind you at the time of a visit that you are overdue, as well as to generate lists for recall letters for those services. If you receive a letter from us indicating it’s time for a preventive medical visit, please take it seriously. We certainly do. 

Gynecology
We offer the full range of office gynecologic services: from routine pap smears and HPV screening, to the diagnosis and treatment of genital infections and the evaluation of pelvic pain, as well as colposcopy for the diagnosis of cervical dysplasia and cancer, and treatments including cryosurgery and LEEP. We also offer the full range of contraceptive counseling and services, including the placement of IUDs. We do the preliminary workup of fertility problems, for females and males, and the evaluation of endocrine problems such as absent or irregular periods. More important, we do all of these things without ignoring the upper half of the body and the important non-gynecologic preventive medical services and procedures.  There is no reason to have a pap/pelvic exam and a preventive medical exam at two different locations, by two different doctors with two different copays, when both can be done in one visit—and both are important. 

Orthopedics
The price of an active life is the occasional injury, ache, pain, sprain, strain or even fracture. The price of an inactive life is even more of the same, only later. We recommend activity, and stand ready to diagnose and treat the little bumps in life’s road. For major, serious injuries, by all means go to the emergency room. For the more common little injuries, follow the sage advice of ice, ACE and elevate...and give us a call. We have full x-ray services on-site, and are capable of diagnosing and treating most orthopedic injuries from sprains to fractures. For the less-common displaced fractures or surgical injuries, we will make you comfortable and get you to the orthopedic surgeons on a timely basis. 

Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery
Is it poison ivy or shingles, warts or skin cancer? Why wait a month or more to get into a dermatologist’s office to find out? One of our most common activities is the diagnosis and treatment of skin conditions such as infections, unusual moles, warts, acne, contact dermatitis and eczema. The most common surgery we do is the removal of skin lesions. We also do shave biopsies, skin punch biopsies and excisions, and have technology such as cryosurgery and LEEP to destroy skin lesions with little or no scarring. In addition, we have ELOS light-based therapies for the treatment of unwanted skin pigmentation, wrinkles, spider veins and hair. We even offer Levulan and light treatments, which have been shown to be the most effective and best tolerated treatments for diffuse, sun-damaged skin and acne. Our interest is not skin deep and we understand the cutaneous manifestations of systemic disease. Finally, we understand the psychological importance and hormonal connections often found in individuals with skin conditions. We may start with the skin, but we go much deeper.

Sterilization Procedures
Just because we plan to stay in the obstetrics business doesn’t mean you have to. In addition to offering all the temporary methods of contraception from diaphragms, to pills and shots, to IUDs, we also offer both of the permanent sterilization techniques. Dr. Bruner is experienced in post partum tubal ligation, which is done in the hospital shortly after delivery or at the time of C-section. For those families who choose to share the responsibility for procreation (or lack or same), he also does vasectomies in the office and assures skeptics that the experience is much better than anticipated for the vast majority of men. Dr. Bruner says the ratio of the procedures chosen has changed over the years from about 5 to 1 in favor of tubal ligation to 5 to 1 in favor of shared responsibility.

Cosmetic Procedures
By establishing the Aesthetics Center at Lawrence Family Medicine and Obstetrics, we have invested in state-of-the art equipment for cosmetic services because we know your appearance affects the way you feel about yourself and the way you feel in general. We are capable of helping you with the permanent reduction of unwanted hair, photofacial skin rejuvenation (reduction of red or brown spots and fine wrinkles), treatment of spider veins, and long term improvement of acne or rosacea. We also offer microdermabrasion for softening of facial skin and to remove dead skin cells and smooth the application of makeup. For severe forms of acne and widespread actinic keratoses from sun damage, we offer the combination of intense pulsed light and Levulan, which is as effective for those conditions as the strongest medications but with many fewer side effects. Finally, although few of our female patients suffer from a condition known as cellulite, for those who do, we offer VelaSmooth, one of the few treatments approved by the FDA for cellulite reduction. As a nice side effect, it takes off inches as well as dimples. For further information on our cosmetic services, including before and after pictures and pricing, visit our Aesthetics Center website. 

Ancillary Services
In providing you a medical home, we also attempt to provide you a “one stop shop”.  We know how frustrating and time-consuming it is to see the doctor, get an order, drive to the lab for a blood draw, then drive to an x-ray or sono facility for imaging...only to wait days for a diagnosis of and treatment plan for your problem. We can’t avoid all of this, but we have tried to make as many services available to you as possible at our office. Available ancillary services include lab, plain film x-rays, EKG, pulmonary function testing, fetal non-stress testing, sonography, vascular Doppler and echocardiography. Many lab tests are done here with results available immediately. The lab tests that are sent out are picked up by courier twice a day, so results are usually reported the next morning. We also offer drawing services for labs that your insurance requires to be sent out. We can’t make being a patient easy, but we try to make it quicker and easier. 

Electronic Health Record and Quality Assurance Plans
In the “good old days” a quality medical record might have been a written “Diagnosis-sore throat, Rx-Penicillin.” But in this modern medical age, the complexities of the diagnosis and treatment of multiple, complex and concurrent medical conditions—as well as the insurance and liability requirements for documentation—make a poorly legible, handwritten paper chart a relic of the past. That’s why we were among the first Lawrence practices to go completely paperless back in 2003. Despite the expense and adjustments involved, we have never regretted that decision because it allows us to provide you better, more organized medical care. In addition to providing immediate access to a legible, well-organized health record, it performs many value-added functions, such as checking a new prescription for drug-drug or drug-allergy interactions and reminding us when necessary preventive services are overdue. It also provides a health summary easily shared with other doctors who might be involved with your care. In the near future, it will provide a patient portal that will allow our patients to make appointments, submit questions, receive lab results and even enter medical and insurance information online. The age of information technology is now in medical care and it is a benefit to all of us. Our practice is at the front of the curve.           

The latest direction in medical care is the concept of accountability. We all like to think we are doing the best job possible, but if there is no measurement of performance, how do we know? Information technology now allows us to do those measurements and compare ourselves with other physicians and practices. Starting with Medicare’s Physician Voluntary Reporting Program, we have agreed to participate with the quality assurance data set measurement programs currently being finalized by various professional and insurance based organizations. We want to not just assume we are providing the best care possible, we want to prove it.

The LFMO commitment
Our commitment to you is accessibility to medical information and assistance 24 hours a day. We do this by providing a broad range of medical services, seven days a week, delivered with a personal touch while using the latest of medical technologies. Our on-call doctor is available by phone to talk to you at any time, day or night. And, since the best medical care is delivered in person, we maintain extended office hours on weekdays as well as provide office hours for urgent care on Saturdays and Sundays.  

At LFMO, we provide a medical home for you and your family
to restore health and, more important, to preserve your health
through preventive medical services

Open 7 days a week, by appointment
Ready for a visit to our office? Contact us now!