Healthcare. It’s something that everyone—no matter who they are, where they live, or what they do—needs at some point in their lives. It’s no secret that healthcare has been, and continues to be, hard to afford for many people. And, the recent effects of the global pandemic only intensified this issue. When healthcare is not accessible or affordable, communities struggle. 

But one doctor is trying to change the status quo. Meet Dr. Omar Akhter and his direct primary care practice, Madina Medicine, founded with a mission to offer affordable healthcare to those who need it most and made accessible and safe through powerful technology. Beyond providing just affordable aid, Dr. Omar also provides comfort and a sense of connection through learning his patients’ stories and getting to know who they are as a person. Dr. Akhter’s story reveals how he created a practice that offers personalized, affordable, and meaningful medical care to those who need it.  

All in the DNA 

For Dr. Omar Akhter, the world of medicine was always familiar. He grew up in Pakistan in a family of physicians. It was only natural for him to follow the same path. He graduated from medical school in Pakistan before going on to complete his residency in Internal Medicine in New York City. From there, he practiced with a large hospital system in New Jersey before eventually settling in Austin, Texas—where Madina Medicine is located—as a functional medicine doctor. Such experiences provided him fantastic exposure to the healthcare system—specifically, in the family medicine setting. To anyone familiar with Dr. Akhter’s work, it’s clear how this lifetime of learning and knowledge has benefited his work and, ultimately, his patients.  

His mission is to make primary care accessible, affordable, and of the highest quality to everyone in the community regardless of insurance status. He seeks to provide unmatched patient care—treating every patient in a personalized way. He uses the power of “food as medicine” as much as possible to impact the health and wellness of his patients. The last pillar of Dr. Omar’s mission is to further awareness of integrative functional medicine and lifestyle medicine in finding the root cause—and then the treatment—of chronic illness. Technology makes all this possible. While he may be achieving his mission at a high level in his primary care practice today, his journey wasn’t always smooth. 

Deep Pool of Problems 

The world wasted no time throwing problems Dr. Akhter’s way. “Interestingly enough, I set up my practice just a few months before COVID hit,” he said. This meant two things for him and his practice at Madina Medicine: a lot of patients, and a need to quickly adapt to an even cleaner and safer environment than normal. “During the pandemic, a lot of people lost their jobs. When they lost their jobs, they also lost their insurance. And this [business] model provides an excellent in-between for that because you don’t need to have insurance for it.” 

As a practice, Madina Medicine offers comprehensive, and affordable care on a monthly-subscription basis. And, while this provides accessible care to the Austin community, it still left Dr. Akhter looking for a way to ensure that he’s maximizing his cash flow and optimizing his practice. 

Beyond that, as with most people in the healthcare industry, dependable privacy and security is very important. It is “important for a business especially like mine, because, oftentimes, we’re not doing that typical, in-office, 9-to-5. You need to make sure that, wherever you’re at, you’re going to have a high amount of privacy.”  

With all these issues and needs in mind, there’s one partner who could help solve for his technology challenges with Small Business solutions built to connect him with his patients, while protecting their privacy. 

Focusing in on the Cure 

Madina Medicine needed to undergo a rapid phase of evolution very early on in its establishment. How they operate today is widely credited to the technology they use. Lenovo offers its tech in a monthly subscription, Desktop as a Service (DaaS). He likens DaaS to his monthly subscription service that he offers in his practice as they both contribute greatly towards benefiting society—offering affordability and efficiency. It also checks the crucial box of “keeping technology up to date”—with Lenovo’s capability of delivering their most modern virtual desktops to the user.  

According to Dr. Akhter, DaaS allows him to keep his focus on his practice. “I’m able to keep the monthly cash flow coming in and provide the best service possible to my patients,” he said. He uses DaaS as a way to optimize his technology, keep it up to date, and manage his monthly expenses with one predictable bill. With a productive method of maximizing cash flow, he is able to continue effectively caring for his patients. 

As a medical professional, Dr. Akhter understands the importance of safety, privacy, and security for the sake of his patients. The easy-to-use privacy guard on Lenovo’s ThinkPad T14—Powered by Windows 10—allows him to access files and information anywhere without the fear of anyone else seeing those medical records. It is engrained with hardware and Microsoft security features with customizable and comprehensive end-to-end protection. The T14 Gen 2 Healthcare Edition also has an antimicrobial finish that allows Dr. Akhter to keep everything clean and safe for himself and his patients. 

“You have to have technology, especially in this pandemic where a lot of people, especially older people, aren’t able to access you in the way that they were typically able to access you”  

The power and reliability of Lenovo allows Small Businesses like Madina Medicine, and people like Dr. Omar Akhter, to thrive. With Lenovo, Dr. Akhter can continue working smoothly and impactfully, and his patients—people who’ve lost their jobs and no longer have any other affordable option—can continue to get the comprehensive care they need.  

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