Welcome to Holland Clinic's Medical Weight Loss Program in Albuquerque

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CORONAVIRUS UPDATE:

WE ARE FINALLY SEEING NEW PATIENTS AGAIN!

APPLY NOW (See right sidebar)
 NEW WEBSITE COMING!
 

March 12, 2022:

Coronavirus is fading in the US. This time it might really be over. We have fully re-opened and our new website is coming in mere days. Stay tuned...

September 17, 2021

Well, we had about a month in June when it looked like maybe the pandemic was winding down... And then came 'Delta'... And here we are again in the middle of another worldwide/nationwide/statewide spike of the Coronavirus. Half a million Americans are dead and two thousand more are dying every day. This nightmare isn't over yet.

Still, things are better than a year ago. We have vaccines that really work and this pandemic may soon lose enough of its lethality that we can begin to live with it in the same way that we do the flu. I certainly hope so anyway.

We continue to offer mostly telemedical care to patients but were are seeing more and more people in-office too. We are open for new (and returning) patients and we are open to anyone who needs to be seen in-office. We still require masking of course, but things are getting a little easier for our patients. 

There isn't much more to say yet. We aren't going to fully reopen for a bit longer. It is not a good idea. But we are here and you are very, very welcome any time.

OUR CURRENT WEBSITE IS ABOUT TO RETIRE

On a less dire note, this website is getting pretty old and will be replaced soon with a new style and look. We didn't want to do it mind you! Google made us do it. You see, this website was built many years ago (2012) in Google Sites and has had nearly a decade of good performance. But, in its infinite wisdom, Google is ending support for the old version of Google Sites and the 'new' version, well it stinks. This website is way too big and has too many nested pages to work with the new Google Sites. So I am moving the whole thing over to WordPress but it is going to be a challenge. Anyway, stay tuned!

February 11, 2021

Bernalillo County has finally seen significant improvements to it's Sars-CoV2 epidemiology. Yesterday, our threat level was downgraded to yellow allowing increases to the capacities of most businesses.  

Ironically, my office has been hard-hit by the virus in the past several weeks with two staff members testing positive and therefore unable to work for two weeks. Fortunately, both afflicted employees are young and they experienced only relatively mild Covid-19 disease. I have personally managed to avoid infection so far and I attribute that to a lot of luck and to the precautions that I have taken with patients in my office and in my personal behavior.

The important question here is how the reduced threat level will affect my office policy for in-person visits. The answer is that until I am able to get my staff back from quarantine, there will be very little change to my office policies but after that (and it SHOULD be next week) then things will begin to change a bit. I anticipate that I will be able to see something like 20% of my pre-pandemic patient numbers or about 5-10 patients per day. I will keep all of you updated on plans after next week so stay tuned.

Finally, it is important to remember that this pandemic is not over by a longshot and several new genetic variants of the Sars-CoV2 virus appear to be MORE contagious and perhaps more deadly. At this time we believe that the new variants may partially respond to existing vaccines but we are not certain. Extreme caution is still needed in the next several months and perhaps far longer into the future. Accordingly, my advice to my patients is still to stay home if you can. We are happy to see you in-person but the practice will not be able to return to "normal" anytime soon and unless there is a medical reason for an in-person visit I still recommend you use telemedical care.

Thank you all for your extreme patience and understanding. Things are getting better but this isn't over.

December 18, 2020

Vaccinations are underway and here in New Mexico, probably because of the recent lockdown, case numbers have begun to fall.  There is good reason to hope that the last month is about as bad as the COVID-19 situation will get. But this remains (for some) a deadly and difficult to treat illness. We must all remain exceptionally careful to stay safe and to keep others safe.


Plan For Patient Care at Holland Clinic
After the New Year, barring a worsening of case numbers in the State we intend to begin a gradual re-opening. We have already done this once and so we have a good idea what it will look like now. For the time being, we are going to limit patients in the office to one-at-a-time and visits will be triaged by importance. The most urgent cases will be seen before others.

If you are a New Patient
We will once again begin seeing new and former patients starting on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. If you have applied to our weight loss program recently and not yet heard from us, we will be contacting you shortly to arrange for your care here. The format of your visit will be a little different because we want to limit the amount of time you need to spend in our office.

If you want to become a patient here, the simplest first step is to click the link below and then complete the online new patient application form. I will review your submissions and then we will contact you to arrange the next steps in the process of getting you started.

December 12, 2020

Pfizer's m-RNA based vaccine for Sars-cov-2 received an 'emergency use authorization' from the FDA last night and vaccinations should begin next week. A second vaccine from Moderna is perhaps a week or two behind this one and within months, we could see something like 5 vaccines approved. This is extremely good news.

The bad news is that the virus rages on here in New Mexico and around the country. As I noted when I posted earlier this month, we are perilously close to filling all our available ICU beds (in New Mexico hospitals) and health care workers are totally exhausted. Fortunately, the second statewide shutdown seems to be helping: cases have begun to decline slightly. But the danger right now is extreme and the vaccine(s) may not be available to most of us for several more months and it may be far longer before 'herd immunity' begins to protect the whole population. So unfortunately, we all have to continue to practice social distancing and isolation. For my practice here, that means that we continue to encourage all patients to stay home and interact with us via telemedicine.
We are still here though and we are always available in-person if a patient emergency should require it. But for everyone else, bear with us and hang in there. This nightmare WILL end soon and one day it will pass into history. If it is any consolation, this pandemic will be remembered for as long as there are people on this Earth and you (and I and most of us) will be able to say that we lived through it and bore personal witness. Horribly though, far too many people had died and beyond all other considerations, we must work hard to keep everyone as safe as possible.

Try to have a Merry Christmas and please be safe.

December 3, 2020

New Mexico now has 115 deaths from Covid-19 per 10-million people per day making this one of the hardest-hit states in the nation (on a per-capita basis). Things have become terrible here very rapidly and our health care workers are past the breaking point now. Our hospitals are near capacity and without workers to staff new temporary hospitals, things are looking very grim indeed. This is no time for any New Mexicans to take chances.

Accordingly, we are running this practice by telemedicine ONLY (Except for emergencies). If you are a patient of mine, we are still here for you but we ask that you stay home and interact with us by phone and/or internet. A link to our telemedical patient form is right here:
If you think that you are experiencing an emergency related to your care here we can and will see you in-office and ask that you call us immediately. For everyone else, it is just not safe to travel here (or anywhere).

High Risk Environments
The most dangerous settings for covid-19 are those where people are in close proximity to an infected person for longer than a few minutes, especially without masks and especially if the infected person is talking, shouting or singing. This means that most of us face the greatest danger at home. If we live with other people who are still working or who get infected by any means, the indoor home environment can be very dangerous for us. After that, the next most dangerous setting that we are likely to encounter is inside public buildings like supermarkets, hospitals and offices. In the final analysis, the risk is simple: other people. Sars-coV-2 is a human virus spread almost entirely by respiratory droplets. The only way to be truly safe is to stay away from all other people. As painful as this is, if ever there was a time, it is now.

High Risk People
The most dangerous people TO us are so-called super-spreaders. These are people who, for reasons that are still not understood, shed the virus much more aggressively. The problems is that we currently have no way to identify who is a super-spreader. It could be your spouse. It could be you. It could be me.

The people who are most at risk FROM us and from the virus are people WITH the following conditions (regardless of age)
People who MIGHT be at increased risk are people with the following conditions:
Finally there is age. The older we are, the greater the risk and the risk jumps dramatically for people older than 70 years.

Hang-In There
It really is darkest before the dawn. We have two very good vaccines that are about to hit the market and at least 20 newer vaccines are in the pipeline. This nightmare will end in 2021. Just stay safe until then. And try to have a good holiday despite all the bad news. I and my staff are a phone call away.

TELE-MEDICAL LINK

November 18, 2020

After my update last week, our Governor, Michelle Lujan Griffin, has announced a new emergency "shelter in place" order for New Mexico. This order shuts-down all non-essential businesses for a period of two weeks after which the state will begin a county-by-county gradual re-opening tied to reductions in Coronavirus in each county. New Mexico has come perilously close to saturating all of its hospital beds and healthcare workers are stretched to the breaking point right now. It really is crucial that we all do everything we can to reduce the chance of spreading the virus (or contracting the virus) in the weeks ahead. As you probably also know, the US now has two very promising vaccine candidates awaiting an FDA "emergency use authorization" and if all goes well, inoculations could become available to high-risk people in December with the remainder of the US population slated for Spring. If these vaccines are as effective as it seems, we could put this long Coronavirus nightmare behind us by summer.

But for the moment, we are back in full lockdown and infection rates are higher than at any point so far so we all must try to do our part. I will continue to offer telemedical care to all of my established patients while in-office visits will be reserved only for those of you who have a medical need. If you already have an in-office appointment here you will not lose it. Just show-up on time and we will still be here.

We remain available by phone and email and you may contact us at any time. Please stay safe.

November 13, 2020

The best laid plans...

I had intended to begin slowly and carefully opening my practice up to in-person visits again but the Coronavirus had other ideas. New Mexico and the whole nation are now in the midst of a very nasty second wave of the virus that may be made much worse yet by the advent of winter. So, in response to this, I have backed-off a bit from plans to reopen the practice to in-person visits and instead we will continue to offer telemedical care to active patients while reserving in-office visits for the patients who absolutely require them. 

We ARE continuing to see new (and former) patients in-office and we are slowly working through a big backlog of patient applicants going all the way into March when the pandemic hit. If you applied to become a new patient more than 8 weeks ago, we encourage you to contact our office again so that we can know that you are still interested and then we can get you appointed very quickly. If you do not contact us we will get to you as fast as possible over the next month.

For all of our active patients on telemedical care, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding during this long global emergency. One day soon we WILL have a Coronavirus vaccine and this pandemic will begin to fade into history and allow all of us to begin living normal lives again. I look forward to seeing all of you again when that happens. Meantime, hang on, have faith and remain safe! Remember that people can shed the virus even when they don't have symptoms and remember that the more time we spend indoors in close quarters, the higher the risk to us becomes. Always wear a face covering in public and try to limit your outings.  And with  that said, I hope that you can manage to enjoy the holidays this year. I'll post back soon!

Mark J. Holland MD

September 17, 2020

A brief update: We all remain mired in the middle of global pandemic that has hit the US harder than any other nation. Currently there is real concern about how the disease will change in the cold months of winter and how bad the annual influenza (flu) season will be. Thanks to intelligent policy from our governor, New Mexico has avoided the worst of the epidemic so far but this is not the time relax too much. Accordingly, I (Dr. Holland) am proceeding very slowly with reopening our office.


Tele-Medicine:

Telemedical care has become the main way for me to offer care to my patients and while it far from perfect, it has allowed us to avoid any risk for office overcrowding. I anticipate that we will continue to recommend tele-medical care for most patients through the Holidays and perhaps beyond the New Year.

Improved Tele-Medical Care
I have struggled a bit to add video visits, primarily because of complex medical privacy rules that limit which video platforms are allowed and because of the difficulty that patients face in downloading and setting up tele medical apps on their smart phones and computers. I believe that I have finally found a way to do it that will actually work easily for most people. Stay tuned here for more details shortly (in the next few weeks).


Office Visits
We have availability for in-office visits but it is very limited and reserved for people who have a medical need for regular face to face visits. The main thing we want everyone to understand is that if you do have a scheduled office visit, you must be exactly on-time and no-shows will result in discharge from the practice. So if you do have an office appointment, please keep it and be punctual.

Former Patients
If we know you and have seen you at any time since 2012, restarting our program will be easier than you think and you definitely call us to get you started.

New Patients:
We have had to radically reduce the number of new patients that we see because of how little space we have for these long visits. We ARE seeing a small number of new patients (to be sure) but currently, we have a long waiting list. I am working on a whole new way of teaching our program that (I hope) will reduce the amount of time required in-office for new patients. This basically means doing a lot of teaching online BEFORE a new visit so that new patients arrive knowing a lot about what we do and how we do it.



Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Re-Opening
We continue to reopen slowly and carefully. I understand that this has proven frustrating for people who want to become patients and face a long wait, but I am trying NOT place my patients, my employees or myself at risk for Sars-cov-2.  I am seeing patients in the office but only one at a time. As we become more comfortable with our infection control protocols, we will become able to see more patients in-office. As always, your patience and understanding is truly appreciated. 


Telemedical Care
The best option for most patients remains tele-medical care. Hundreds of patients have already used this option and we strongly encourage all active patients to continue to use it. Here is the link:

Saturday, June 13,  2020

We have begun our re-opening but we are being VERY cautious and strongly encourage everyone who can do so to consider continuing tele-medical care. We will provide a much more substantial update in the next week. Please remain safe and vigilant in the days ahead and feel free to call us if you have questions.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020: RE-OPENING INFORMATION

First, thanks to all of our patients. You folks have been great during this massive worldwide emergency.

Second, here is our tele-medical link:


Now, for a brief update: The State of New Mexico is currently in the early phase(s) of 're-opening' and outpatient medical practices (such as this one) have begun the process of preparing to see patients again. I would like to address several matters related to this:
    1. We are not YET re-opened. We anticipate a very slow and gradual reopening starting on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
    2. All in-person office visits MUST be by appointment only. We are not able to see any 'drop-in' patients. Our main goal is to keep patients away from each other to reduce the risk for viral spread. This means that appointments will be scheduled so that patients are spread out over the day.
    3. The number of appointments will initially be VERY small.
    4. Most patients will be far better off continuing to receive tele-medical care. We are significantly upgrading our tele-medical ability and will begin to offer face-to-face video visits very shortly.
    5. We are going to follow all CDC guidelines for safe re-opening and these will place additional burdens upon us and also upon our patients. In-person visits will be something of a hassle for people. Here are SOME not all) of the requirements for in-person care:
      1. You must arrive wearing a face covering. This is now the law in New Mexico and we can only see people who arrive wearing one. We DO have a limited number of surgical-type face masks that we can give to an arriving patient, BUT, if you need a mask from us, you should call us ahead of time to make sure our supply allows it. Again, face covering is now required by law in New Mexico.
      2. Arriving patients will be screened for signs and symptoms of infection with coronavirus by...
        1. Touch-less (infrared) forehead temperature measurement
        2. Answering basic questions about signs, symptoms and recent exposure to Coronavirus
      3. Visits will be a brief as possible. The longer you are in-office, the greater your risk and the greater our own. 
Anyway, that is a short list of how we expect our re-opening to proceed. We are still short-staffed, but you are welcome to call us. You can also email us at mjh@hollandclinic.com if you have any questions.

Check back here for continuing updates.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Just a brief update: We still do not know when New Mexico's stay-home order will be lifted. As soon as it IS lifted, we MAY be able to resume a more normal pattern of care and we may also be able begin seeing new patients again. But that is still in the future. For the moment, tele-medical care is available to established patients and it is working well. The link below carries you to an online form that starts the process of tele-medical care. And if you have any questions, feel free to call us at (505) 232-6818.


Saturday, April 18, 2020

In-office visits are currently not available. This is to protect you from possible exposure to Coronavirus. But do not panic! If you are a patient, "tele-medical care" is available to you right now. This means that I can "see" you remotely (via phone or internet) and then quickly mail your prescription medications to you so that you receive them within 1-2 days. This is the option that hundreds of my patients have already elected to pursue and so far, the system is working very well.

To begin a tele-medical visit all you need to do is click the link just below:
This link carries you to an online form where I ask you a number of questions. As soon as you submit the form, I receive it, review it and call you (if necessary). Once I am satisfied that you are doing well, I will fill your prescription and mail it you on the same day.

Keep in mind that tele-medical care is only available to current, active patients. New patients and former patients whose last prescription from me expired more than three months ago are not eligible for tele-medical care. I will begin seeing new and former patients just as soon as the Governor's 'stay-home' order is expired and when I believe that conditions make it safe for you. For the time being, new and former patients are invited to complete the online forms that will guarantee them an early position on our waiting list and we will call them to provide updated information as the pandemic progresses.

OVERVIEW OF TELE-MEDICAL CARE

INTRODUCTION
I (Dr. Holland) and office manager Matthew Copus am/are now working seven days a week to  offer tele-medical care (remote or virtual 'visits') to our patients. I (Dr. Holland) recently made the difficult decision to stop nearly all in-person visits to the office for reasons of safety.

TELE-MEDICAL (REMOTE) CARE IS EVERYONE'S BEST OPTION
We have suspended all new (and re-starting) visits because these visits require in-person care that we cannot safely offer at the moment. Instead, we are asking our established patients to request tele-medical care by completing our tele-medical form (linked HERE and below). 

WE ARE AVAILABLE REMOTELY
We ARE here and we are here nearly every single day and we are doing our best to answer every phone call. Throughout this crisis, Dr. Holland will continue to offer remote care to all who need it and we are just a phone call away.


WE REMAIN AVAILABLE TO OUR PATIENTS DURING THIS PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Monday, March 23, 2020, a statewide emergency 'stay at home' order to all New Mexicans. This order requires that all 'non-essential' businesses keep 100% of their workforce at home. Medical facilities and offices are however exempt from this order for obvious reasons. This means that Dr. Holland is still able to render care to his patients who need it. 

BUT, because of Coronavirus, there are big changes to our practice. 

THESE CHANGES WILL AFFECT YOU!
PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS INFORMATION!

    1. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE TELE-MEDICAL VISITS FOR ELIGIBLE PATIENTS
      1. We have waived the extra mailing fees that normally are associated with mailing medications. 
      2. This option is NOT available to all patients but it is by far our safest current option for most of you
      3. We are in the process of notifying all eligible patients that they must switch to tele-medical care and we have reached most, but not all, of you.. As of Friday, March 27, 2020, we have tried calling everyone who should need care this week. If you have not heard from us, please check your voicemail, check your email and clear your voicemail box if it is full.
        1. DO NOT COME TO THE OFFICE! 
          1. In-person visits are reserved only for medical emergencies
          2. ALL appointments made before Monday, March 23 are CANCELLED
          3. We have made multiple attempts to contact everyone affected by this but if you have not heard from us, do NOT come to the office. Call us or go to our tele-medical online form
          4. You may call us any time. 
          5. We will update this web page as we gather more information. 
    2. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO "DROP-IN" TO OUR OFFICE. If you believe that you require an in-person office visit, CALL US first so that we may discuss your particular needs and then, if necessary, schedule you for a private in-person visit. Again, do not simply come-by our office. We will not be able to see you that way.
    3. WE ARE NO LONGER TAKING NEW PATIENTS or re-starting former patients. Obviously we regret this deeply and intend to begin seeing new patients again as soon as conditions permit. Please monitor this website for updates to this policy. We invite new patients to complete the relevant online form and once you have done this, you are in-line to be seen just as soon as possible.
    4. We have furloughed much of our staff. We are reduced to a 'skeleton crew' of core staff. This means we may take longer to answer the phone or respond to your emails. Please know that we ARE here and we will make sure that your medical needs are met.
    5. We are doing our level best to minimize the risk of Corona-virus exposure to patients and to our staff and we truly appreciate your understanding during this incredibly difficult time.

Click the hyperlink below to access tele-medical care 


Please call us if you have questions.
END OF CORONAVIRUS UPDATE                                                                                                                                             

Welcome to Holland Clinic

Providing Effective, Affordable, Physician-Supervised Medical Weight Loss for 30 years

The staff at Holland Clinic

We are here to help. From Left to Right: Amanda Garcia, Dr. Mark Holland, Kendall Garcia and Matthew Copus

Mark J. Holland MD

Medical Weight Loss Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico


Dr. Holland has been helping people lose weight for 25 years. That is all he does. Holland Clinic is Albuquerque's only medical weight loss clinic that is devoted entirely to weight loss. Helping people lose weight isn't a 'part' of what we do. It is ALL we do. This website has over 300 pages of information on weight loss but the basics are all right here. If you need to lose weight, we have powerful tools to help you and hope that you will seriously consider joining our medical weight loss program.

SERIOUS MEDICAL HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS

Our weight loss program works better because we offer patients safe, FDA approved prescription weight loss medications. These are not supplements, they are safe, powerful medications that are proven to do the job. Dr. Holland has 30 years of experience helping patients lose weight this way, and he has the expertise to help you too.

WE ARE MEDICAL WEIGHT LOSS EXPERTS

Dr. Holland has practiced bariatric medicine (medical weight loss) in Albuquerque for 30 years. Weight loss is the sole focus of his medical practice.  He REALLY knows medical weight loss.

100% WEIGHT LOSS

We are the only full-time 100% MEDICAL weight loss clinic in Albuquerque. We don't do surgery---just medical weight loss and we do it very well. We can help you today.

HOLLAND CLINIC'S WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM REALLY WORKS

Dr. Holland has helped over ten thousand New Mexicans lose weight.

AFFORDABLE

It costs $200 to start our medical weight loss program and that includes your first 28 day supply of prescription weight loss medication. The price also covers laboratory testing, your first office visit and a 90 minute seminar on how to lose weight. After your first month, our program costs between about $75 and $110 every four weeks (depending upon which medications you are prescribed). Please shop around and compare our pricing to our competitors'. We don't hide fees and we don't play 'bait and switch'. We're here to help you at a surprisingly affordable price.

GET STARTED TODAY

If you are really ready for a serious weight loss program, we have what it takes to help you. The fastest way to get started is by completing our online medical intake form. This takes about 30 minutes. Once this happens, Dr. Holland will carefully review your information and make a determination about your eligibility for this program. Once Dr. Holland has cleared you, we'll call you back to set your first appointment. Generally the whole process takes no longer than a day or two. 

WE WANT TO HELP

We are glad to answer any and all of your questions about Holland Clinic's medical weight loss program. You can call us at (505) 232-6818, you can contact us by email but please remember also that this website is packed with over 300 pages of information on what we do. Now is the best time to act.