PrimeDoc Hospitalist Group Announces the Launch of Third Hospitalist Practice in Georgia
ASHEVILLE, N.C.-(Business Wire)-September 8, 2009 - PrimeDoc Management Services, Inc., an Asheville-based, physician owned company that specializes in the establishment, staffing, and management of turnkey hospitalist programs, has launched a private-practice hospitalist program at Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick. The program started in early August and is PrimeDoc’s third in the state of Georgia. Other PrimeDoc hospitalist programs in the state are located in Athens, with additional practices elsewhere in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
“Having this service means that patients have access to the care of on-site internal medicine doctors who focus exclusively on them while they are in the hospital, from the time they are admitted until the time they are discharged,” said Gary R. Colberg, FACHE, president & CEO of the Health System. “Since they do not maintain a private practice, these physicians, called ‘hospitalists,’ are on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to care for whatever medical needs patients have during their stay. This means patients no longer have to wait for their primary care physician to check on them either before going to his or her office in the morning or in the evening after the doctor’s office closes.”
PrimeDoc is recruiting and will manage six internal medicine physicians for the Brunswick hospitalist team. The practice’s clinical director is Misty Leigh Williams, MD, who is board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and is a graduate of the University of Arkansas Medical School (UAMS). She is a former clinical instructor in the Department of Pediatrics for UAMS and for the past three years practiced as a PrimeDoc hospitalist in Frederick, Md.
“We are delighted to add Southeast Georgia Health System to the growing list of hospitals we serve,” said Robert J. Reynolds, MD, the company’s president and CEO, who is an internal medicine specialist with 18 years of clinical practice experience. “We are selective about the hospitals we partner with and to be chosen from among larger, national companies for this contract means the leaders of the Health System value a personal level of service that PrimeDoc offers its clients.”
Dr. Reynolds founded PrimeDoc in 1997 at the start of the hospitalist movement. Today hospital medicine is the fastest-growing medical specialty in North America as patients, hospitals and physicians realize the benefits of having doctors on-site all day, every day. Colberg said the Health System decided to implement a hospitalist program to enhance the quality of care patients experience in the hospital. “Our purpose is to provide specialists in inpatient care for our patients. We chose PrimeDoc because they are pioneers in the hospitalist movement. We look forward to partnering with them and believe it is a step forward for those in our community who require hospitalization at our Brunswick Campus.”
Studies confirm the value of hospital medicine specialists in enhancing the care of hospitalized patients. Research reported in the August 10/24 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine indicated that, in general, hospitals with hospitalists provide significantly better disease treatment and diagnosis than do facilities without hospitalists. A 2007 study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that patients cared for by hospitalists rather than a general internist or family physician were discharged from the hospital as much as a half-day sooner, on average.
For more information about PrimeDoc, visit www.primedoc.net. To learn more about Southeast Georgia Health System, visit www.sghs.org.
About PrimeDoc
PrimeDoc Management Services, Inc., based in Asheville, N.C., is a 100-percent physician owned company that specializes in the establishment, staffing, and management of turnkey hospitalist programs. One of the most well-established private-practice hospitalist companies in the U.S., PrimeDoc was founded in 1997 by Robert J. Reynolds, M.D., the company’s president and CEO and an internal medicine specialist with 18 years of clinical practice experience. PrimeDoc serves hospital clients in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Georgia, currently employing more than 100 hospital-based physicians. PrimeDoc also staffs two urgent care centers in North Carolina and a long term acute care hospital in Georgia (LTACHs are specialty hospitals that focus on patients with serious medical problems requiring intense, special treatment for an extended period). In addition, PrimeDoc offers a wide range of consulting services designed to help hospitals with an existing hospitalist program enhance their clinical and financial performance. For more information about PrimeDoc, visit www.primedoc.net.
About Southeast Georgia Health System
Southeast Georgia Health System is a not-for-profit health care system with multiple locations and services. The Health System has served the residents and visitors of the beautiful Golden Isles of Coastal Georgia and surrounding areas of Southeast Georgia since 1888. Headquartered in the historic port city of Brunswick, the Health System serves the health care needs of residents from eight counties in Southeast Georgia - Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, and Wayne. For more information call 912-466-7000 or visit www.sghs.org.
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