Doctors leave but practice healthy

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN - The departure of four doctors from Williamstown Medical Associates group practice over the past 15 months has raised the question whether prospective patients might face delays in obtaining care. But according to Executive Director Brian Donnelly, not only is the practice recruiting to fill the vacant slots, it also is inaugurating the use of physician assistants and taking advantage of the doubling of “hospitalists” at North Adams Regional Hospital to gain a net increase in medical personnel — and, in consequence, increased access for patients. The practice used to have 12 doctors and is now down to eight. “The physicians leaving the group represents a setback,” Donnelly said Tuesday. But, he said, combining recruitment with some restructuring has represented a net gain for patients. “We actually are trying to address the access issue in the community as best and as quickly as we can,” he said. “The active hospitalist program at North Adams Regional Hospital, although not a Williamstown Medical program, is something our physicians will take advantage of.” Because the two hospitalists, Dr. Craig Siegel and Dr. Ronald D. “Skip” Durning Jr., care for hospitalized patients, primary care physicians can see more patients in office visits, Donnelly said. “Our physicians will take advantage of the hospitalists, and what our physicians have done is start their days earlier,” he said, adding that the practice’s doctors are also working an extra session per week. Hospitalists are becoming a “subspecialty,” he added. And their presence, he said, “makes our own physicians more available.” “We have also added mid-level providers,” he said. Those physician assistants are health professionals licensed by the state to practice medicine. According to a recent Williamstown Medical Associates’ brochure, they are “highly qualified practitioners who are capable of functioning with autonomy as authorized by his or her supervising physician.” The physician assistants provide a broad and comprehensive range of services. Working as members of a health-care team, they take medical histories, examine and treat patients, order and interpret laboratory tests and x-rays, make diagnoses and prescribe medicine, according to the description. Close consultation between the physician assistant and physician is done for unusual and hard-to-manage illnesses. Williamstown Medical has brought on board Katie Thurber, a state-certified physician’s assistant and plans to hire two others soon. Thurber is a member of an internal medicine care team, with her supervising physicians Drs. Daniel M. Sullivan and Douglas B. O’Neill. “Before, that practice was closed to new patients. Now, it’s open,” Donnelly said. “[Using physician assistants] allows improved access to physicians we already have. It allows them to take on additional new patients. It’s a true physician extender — it allows physicians to reopen their practices.” The arrangement is described as improving patient access to medical care while maintaining consistency of care and treatment.” Thurber began work with Williamstown Medical Associates in February, 2003. Jonna Racella will begin work with doctors Thomas P. Kaegi and Dr. Richard Wiseman later this month. “We are recruting to add a third,” Donnelly said. “Over time, we expect to create more capacity and change the model of care. With the hospitalist program in place, it makes this model much more attractive from the standpoint of both critical care and economics.” Thurber followed what Donnelly described as “a fairly traditional route,” toward her career. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Skidmore College, she received a master’s degree in science (in physician assistant study) from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Services. That training includes a year of “externship,” including training at New England Medical Center, New England Baptist Hospital, and MacLean hospital in Belmont, which she completed in 2002. Donnelly described the recent departure of the practice’s four doctors as coincidental, prompted by “a variety of different personal choices,” as opposed to some trend at the practice. It was, he said, “an unfortunate set of circumstances” that all occurred within a relatively short space of time. Dr. Marian Madden, an internist, has moved her practice to Bennington, Vt.; Dr. Charles R. D’Agostino, also an internist, moved to Pittsfield; Dr. Michael Payne, a gastro-enterologist, relocated to Tennessee, and Dr. Victoria Cavalli, a dermatologist, has gone into single practice in North Adams. “We’re basically filling the spots,” Donnelly said. Williamstown Medical has a contract with one internist to begin July 1, is recruiting the crucial specialty of gastro-enterologist, and is planning to recruit at least one, and possibly two, more internists, he said. But the practice has no immediate plans to replace the dermatologist, as Cavalli will still be practicing in the community, he said. Williamstown Medical, headquartered at 197 Adams Road, was founded in 1958 and has about 75,000 patient visits a year, according to Donnelly.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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