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WINTHROP
FAMILY
PEDIATRICS
CENTER
15
Old Western Avenue,
Winthrop
,
Maine
04364
Tel:
207-377-2114
Fax: 207-377-6112
H.
Burtt Richardson, Jr., MD, FAAP
Carol J. Mansfield, MD, MPH, FAAP
David
F. Cox, MD
Neil B Colan, EdD Psychologist
February 27, 2004
I
am writing to ask your help with a crisis I face in my practice.
Until recently I was the AAP District I CATCH Facilitator. I
don't believe we have met.
I
started a general pediatric practice in
Winthrop
,
Maine
, 26 years ago. I was solo till 7 years ago when I was joined by
a part time pediatrician. Two years ago another part time
pediatrician joined us. The 3 of us are 1.5 Full Time Equivalent
(FTE) pediatricians. While we had assumed that they would buy
the practice from me when it was time for me to retire, one of
the two, because of family obligations, decided to leave the
practice this coming June. The other prefers me to sell the
practice to a nearby hospital in
Augusta
whereas I lean toward continuing our existence as an independent
thriving, high quality, and innovative private practice.
I
realize that there are few pediatricians left who want to take
responsibility for a solo or 1.5 FTE pediatric practice. It has
not been stress-free, but the professional gratification and
intellectual challenge has far exceeded my previous experience
in military and academic pediatrics. I want the opportunity to
be made available to someone else. The interested pediatrician
should be eager to commit the next several years to wonderfully
appreciative children, loyal parents, caring and competent
staff, semi-rural towns and a progressive state government and
medical community. Though we currently cover the practice
ourselves, call of one in six or one in seven may
be arranged through an agreement with an excellent
pediatric practice in Augusta, about ten miles from Winthrop.
The
practice was the first federally funded Medical Home site in
Maine
for children with special health care needs. We have a full time
pediatric psychologist; he and I are both on leadership
committees of a statewide effort to integrate mental health care
into primary care pediatric practice. In recent years we have
taken leadership in obesity prevention and overweight management
in the community and more recently at the primary care practice
level.
The
practice has an excellent reputation for quality of care in the
community and among third party payers. We maintain 90-95%
compliance for well child care. Emergency Department utilization
and cost have been half the rate of the average
Maine
pediatric practice. Measures of generic drug, laboratory and
imaging utilization as well as patient satisfaction also reflect
quality and cost effective service.
The
practice pediatricians are on the clinical faculty of the
University of Vermont Department of Pediatrics. Since 1977, the
Center has served as one of 3 sites for
Maine
Medical
Center
’s rural rotation for first year pediatric residents. It has
also been a site for occasional medical student and family
practice resident rotations for many years.
Although
the practice is open to everyone and provides many
non-reimbursable services, it has thrived financially. Over the
past 2 years, the pediatric practice collections have been about
$660,000 per year with pediatrician compensation of about
$280,000 for 1.5 FTE pediatricians, over $180,000 per year per
FTE. The psychologist’s practice is also thriving.
I
would greatly appreciate your informing experienced general
pediatricians in your chapter or academic network of this rare
opportunity to step into a fully developed, high quality
pediatric practice. An immediate response is necessary as we
hope to have identified prospective pediatricians no later than
mid-April for a summer start date. They can contact me by mail,
phone, fax or email. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Sincerely yours,
H. Burtt Richardson, Jr., M.D.
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