Dr. William Campbell, Doctors Hospital South, Nixa

I started in Nixa in 1983. I was the only physician in Nixa for three years.

Why did you decide to practice in Nixa?

I was actually the beneficiary of a public health scholarship. At the time I came to Nixa … there were no physicians in Nixa, so it was a physician shortage area. The government was short on funds so they were looking for private practice options. I just opened a practice and took Medicare and Medicaid as part of the agreement to fulfill my obligation for the scholarship, and I ended up staying in the location.

How did you become part of Doctors Hospital South?

I’m a doctor-owner of Doctors Hospital, one of the original 10. I was actually trying to get together a group of health-related, multidisciplinary providers into a single setting. Everyone had different timing, and it just worked out that me and a partner, Steve Eoff, decided to build Crimson Plaza and I would move my practice there to sort of anchor it. And then, related to my relationship with Doctors Hospital, they expanded into a provider-based clinic model. Instead of me and my practitioner, two providers, we started out with six. Since then, Dr. David Weems has joined us from Marshfield. We have several nurse practitioners that are working full time here. We’ve got actually six physicians and several nurse practitioners seeing patients.

Tell us about your practice.

I have a collaborative model with a nurse practitioner, Annie Lee. I think that with our current model of independent practice, I like that our model is more physician-patient relationship building, rather than system-patient relationship building. I think that’s attractive to a lot of physicians and, hopefully, we’ll continue to grow. I do see patients of all ages, but I don’t have a lot of newborns anymore. I have a mature practice. It’s closed (to new patients) except that several of our doctors are taking new patients and I do get, in my collaborative arrangement, some new patients.

What’s next for Doctors Hospital South?

We’re going to have a specialty clinic with a pediatrician working here part time. We’re going to have a specialty clinic here as the rest of the infill gets done, where several specialties will be at least coming part of their week. That’s worked in the model in north Springfield, particularly for the provider-based clinic, where Medicare and Medicaid patients can get access to specialties in a timely fashion … orthopedic surgery, Ob-Gyn, (ear nose and throat) are some of the specialties that we expect to have rotating through the clinic. We have the urgent care now, and we’re hoping to have some physical therapy in the next year, and we’re trying to recruit some geriatric specialties.

Is the patient demographic at the Nixa clinic similar to that at Doctors Hospital, with the bulk of patients being Medicaid?

We’re not just serving the underserved. We have quite a bit of Cox-insured (patients). Since most of us are in the Primrose (network), we’re able to see Cox insurance as well, so I think the demographics are somewhat different than the north campus.

What do you see as future needs in Nixa and Christian County?

I think for the community of Nixa, both the St. John’s project and this project, and potentially later if Cox builds a super clinic, this is very good for the city of Nixa. This is for-profit, so it’s a taxable institution, but just what it brings in jobs and economic stuff for Nixa would have to be very significant. For Doctors Hospital, it will continue to be an option for both physicians and patients.

What are some of the major changes you’ve seen in the medical field?

I think from a pharmaceutical standpoint, people are living longer and healthier lives. Because we manage diabetes so much better, we have good control of cholesterol, hypertension risk factors, before people have their first stroke or heart attack. We’re being much more aggressive on early detection of breast, colon and lung cancer. The guidelines for screening have really been a good thing.

Tell us about your family.

My wife’s name is Cheryl. We have two sons. One is Marty Diebold who’s 29 and works for Alltel. Then we have our youngest son, Tyler, who is 8. We’re a blended bunch. We spend a lot of time with Tyler (and) go to a lot of tae kwon do and scouting activities. I personally love to golf and my wife and I are very involved in lawn and garden activities.

[[In-content Ad]]