Eye surgeons form new center

by Melissa Wilson

SBJ Staff

The area's only stand-alone ophthalmology surgery center has changed hands.

Dr. Thomas G. Prater, formerly of Eye Surgeons of Springfield Inc. and Drs. Leo T. Neu III, James B. Mattax and Kenneth W. Neu, formerly of Eye Surgeons of Southwest Missouri PC, purchased the former Arnold Eye Care and Surgery Center building, its equipment, and founder Dr. Paul N. Arnold's practice after Arnold decided to leave medicine.

The building, located at 1265 E. Primrose, has an assessed value of $643,580 and has housed Arnold's practice since 1991.

"I have made the decision to leave the practice of ophthalmology, and I sought out the best doctors to take care of my patients. I am pleased that Drs. Mattax, Neu, Prater and Neu will be assuming my practice," Arnold said in a letter to his former patients.

Dr. Michael Engleman, who was with the Arnold Eye Care and Surgery Center for five years, will remain at the eye center as an employee of the new partnership.

Mattax, who practiced in Springfield for 10 years, said the decision to combine practices came about when the four partners agreed that having their own facility was the best way to provide eye surgical care.

"When Dr. Arnold decided to leave medicine, the surgery center became available, and Tom (Prater) said, 'We should do this together,'" Mattax said.

Mattax said combining practices in the new facility allows the doctors to broaden their range of services, provide a more convenient location and keep the costs of services down.

"Having the surgery center allows us to provide a very high level of care in a more convenient and patient-friendly facility ... the other thing is that it's substantially less expensive. When you can dedicate yourself to one type of surgery, you can provide an excellent level of care, arguably the highest level of care, and still do it saving money," Mattax said.

The Mattax-Neu-Prater Eye Care and Surgery Center provides comprehensive eye and surgical services including cataract care, correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism with laser vision correction, glaucoma correction, retina and diabetic eye surgery and eyelid surgery.

Mattax said more than 90 percent of eye surgeries can be done at the eye center on an outpatient basis, but some surgeries still require a hospital stay.

"There are certain surgeries that will require a hospital stay, and we intend to maintain a good working relationship with Cox to fulfill those responsibilities, such as emergency room call," Mattax said. "Certain cases that are more involved retina surgeries, for example need to be done in a hospital. Certain patients are ill enough that they need to spend the night in the hospital. Trauma cases need to operated on in the hospital," he added.

The four partners will keep their Cox practices and continue to be providers in the Cox-Freeman and Primrose Health Care Services plans, as well as accepting Medicare.

The new eye center has 35 employees and treats approximately 25,000 patients. The Mattax-Neu-Prater Eye Care and Surgery Center also has offices in the Professional Building at Cox North and in Monett and Lebanon.

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