Southwest Missouri News--Branson

by Carol Harris, Branson area, and Mary Engler-Guccione, Joplin area

Internal medicine physicians Mary Bertelli, MD, and R. Randall Sukman, MD, have joined the staff at Skaggs Community Health Center as hospitalists.

Bertelli, who practiced for 10 years in Orlando, Fla., said the concept of staff hospitalist is relatively new to southwest Missouri, but it will become more common as health care continues to evolve. Sukman comes to Skaggs from Miami, Okla., with 13 years of experience.

According to Skaggs Community Health Center, the hospitalists, working in conjunction with the patient's doctor, will treat individuals while they are in the hospital.

Patients who would be treated by a hospitalist include those whose doctors don't admit patients to the hospital, individuals who don't have a family doctor and those patients whose doctors are located outside the area.

Another addition to the staff of Skaggs Community Health Center is Stephen R. Grenier, MD, MSc, who has joined the Ozark Mountain Medical Center in Branson West, which is owned and operated by Skaggs.

Grenier comes from Lincoln, Neb., where he was in private practice since 1976. Lynn Grenier, RN, his wife, will work as a nurse at the clinic.