Springfield doctor opens National Avenue office

Dr. Michael Clarke opened an office June 1 at 3150 S. National Ave. He formerly worked in the CoxHealth Medical Arts Building, 1000 E. Primrose.

The new facility, Clarke said, is more convenient for his patients.

“There’s no elevators, no parking problems, and it’s very easy to come in right off of National – customers can park right within 20 or 30 feet of the door,” Clarke said. “And then, of course, we can offer so many more services here.”

The new office includes equipment for surgical X-rays, special injections for pain relief and treatment for arthritic conditions.

One of the most important features, though, is the ability to do many orthopedic surgeries right in the office – a feature Clarke said is better for the patient.

“It’s a lot easier on the patient, a lot safer and a lot less expensive,” he said. “To have outpatient surgery done at the hospital is so much more expensive, in terms of the hospital charges. For the doctor charges, of course, it doesn’t make any difference.”

Clarke has a three-year lease for the space, which is owned by Dr. Elpidio Alcancia. Clarke declined to disclose lease rates.

He employs five in the new office, which was previously used by other health care providers.

On their own

Clarke isn’t the only doctor breaking away from the major Springfield hospitals.

Clarke’s new neighbor, Orthopaedic Specialists of Springfield, across National Avenue, is the offspring of a CoxHealth doctors group, formerly called Ozarks Area Orthopaedics Associates. Their CoxHealth contract expired Jan. 1, 2004, and the group opened its own independent, for-profit center in April.

Repeated calls to Orthopaedic Specialists were not returned by press time.

St. John’s has dealt with its own defections: Springfield Neurological and Spine Institute LLC, a group of seven neurosurgeons, broke off its affiliation with St. John’s in fall 2003. The group resigned, citing differences regarding emergency trauma center on-call responsibilities. The group is now independent, though they are affiliated with CoxHealth.

Although Clarke is an independent doctor who simply rented space from CoxHealth, he said it “wasn’t a very tenable situation.”

“The major hospitals don’t care for independent doctors at all,” he added.

Laurie Cunningham, vice president and spokesperson for CoxHealth, said via e-mail that each physician has the option of being affiliated or independent.

She said that there are 25 orthopedists who work with CoxHealth, comprising employed, contracted and independent physicians.

She added that Cox is “actively recruiting additional orthopedic surgeons to serve our community” in response to the departures of orthopedists from the Cox team.

Accreditation

In addition to moving, Clarke is working to get office-based surgery accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The commission has a rigid set of standards for approval, Clarke said.

“A lot of it is the maintenance of records – patient records, fully informed consent, complete histories and physical examinations and all the records concerning a patient’s physical condition before surgery and then follow-up records to show how the patient is doing afterward,” he said.

The process also includes inspection of the operating rooms – everything from sprinkler systems and operating tables to the lighting and drains in the floors. The process takes about six months to complete.