Woman's Clinic marks first year after leaving St. John's

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It's been a year since seven doctors left the St. John's Health System to open their own clinic in obstetrics and gynecology. |ret||ret||tab|

The group's rationale was "feeling there was too much middle management and bureaucracy in the system and that we could not respond to changes our patients needed in a timely fashion," said David Redfern, MD.|ret||ret||tab|

Redfern started the Woman's Clinic at 1900 S. National in January 2000 with doctors Steve Grace, MD; Laird Bell, MD; Lisa Powell, MD; Don Kratz, MD; Elizabeth Campbell, MD; and Darren Lehnert, MD. Chris Stein, MD/PhD, joined the practice in on Jan. 1 of this year. |ret||ret||tab|

According to Redfern, under the St. John's system, "it would take an extraordinary amount of time and meetings to achieve changes in the practice due to the multilayered bureaucracy." |ret||ret||tab|

"Now, whenever changes in the practice or management issues arise, it only has to be approved by the group's doctors," Redfern added.|ret||ret||tab|

Redfern said that another reason the group wanted to operate its own practice was that in 1995 St. John's signed contracts with 350 doctors. |ret||ret||tab|

At the time the seven doctors were members of St. John's Physicians and Clinics, which continues to employ OB/GYN specialists. |ret||ret||tab|

Redfern and his colleagues are no longer employed by St. John's, but the Woman's Clinic is part of the hospital's managed care network. |ret||ret||tab|

This means that the doctors, though practicing privately, still treat patients within the St. John's health care system.|ret||ret||tab|

"I like St. John's hospital, and our group continues to do the bulk of their work with St. John's," said Redfern. "However, I think they need to get out of the doctor business as employers of physicians. They have an excellent reputation as a hospital, but are lacking the credentials to succeed in managing the number of physicians in their camp."|ret||ret||tab|

Mike Peters, vice president of communications for St. John's Health System, said that working independently is the preferred practice of some doctors; however, "while the doctors are given windows of time in which they can return to independent practice, this is not something all physicians are comfortable with."|ret||ret||tab|

Giving doctors who were a part of St. John's Physicians and Clinics that "window of time" to start their own practices was part of a reorganization five years ago, said Peters.|ret||ret||tab|

The OB/GYN doctors who remained at St. John's Physicians and Clinics were given another "window of time" at the end of 2000 when they were allowed to leave the clinic, Peters said. During that period of several months, less than half-a-dozen doctors left and are no longer employed by the system.|ret||ret||tab|

Peters said the hospital has no hard feeling towards the Woman's Clinic. "Although not on staff, they continue to provide care to St. John's patients."|ret||ret||tab|

The Woman's Clinic offers a full range of obstetric and gynecological services and accepts Medicare, Medicaid and coverage from several commercial insurers.|ret||ret||tab|

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