Robert Scholefield, chief operating officer of St. Elizabeth Medical Center, has provided an update on the Town of Webb Health Center’s changeover to St. Elizabeth’s.
Requests from the community have been heard and, according to Scholefield, will be heeded. They include improved systems for scheduling appointments and reaching the office during off hours, as well as expanded hours, especially during the summer months.
Requests for provision of a broader spectrum of medical services locally and running of the medical center as a business are also being addressed.
Scholefield says that the medical center will be run as a business, with the purpose of attending to the needs of the patients.
Once fully staffed, the medical center will be able to take on new patients, something which hasn’t been possible in quite some time.
They will also accept more insurance company coverages than have been accepted historically, including Fideles, a major provider.
St. Elizabeth’s is currently providing some support and supplies to the health center, including a new electronic health records system which will be in use prior to the turnover.
In terms of the building itself, the majority of work on the health care center side of the building is complete and the lab is moved into its new location. Work on staff office space is nearing completion.
The areas which Dr. Rintrona, DDS and Home Aide Service of the Central Adirondacks (HASCA) will occupy are still under construction, with an anticipated completion date of mid-March.
Once building construction on the facility is completed, documents must be submitted to the NY State Department of Health office in Syracuse, followed by a site inspection.
Barring problems with this inspection, turnover of the medical center will go forward.
Non-physician health center staff is currently involved in training required to become St. Elizabeth Medical Center employees, said Scholefield.
They are receiving training on patient confidentiality, insurance and safety issues, patient care, policies and procedures, and more. Their positions will be more specialized than in the past.
St. Elizabeth’s administration is still recruiting for a family practitioner as well as a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant.
A couple of candidates have come to visit the health center and are considering it among their options.
There is currently a shortage of primary care providers with hundreds of openings across the nation, a situation Scholefield partially attributes to upcoming healthcare laws which require everyone to have a primary care physician.
New York state is one of the harder states to recruit to, according to Scholefield, due to its high tax rates and costs of medical care provisions due to a high proportion of Medicaid patients.
