LAURIE, Mo. — “The Westlake Medical Center is not closing” was the message that rang clearly in a town hall meeting on Oct. 30 at the Elks Lodge. Westlake Medical Center Director Dr. Kenneth Derrington stated at the meeting, “Despite rumors to the contrary, the Westlake Medical Center is not closing and I am not going to retire.”
The town hall meeting was held to update the public on the status of the clinic and to introduce the new clinic doctor, Dr. Aguilo and his wife Maria.
Both Derrington and Auguilo are accepting new patients and the clinic is currently offering pneumonia, flu and shingles shots without an appointment.
Though the clinic has no plans to close, a series of events over the past few years have presented significant challenges to Westlake Medical Center.
Derrington had a serious accident in July, which resulted in injuries that took him out of practice for seven weeks. He is back to working full-time now.
Additionally, the clinic has seen its share of financial challenges—Derringer attributes the current ones to changing government incentives and the Sustained Growth Rate (SRG) formula. According to Derrington, the SRG is a creation of the government from a law passed in the 1990s to keep growth in physician reimbursement tied to the consumer price index. Derrington says it failed and Congress knows it. Using the SRG, the federal government planned to cut physician reimbursement 25 percent in 2013, he noted.
“That was a big threat to our clinic because we see a lot of Medicare patients,” Derrington said. It was for that very reason that the clinic lost one of their physicians, a Dr. Kathleen Robbins. “It was a threat to our income,” Derrington said. The clinic lost another doctor when Dr. Worley retired.
The clinic is facing the same SRG issue again as it looks toward 2014. “I don’t have much faith in Congress to fix it this year, although there have been more bipartisan efforts than there ever have been before—at least until the budget crisis and the government shutdown,” Derrington said.
The clinic has recruiters looking for doctors. “We just need to find more doctors to come to this area who are interested in staying for 10 years like Dr. Aguilo,” Derrington said. But the clinic does not have deep enough pockets to provide the salary and incentives needed during the first few months, while a new doctor is building his or her patient base.
Some women patients have expressed an interest in seeing a woman physician at the clinic, and recruiters are attempting to find a woman doctor or nurse practitioner.
Derrington and the clinic board say the goal of the medical center is to practice high quality care for the community as an independent clinic, without the control of a hospital. “But the freedom of being your own boss carries with it responsibilities as well,” Derrington added. “I don’t want to work for a hospital again. I don’t feel it is the best way to provide medical care. We would like to find entrepreneurial physicians who are interested in being their own boss.”
The doctors have, however, investigated affiliating with a hospital.
“I have worked under a hospital before and the downside is they have the power to very easily in one week get rid of our doctors and the entire staff,” said clinic manager Becky LaRock. The benefit of teaming with a hospital would be the financial assistance with administration, advertising, and acquiring doctors.
“We try to watch our spending and we work diligently to get the best price on everything,” LaRock said. “The more doctors we have, the more they can divide the expenses between them and have a better chance of taking money home.”
But LaRock said she does not expect the clinic will join with a hospital in the near future. “There are rumblings from St. Mary’s Boone Hospital, and others want to get into this area. But it is just scary right now with the government SRG and shutdowns. We hope and pray they will do the 11th-hour fix at the end of the year,” she said.
More Medicare cuts could make things even tougher on the clinic. “We would like to stay independent if we can, and we just need help with the day-to-day operations,” LaRock said. “This month was better than last month and hopefully we will stay with this trend."
As a result of the first town hall meeting, the fundraising committee accumulated approximately $34,000. “The community really rallied to help us, and for that we are thankful,” Board Vic Chairman Jim Veulemans said. The fundraising goal is $150,000. “We are on our way to that but we have quite a ways to go,” Veulemans said.
“People call on us when they need us, and now we are calling on the community, because we need them so that we can continue to be there for them,” LaRock added. “My father taught me that if you have a good work ethic and a good education and you work hard you will be okay and that is what I am putting my faith in,” Derrington encouraged.
The clinic has applied for grants, but according to LaRock those cannot be used for overhead costs. A recent $50/plate dinner generated $7,500. Many in attendance were in favor of having another dinner. A fundraising committee was formed at the town hall meeting and there was discussion of holding a dinner and silent auction.
“This is your clinic: a not-for-profit organization designed to serve the community,” Derrington said.
Aguilo added, “Some doctors are in the medical profession for the business and some are in it for people. We have to have faith in God that everything will be resolved as God leads us.”
