Posted on 08 March 2013.
Dr. Craig White and his staff care for patients of all ages off Main Street in Davidson in a practice that takes its cue from Dr. White?s experience going to the family doctor decades ago.
By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net
In an era of mega-healthcare mergers, health-care reform and managed care, is there room any more for a small-town doctor?s office? It?s a challenge, to be sure, but the growth of Dr. Craig White?s practice at Davidson Family Medicine suggests there is.
Dr. White is a north Mecklenburg native and Davidson College graduate, who has been a family physician in the Lake Norman area for more than two decades. Initially, he worked in big medicine, in practices that were part of the region?s two big hospital groups. ?
Dr. Craig White
But then, he said, ?I decided I wanted to do things differently. I saw where the hospital model was headed.? While working in a large hospital-affiliated group, he said, ?It just appeared in later years to be very volume-driven, productivity oriented.?
He felt pressure to see more patients, which meant limiting time with them, and pressure to keep referrals within the hospital system. ?It was not always in the best interest of the patient, but more the bottom line for either the doctor, or the system,? he said.
He had limited control over hiring for his own staff, and said he sometimes found himself apologizing to patients for how they were treated by his own employees.
In 2001, he did what has become increasingly unthinkable for young doctors: He set up his own independent practice ? Davidson Family Medicine. The practice started in Cornelius, then soon moved to the Knox Building in downtown Davidson, where it has been ever since.
[Around the same time, he and fellow Davidsonian Dr. Steve Williamson also co-founded the Free Clinic of Our Towns, at the Ada Jenkins Center, to serve families outside the medical insurance system. ]
ROLE MODEL: DR. WOODS
As he started his practice, Dr. White took a cue from his own experience as a child, visiting his family doctor in Davidson, Dr. James Woods.
He grew up in the Long Creek area, now part of Huntersville, and attended Davidson Elementary School. Dr. Woods?s office was on South Street in Davidson, across the street from the school. (That?s when the school was at 251 South St. It later became Davidson IB Middle School, and now is Lake Norman Christian School.)
Dr. Woods had plenty of time with patients, Dr. White recalls. He didn?t have to deal with insurance companies ? a fact of life for any doctor now. Instead, he took a cash payment up front.
?We all revered him. In fact, he was the probably the main reason why I wanted to go into medicine,? Dr. White said. ?I saw how he connected with the community and with each individual patient.?
After attending Davidson College, Dr. White headed off to Harvard Medical School. While he was in medical school, people try to steer him away from family medicine. ?It was not a revered specialty,? he said. Only about six or 7 of his 170 classmates went into family medicine.
He doesn?t regret the choice.
After completing a residency, he came back to the Lake Norman area and joined an established practice. In 2001 he struck out on his own.
And now that he?s independent, he said, he feels more able to advise patients on the best treatments and best doctors. ?I have the freedom to refer to the best doctors in every system possible ? and that feels good. I can do that with complete peace of mind,? he said.
Now he says he refers ?pretty equally? to doctors from Novant Health, Carolinas HealthCare System, Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and others.
Davidson Family Medicine staff, from left: Dr. Stephanie Sittler, Dr. Claudine Corbett, Dr. Craig White, nurse practitioner Debbie Witkin and Dr. Sarah Carlson.
GROWING
Davidson Family Medicine recently passed a milestone, seeing its 11,000th unique patient in 12 years. He said he?s not sure how many active patients he has right now, but the practice is continuing to add new ones. In the past year, the doctors have added 711 new patients from the Lake Norman area.
Davidson Family Medicine also works with Dr. White?s alma mater, Davidson College, to care for students on the nearby campus.
Coming changes in health care laws could bring more growth, Dr. White says, in part because of heightened focus on prevention. ?We anticipate more covered patients will seek a primary care provider, so we are anticipating a possible influx of more patients,? he said.
As the number of patients has grown, so has his staff. Davidson Family Medicine started in 2001 with Dr. White and Dr. Sarah Carlson. Dr. Carlson is still with the office, working part time. Family Nurse Practitioner Debbie Witkin joined them in 2005, and remains a key part of the team.
In the past few years, two other doctors have joined, also working part-time: Dr. Stephanie Sittler arrived in 2011, and Dr. Claudine Corbett joined in July 2012.
The practice now sees patients of all ages, with some of the recent growth coming among infants. Dr. White thinks that?s a result of closings at other pediatric medical practices around Lake Norman, and because of Davidson Family? Medicine?s downtown location and Saturday hours, which makes it convenient for families.
While he measures success by the results and responses of patients, he also has earned other honors. For the past three years, he has been chosen in a survey of other physicians to ?Best Doctors of America,? a list that includes only about 5 percent of doctors. He was one of only two north Mecklenburg family doctors to earn the award.
He also has been won a Patient?s Choice Award, based on online feedback by patients nationwide about the nation?s 830,000 active doctors. Only 5 percent qualify for the honor.
Davidson Family Medicine
104 Knox Court (the alley behind Main Street)
Davidson
704-892-5454
davidsonfamilymedicine.com
Source: http://davidsonnews.net/healthandfitness/2013/03/08/davidson-family-medicine-grows-as-an-independent/
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