Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992 TAG: 9201090610
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES HITE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MEDICAL FACILITY IN WORKS
Carilion Health System plans to build a $1.5 million facility in North Roanoke County to consolidate two urgent-care centers and house a group practice of family physicians.It will be located on a 2.5-acre tract on Peters Creek Road next to Burlington Elementary School.
The project should offer patients longer hours and better services than family physicians operating independently can provide, said Dr. Anthony Stavola, one of five physicians who will practice in the new facility.
The facility is part of a trend by family physicians to join forces with hospitals in order to get the economic clout to serve the changing needs and expectations of families, Stavola said.
"The notion of a doctor opening his office at 9 and closing at 5 is a thing of the past," Stavola said Wednesday. The growing number of double-income and single-parent families are putting pressure on physicians to extend hours, he said.
Family doctors also want to offer their patients the convenience of having more laboratory and other diagnostic services done at the office, Stavola said. But often physicians can't afford these expanded services without help, he added.
"We wanted to see services upgraded in this part of the community," Stavola said. "But the cost of additional services is just too prohibitive for a small practice."
Lewis-Gale Clinic has a satellite facility at Valley View Mall that houses family practice doctors as well as several specialists.
"I don't see this as direct competition with what the Lewis-Gale folks are doing at Valley View," Stavola said of the new facility, scheduled to open early next year.
A major goal is to allow patients to see "their doctor" as often as possible. "We want to maintain a patient's personal identification with a doctor," Stavola said. "We don't want it to turn into a big clinic."
The facility gives Carilion a way to deliver services to patients in the community rather than at its hospitals, said J. Randolph Edwards, executive vice president. At the same time, it also helps support physicians who admit patients to its hospitals, Edwards added.
Carilion, parent company of Roanoke Memorial and Community hospitals, is merging two urgent-care centers in the area and relocating one at the new facility. The facility also will be the future location for the Breast Diagnostic Center, now at Peters Creek and Williamson roads.
The new site also will be the future location for the consolidated practices of Stavola, Dr. C.A. Nottingham, Dr. Robert Amick and Dr. Jill Goldman, all of North Roanoke Family Practice, and Dr. Todd Palmerton of Northside Family Practice. The physicians plan to lease space and equipment from Carilion, but final details have not been worked out.
Stavola's group now operates out of two offices, one on Hershberger Road and one on Peters Creek. The Hershberger Road office also served at nights and weekends as an urgent-care center operated by Roanoke memorial. That urgent-care office will close Jan. 12 and all records will be transfered to the Commuincare office, operated by Community hospital, at Williamson and Peters Creek roads.
Stavola said at least one more family physician will practive at the new facility. The facility is being designed to accommodate as many as four more physicians. It also can be expanded to offer more diagnostic services, he said.