Medical practice in Ross is growing amid financial uncertainty
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Kenneth Hogue, practice director of Singh and Dayalan Medical Associates in Ross, discusses the expansion of services and office space at the practice.
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Between a looming, drastic cut in Medicare reimbursements and the still-unknowns about how the UPMC-Highmark dispute will turn out, many independent physician practices have tightened their belts, cut staff and pumped up the number of patients they see.
"Physicians are very focused on providing medical care, but they must also think about the environment now and in the future," said John Krah, executive director of the Allegheny County Medical Society. "They do not expect payments to be increasing, and they are worried about maintaining financial viability."
Faced with those same uncertainties, though, a two-physician family and internal medicine practice in Ross is expanding both its staff and its office space.
Singh & Dayalan Medical Associates, an independent practice affiliated with Genesis Medical Associates, recently purchased the first-floor offices they'd leased for years adjacent to Ross Park Mall. While jobs everywhere have dried up since 2008, the doctors have hired a half-dozen more people to a staff that now totals 25.
They've done it, explains practice director Kenneth Hogue, by expanding and diversifying their services and taking advantage of one of the few bright spots in this dim economy: low interest rates. The offices they bought last year, currently undergoing expansion and renovation, carry a lower mortgage payment than their monthly lease.
What they're most excited about, though, is the expanded array of services they offer, most particularly and most uncommonly, mental health counseling and addictions treatment. The list also includes 72-hour glucose monitoring, aortic and bladder ultrasound, at-home sleep studies and cardiac telemetry and output, and 24-hour blood pressure monitoring -- all reimbursable, which helps keep the business side of the practice on an even keel.
The extensive menu of services, they say, means better care, immediate test results, lower overall health care costs and greater convenience for patients. "We're not the only ones" offering the ancillary services," Mr. Hogue said. "We're just doing more."
Lorin Lacy, health and productivity practice leader and principal at Buck Consultants' Pittsburgh office, said such a strategy is not uncommon nationally among independent practices that want to stay independent. "As physician groups see tighter reimbursements, I think a lot of them are looking for other ways to bring in some revenue."
First Published February 1, 2012 12:00 am
