St. Claire HealthCare, the newest arm of UK HealthCare, will welcome three new specialties and 22 new physicians by the end of the year.
The Morehead-based hospital system became part of the UK HealthCare system on July 1. In an interview with the Herald Leader, St. Claire President Don Lloyd detailed the new offerings coming to the system. This is the largest recruiting class the hospital has welcomed since it opened 61 years ago.
“One of the reasons we have such a large recruiting class is because it’s very easy to sell the clinical contributions these physicians will make to the people of Kentucky, and it’s an environment where physicians are valued and respected,” he said.
The community hospital will welcome its first endocrinologist, hand surgeon and orthopedic spine surgeon by the end of the year. While doctors will be coming from across the US to work in Kentucky, many have ties to the commonwealth.
Eleven of the 22 new physicians were students at UK during a point in their academic careers.
Along with the new specialties represented in the incoming recruit class, St. Claire will expand 10 programs, ranging from primary care to podiatry.
Lloyd said hospital leadership cross-examined the medical staff development plan, a comprehensive look at the hospital’s physicians performed every three years and the community needs assessment to determine where coverage lacked.
“There is an understanding of many of these physicians about the need for greater access to care and to address some of the health disparities that exist in populations throughout not only rural Kentucky, but even urban Kentucky,” Lloyd said.
In Kentucky, 107 of 120 counties are considered health professional shortage areas, meaning residents have limited or no access to healthcare. Lloyd said there’s no use in bringing great physicians to Kentucky if patients can’t get to them.
Some of the new physicians will work in the rural healthcare clinics operated by St Claire to bring care closer to home. Those clinics are in Frenchburg, Morehead, Olive Hill, Owingsville and Sandy Hook.
The community needs assessment , which surveyed 241 people in the St. Claire service area, listed transportation as the largest barrier to care and the most important issue for the hospital to address in the next 3-5 years as improving access to specialty care.
In that same survey, 16% of respondents said there was a time in the last year where they needed medical care, but were unable to get it.
“What any good clinician is looking for is to make a difference in a patient population and to be challenged clinically and intellectually,” he said.
“Unfortunately, because of the health status of much of our population, these clinicians see a tremendous amount of pathology, a lot of disease, a lot of social determinants, that impact their ability to get people to the appropriate health status. For a physician, that’s a challenge, and that’s an appeal.”
The physicians bringing new specialty care to Eastern Kentucky
Dr. Karen Feghali is St. Claire’s first endocrinology provider, a branch of medicine treating hormone disorders. Feghali specializes in treatment of diabetes, thyroid and parathyroid disease. She comes to St. Claire after finishing her fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Texas Southwestern.
Dr. Farbod Rastegar will be the inaugural orthopedic spine surgeon. He completed his fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, and is coming to St. Claire from Cincinnati Elite Orthopedic & Spine in Middletown, Ohio. He treats operative and non-operative spine cases, including degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, revision surgery, disc replacement, spinal trauma and spinal tumors.
Dr. Chris Kubajak will join the existing plastic and reconstructive surgery department as its first hand surgeon, specializing in aesthetic and reconstructive care for hand trauma and degenerative disease, like rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. The existing plastics department focuses on breast reconstruction. A Kentucky native, Kubajak graduated from UK’s medical school where he also did his residency. He comes to St. Claire from a fellowship in hand surgery at New York University.
Most Popular
Comments / 0