AREA SEES PROGRESS IN PRIMARY CARE

New doctors, new facilities and new programs have improved access to primary health care in the Cape Girardeau area over the past two years.

Three family doctors and a pediatrician have opened practices in Cape Girardeau in the past two years, said Lois Kasten, director of the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society.

There are 155 area doctors in the medical society. Thirty three are primary-care doctors, including 21 family physicians; the other 12 are internists and pediatricians.

Two primary-care centers opened last fall, supplementing primary care offered by traditional doctors' practices and the emergency rooms of the two Cape Girardeau hospitals.

Cross Trails Medical Center, a private, not-for-profit clinic opened last October in the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center. A Cross Trails clinic also has opened at Marble Hill and a third is planned for Stoddard County.

The clinics are funded with a $300,000 federal grant. Nurse and doctors work at the clinics.

The Cape Girardeau site contracts with regional primary-care doctors to staff the clinic here and the Marble Hill clinic has two doctors on staff.

The Cape Girardeau clinic hopes to bring two doctors on staff through the National Health Service Corps program. Under the program, doctors just out of residency can repay student loans and scholarships by working for two years in clinics in medically underserved regions.

Vicki Smith administers the Cross Trails project.

She said the Marble Hill clinic sees about 50 patients a day and the Cape Girardeau clinic about 40 a day Mondays through Fridays.

"We are not trying to take business away from anybody else," Smith said. She pointed out that they treat mostly low-income patients, who often don't have easy access to health care. Many of them don't have health insurance or are on government health programs like Medicare or Medicaid.

Anyone can seek treatment at the clinic, regardless of income. The clinic charges patients based on their ability to pay.

Cross Trails doesn't have a long waiting list. But Smith said that will change in time.

Smith said there is always a need for more primary-care doctors.

Immediate HealthCare, the area's first walk-in doctor's office, opened at the end of September

The office at 1702 N. Kingshighway treats about 35 to 40 patients a day Mondays through Fridays and fewer on Saturdays. "This type of environment leads to a lot of hours," said David Elliott, clinic administrator.

"It is a more expensive type of practice to open," said Elliott. "You have to be prepared for anything."

Dr. Robb Hicks, who has worked in hospital emergency rooms, sees patients for everything from the flu to broken arms.

Immediate HealthCare also provides occupational health services, from drug screenings and physicals to treatment of injured workers.

The clinic sees people who couldn't get in to see their regular doctor as well as those who don't have a regular physician. It also treats travelers.

"We have had people come off the interstate who were sick and were looking for a place like this," Elliott said.

Dr. Walt Schroeder, medical society president, predicts there will be more walk-in clinics. Schroeder said insurance companies through managed-care programs have directed their customers to see primary-care doctors first.

Medical schools today are gearing up to turn out more primary-care doctors.

Immediate HealthCare's Elliott said access to health care in Cape Girardeau has improved because of competition. "Competition makes better services and better quality," he said.