Mid-State
  Health Center

JUNE 2005 NEWS

Speare Medical Associates and Plymouth Psychology have announced their merger effective June 1, 2005. The psychology group and the medical group have elected an integrated approach to primary health care that will better address the needs of their patients. Fred Kelsey, M.D., F.A.C.P., continues to act as Medical Director for the group, joined by Vincent Scalese, Ed.D., as the Behavioral Health Director.

Dr. Scalese, and Tamara Pederson, Psy..D. will continue to practice psychology in their current location at 19 Avery Street, Plymouth, until a new facility is available to house both medical and behavioral health providers. Their phone number will remain unchanged: 603-536-4000.

The medical team provides care at, 20 Highland Street in Plymouth and 859 Lake Street in Bristol. Drs. Ammar Hussieno and John Jehl act as Internal Medicine physicians with Dr. Ghaleb Karouni joining them in September. Family Medicine physicians include Drs. Diane Arsenault, Gary Diederich, John Lloyd and Alan Rosen. Other clinicians include family nurse practitioners Anita Reid and Sonia Joslin.

According to Dr. Kirk Strosahl, consultant for the Bureau of Primary Health Care, 27% of the people in the U.S. have some kind of behavioral health disorder. In a typical primary care waiting room, 70% of patients have a diagnosable behavioral disorder or addiction. In the past, if a person come to a primary care practitioner and needed behavioral or mental health care, they would be referred out to a mental health provider in a separate facility. Most of the time, it is very difficult to get an appointment in a mental health center, so patients in underserved areas such as Plymouth and the surrounding towns have limited access to mental health care.

As Speare Medical Associates develops the team approach to providing medical and behavioral healthcare, access to care should improve. They are currently recruiting two additional psychologists as well as additional physicians to meet the projected needs of the community. This team concept has been shown to allow better utilization of both types of clinicians with improved patient health. According to Dr. Pederson, "Integrating medical and behavioral healthcare will enable us to provide a more holistic approach to the care of patients. Through close collaboration among patients, their medical care providers, and behavioral health clinicians, the quality of patients' healthcare will be enhanced."

Speare Medical Associates currently employs 48 people. The addition of Plymouth Psychology will increase that number to 52 with planned growth to 68 employees over the next two years pending their move into a new facility. This move and the planned addition of a child care center are part of their strategy to recruit and retain professionals and to serve the greater community.

Between July 2004 and December 2004, the capacity of the medical providers has increased from 25,000 patient visits per year to 29,000 visits per year. Additional services include monitoring of cardiac impedance, pulmonary function testing, and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, all of which support their move toward a disease management model of care, said to improve health and decrease the cost to the patients over the long term.

 

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Speare Medical Associates would like to recognize that Christine Patridge, CPC has been successfully awarded the certified professional coder (CPC) credential after successfully passing the national certification examination. This certification is sponsored by the American Academy of Professional Coders, a nationally renowned organization offering professional accreditation, education, recognition, and networking opportunities to medical coders (CPT, ICD-9-CM and HCPCS) The demand for medical coders is increasing nationally by approximately 10,000 employees each year and is projected to increase 36 percent or more through the year 2010. Nationally, 18 percent of all medical coding positions go unfilled according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Christine has worked for the medical practice for three years. She currently resides in Holderness, NH with her family.

 

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Speare Medical Associates Welcomes Sonia Joslin PLYMOUTH- Speare Medical Associates is pleased to announce the addition of Sonia Joslin, ARNP to its medical staff. Ms. Joslin has joined the staff as a registered family nurse practitioner Ms. Joslin completed her undergraduate and masters degree at Rivier College in Nashua, NH. A seasoned RN she comes to Speare Medical Associates from Concord, NH. Sonia joins Speare Medical Associates at their Plymouth facility located at 20 Highland Street above Citizen's Bank. Ms. Joslin will be acting as a registered family nurse practitioner along with Anita Reid. Additional members of the Plymouth practice include Drs. Ammar Hussieno, John Jehl., Diane Arsenault, and Alan Rosen. Physicians in the Bristol office at 859 Lake Street include Drs. Gary Diederich and John Lloyd, family practitioners. Frederick Kelsey, MD, FACP acts as medical director for the group. With the arrival of new staff, Speare Medical Associates will now be able to provide services on a more timely basis, while continuing to serve the community with quality health care. With the recent merger of Speare Medical Associates and Plymouth Psychology the practice will now be able to coordinate medical and behavioral healthcare.