Now tell me how this benefits the local community in any way but the big wigs pockets? Now mind you we have a lot of patients that go to this practice and some of those physicians actually trained here during their residencies. It’s like the new owners don’t give a rats ass about the patients themselves but only the fact that those patients are not bringing in the money that they want. Here’s a thought, why did they even buy it then when they knew it did not bring in the amount they are looking for? I have already had calls from parents wanting to know other pediatricians they can go to now because of this.

Only pediatric practice in Walterboro set to close
By Ron Menchaca
The Post and Courier
Friday, June 8, 2007

The pending closure of Walterboro’s only pediatric practice has riled some families and physicians who say the region’s children will be left without convenient access to health care.

Edisto Pediatrics is set to close by August, and its five pediatricians are moving to other jobs out of the area.

The pediatric practice is affiliated with the nearby Colleton Medical Center. The hospital and the pediatric practice are owned by HCA, the nation’s largest hospital chain, which also owns Trident Medical Center in North Charleston and Summerville Medical Center. HCA was recently bought out by a group of private investors.

On Thursday, Rebecca Brewer, CEO of the Colleton Medical Center, led a public meeting in Walterboro to dispel rumors and address concerns. She said the hospital itself is in no danger of closing.

Brewer said the pediatric facility has been losing money for the past three years in part because most of the practice’s 7,000 patients are on Medicaid or are uninsured. “This practice has been bleeding for three years. We don’t turn a child down. We’ve just done it as a community need.”

Karen Evans, a Walterboro obstetrician whose two children are patients at the pediatric practice, said the closure is a blow to the community. “It’s a travesty for the pediatric patients because they will be left without a place to go.”

Jan Probst, who studies rural health care and health disparities at the University of South Carolina’s Rural Health Research Center, said such closures are in line with national trends in which rural communities are losing physicians. She said physicians often move away from lower-income and rural communities because they can’t make ends meet. “That worries me because those are the areas where many of our minority populations are,” Probst said.

Evans said the closure could cause some families to forgo routine check-ups and preventive care for their children, which could translate into more emergency-room visits for the hospital.

Brewer said she plans to hire two pediatric “hospitalists” to help fill the void and to support the hospitals OB/GYNs. She also said the hospital handles about 600 births per year and that it will continue to provide that service.

While some of the area’s pediatric patients could be absorbed into local family practices, Evans noted that many of the area’s pediatric patients have special needs. “Those are best handled, in my opinion, by a pediatrician,” she said.

Benjamin Rodgers was the medical director at Edisto Pediatrics until recently. He said the practice received special state incentives to treat Medicaid patients because it is in a rural area. He said he hopes that without the extra layer of expenses associated with corporate ownership that a new private practice might be able to open and make a go of it in Walterboro.