Nine area medical practices, formerly with CHRISTUS Physician Group, have joined CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic.
CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic is a multispecialty medical group, with more than 500 physicians and providers representing 36 specialties, in 34 locations across 41 Northeast Texas counties.
The change was effective July 1. Clinics will remain at their current locations and will require no action by patients who should still be covered if the physician or clinic was in their network before.
"By aligning with the Texarkana market, CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic is demonstrating our continual commitment to provide Northeast Texas with the very highest levels of care," said Dr. Steven Keuer, president of CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic. "We approach actions with the mindset of 'How will this affect the patient?' Our goal is to keep the care of our patients as our priority, and this partnership reflects those values. We take great pride in the quality of care we provide to our patients at every CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic location, and we are confident that this alignment will improve upon the already excellent care previously provided by the physicians in Texarkana, Hope and New Boston."
Local physicians are excited about the transition.
"We view this transition as a benefit for the Texarkana region as the expert physicians and other providers from the clinics join the distinguished CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic system," said Dr. Suman Sinha, pulmonologist-intensivist with CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic. "While clinic names are changing, patients will receive the same quality and compassionate care they have grown to trust."
Any changes patients notice should be positive.
"The changes they notice will be that they have better access to care and a more seemless flow to speciality offices from their primary care physician and more seemless flow to and from the hospital if it's necessary," Sinha said.
Physicians will also benefit.
"The main benefits for us as physicians is that we have more continuity of care for our patients," Sinha said. "We have better access to our subspecialists and we have greater access to care for patients because of excellent and improved contracting with insurance companies. Now that there are more physicians in the group we have a much louder voice with insurance. All in all I'm very happy with CHRISTUS Trinity Clinics at this point and I think it's going to be really good for Texarkana and the surrounding areas."
The clinics and physicians transitioning to CHRISTUS Trinity Clinics include CHRISTUS Women's Health Clinic with obstetrician/gynecologists Dr. William J. Robertson, and Dr. Vernon Shaffer; CHRISTUS Gynecology Specialists with gynecologists Dr. Stephen Brown, and Dr. Eric Hall; CHRISTUS St. Michael Clinic-Endocrinology with endocrinologist Dr. I. Evan Matwijiw; CHRISTUS Surgery Associates with surgeons Dr. Greggory N. Angier, Dr. James O. Booker, Dr. Benjamin C. DuBois and Dr. H. Randall Schmidt; and CHRISTUS Quick Care-New Boston. Also joining the clinic system are CHRISTUS Family Medicine-Hope with Dr. Brent Bennett; CHRISTUS Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine Clinic-Texarkana with pulmonologist-intensivist Dr. Suman Sinha; CHRISTUS Family Medicine-Texarkana with Dr. Jamie Campbell; CHRISTUS St. Michael Clinic-Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery with Dr. Thomas Hoang.
In addition, Dr. Tom Alston, CHRISTUS St. Michael Senior Health Center; Dr. Hesham Hazin, medical director for CHRISTUS St. Michael Oncology Clinic; and Dr. Omar Ishaq, medical director/radiation therapy with W. Temple Webber Cancer Center have joined CHRISTUS Trinity Clinics. Other providers who have transitioned to CHRISTUS Trinity Clinics include Kathy Brannan, family nurse practitioner with CHRISTUS Family Medicine-Texarkana; Mary Dutchover, family nurse practioner, and Mary Stanley, advanced practice registered nurse, with CHRISTUS Quick Care-New Boston; Charles Humphrey, physician assistant with CHRISTUS St. Michael Clinic-Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery; and Susan Leftwich, nurse practitioner with CHRISTUS Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine Clinic.
