James Leavitt, MD, president and chief clinical officer of the Miami-based medical group, joined Becker’s ASC Review to discuss the importance of patient care amid consolidation.
Editor’s note: This interview was edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Question: What are you most concerned about as gastroenterology becomes increasingly consolidated?
Dr. James Leavitt: From a physician’s point of view, Gastro Health’s mission statement is to provide outstanding medical care and an exceptional healthcare experience. I hope that we don’t lose our way as we consolidate and become more competent and corporate. It’s possible to have a mission statement but not live by that mission statement. Patients still should be the center of our world.
We are going to be corporatized, but we have to fight that and remember that we are caregivers and doctors and physicians, and our obligation is to the patient. That’s the potential danger.
As we do more population health, we need to ensure that individual patient care isn’t lost — that touch isn’t lost when you need it — and that we still relate to patients as people and remember we are caregivers first.
Our focus still needs to be around the patient. That’s something that would be concerning as we get larger and larger, and we start to get more of a bureaucratic approach to care.
It can’t be a bureaucratic approach. It has to be a healthcare approach that drives better care. If we stay focused, I think we’re going to do great things.
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