By Bevin Milavsky
The Daily Item

LEWISBURG — At a time when soaring malpractice insurance premiums are forcing many doctors across the state to relinquish their practices, one local physician has left a group setting to open his own office.

Dr. Douglas Spotts, who practiced with Meadow Green Medical Group in Mifflinburg for seven years, opens his solo practice in the RiverWoods Family Health Center in Lewisburg today.

Spotts said he felt he had to leave the group practice so he could have more creativity in his work. He touts his practice as a traditional approach to modern medicine.

"I honestly always wanted to do this," he said.

Spotts said when he began practicing medicine, he was advised to be cautious since overhead costs are high and reimbursements are low. But he didn’t want to remain in the large system forever because he did not feel he had the freedom to treat his patients as he wanted.

"I felt increasingly squeezed by the system," he said.

He explained that his decision does not reflect poorly on group practice or on Evangelical Community Hospital, with which he was formerly affiliated. He said he still intends to send patients to Evangelical for lab work and other tests.

However, his primary concern is putting his patients first. He plans to use open-access scheduling so patients do not have to schedule an appointment months ahead of time.

With open-access scheduling, each day begins as an open book. Spotts said that with urgent needs, such as a child with a fever, his office will try to handle those cases the same day. Other patients seeking routine check-ups will be fit in within 48 hours.

This freedom of scheduling, he believes, will take away some of the patients’ panic of having to plan six months ahead to see the doctor. It will also help him set a limit to how many patients he can see in a day.

"I think there’s still a niche for small, personalized service," Spotts said. "People crave that." He also intends to be available to his patients at all times, keeping a beeper with him for after-office hours.

He estimates that 80 percent of his patients are following him to his new location.

"It’s just so significant for me to be thinking I’m going to be caring for my own patients," he said.

Spotts has created a Web site, www.drspotts.com, which provides information on scheduling, location of his office, information on his staff and a weekly health tip. He also provides links to patient health sites that he deems reputable. He said he wants patients to see that he is their partner in health care decisions.

The escalating malpractice crisis in the state, he pointed out, means doctors have to reclaim responsibility for the situation. He said if more physicians would band together, the system could change.

"Doctors don’t go into medicine because they’re just out to fleece the public and make a buck," he said.

His decision to open his own practice is also connected to his personal life because he and his wife did not want to uproot their two children if he sought a job outside of the state.

Spotts is originally from the Valley, and he said he chose to practice here because of the great need and the opportunity to personally relate to each patient.

But he acknowledged that without his loyal staff and patient base, it would have been very difficult to strike out on his own. All doctors in the state need to work harder, he said, to meet the needs of their patients.

"I think we need to do a better job, and I think we can."

While he acknowledges encountering hurdles in opening his own practice — such as watching his malpractice insurance triple — he has also enjoyed looking at the problems that face young doctors across the state and trying to overcome them.

"I think the fun part for me is kind of the evolution of the process of what’s going on in Pennsylvania right now," Spotts said.

"And there are young doctors who are willing to stay."