In the midst of the national debate over health care costs and quality, local physicians Wednesday celebrated what they are doing right for those measures.
At the Central Virginia Medical Community Reception, local physician Chal Nunn spoke of a recent New Yorker article on health care costs. Writer Atul Gawande had gone to McAllen, Texas, to learn about the town’s infamously high health care costs — nearly $15,000 per year for each Medicare patient.
“He should have come to Lynchburg, Va.,” where the cost of treating a Medicare patient is about $6,400 per year, said Nunn, Centra’s chief medical officer.
Nunn said that the reception was an opportunity to honor the collaboration and people that help keep the region’s medical costs low and quality high.
The reception sponsored by the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine recognized new and retiring physicians and presented two awards for excellence and service.
The second annual John Bell award, which is given in memory of a Centra cardiologist who died after a biking accident in 2007, was given to two Centra physicians who have helped increase the speed and quality of the system’s care of heart attack victims.
Peter O’Brien and Matthew Hanley were instrumental in getting electrocardiograms installed on each ambulance, said Centra CEO George Dawson. He said the devices are critical for diagnosing a heart attack soon so treatment can begin.
O’Brien, of Centra Cardiovascular Group, and Hanley, of Centra Emergency Physicians, have established practices that help Centra meet or surpass the national standard for heart attack response time 98 percent of the time, Dawson said.
O’Brien said it was an honor to receive the award named for Bell. “He inspired me and others to take the fight to other areas to improve the health of our heart patients.”
The William Barney Award was given to Richard Giles, a doctor who started Lynchburg’s first dialysis center and organizes annual mission trips to provide medical care in Jamaica. He also has served on the board of directors for Centra and the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine.
Giles, who works at an Amherst dialysis center, said he couldn’t alone take credit for his accomplishments. “We are a team,” he said. “… That success is based on a lot of people working together.”
More than 30 new physicians, including six who have begun their residencies with Centra, were introduced to the group.
The retired physicians who were recognized were Stuart Brust, of Stewart W. Brust M.D. Dermatology; Allen Majewski, of Pediatrix Medical Group of Lynchburg; and Ronald Todd, of Lynchburg Oral Surgery and Dental Implant Center.
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