AMC's closure cost Atlanta a rare cluster of highly diverse doctors - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

He said helium was devastated personally by quality of the closure, but helium besides disquieted astir the effects connected his patients. There were fewer doctors that would travel downtown and southbound of I-20 to supply aesculapian services successful his specialty.

“I chose to enactment determination due to the fact that determination were not galore radical successful my specialty there. There were a batch of little socioeconomic patients, but I didn’t dwell connected the fiscal reimbursement due to the fact that I figured that if I did a bully occupation and I took attraction of people, I would marque an income,” Fortson said.

The aesculapian field, similar a scope of different professions, is reckoning with workforce diverseness concerns, but Atlanta Medical Center stood retired nationally for its unit diversity. With its closure, the metropolis mislaid a fig of doctors and providers who are Black oregon non-white, a cardinal to providing attraction to akin diligent populations.

Fortson has been connected the unit astatine different country hospitals specified arsenic Emory University Midtown Hospital and Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, but says his acquisition differed astatine those facilities. He said that astatine Atlanta Medical Center, helium got to cognize different unit members, including nurses and doctors successful the operating room, galore of whom were radical of color, similar himself.

“One of the reasons I stayed astatine Atlanta Medical Center is that, careless of ethnicity, the doctors determination were a beauteous adjacent group. They had a beauteous decent moving relationship,” Fortson explained. “I ever had idiosyncratic that I could spell to for antithetic specialties.”

When Dr. Mark Waterman arrived astatine Atlanta Medical Center 39 years ago, the doc workforce was predominately antheral and white. Over the years, Waterman, who is achromatic and was president of the aesculapian unit astatine the downtown hospital, watched his colleagues go much diverse.

“The doc diverseness reflects the diligent diverseness and however divers aesculapian schools person go implicit the past 40 to 50 years,” Waterman said. “Great efforts person been made, amended than it was 50 years agone to accidental the least. It’s a welcomed change. "

Data released successful 2020 by AMC’s owner, Wellstar Health System, showed that 26% of AMC’s physicians were Black, 63% identified arsenic Black oregon multi-racial and 73% were non-white.

Nationally, conscionable 5.2% of physicians are Black and 18.4% of physicians successful Georgia are Black, according to data released by the Health Resources and Services Administration for 2015-2019. A Journal of the National Medical Association study published successful 2019 recovered that diverseness tin assistance wellness organizations amended diligent prime attraction and fiscal results.

What sets Atlanta and Georgia isolated from different places successful the region is the beingness of 1 of the nation’s 4 historically Black aesculapian schools: Morehouse School of Medicine. Along with the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science successful Los Angeles; Howard University College of Medicine successful Washington D.C.; and Meharry Medical College successful Nashville, Morehouse has produced a ample fig of the nation’s Black physicians.

For Dr. Randall Morgan, Atlanta Medical Center’s doc diverseness provides impervious that the infirmary “was serving the community.” Morgan, an orthopedic surgeon, is the president and main enforcement serviceman of the W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association Institute, an enactment that leads probe focusing connected the elimination of wellness disparities.

“When you person a ample population, you person a divers population,” Morgan said. “People person amended wellness outcomes and thin to beryllium much [medically] compliant erstwhile they person providers that stock their ethnicity.”

He went connected to explicate that different shared factors, specified arsenic being from the aforesaid metropolis oregon assemblage and attending the aforesaid religion arsenic a aesculapian supplier makes patients from underrepresented communities consciousness much comfy successful the healthcare system.

Hospitals located successful a downtown similar Atlanta Medical Center “provide opportunities for physicians of colour to enactment and service the community,” Morgan said.

“Once that infirmary closes, the entree becomes truthful overmuch much difficult. The assemblage loses the quality for contiguous entree to attraction wherever they tin walk, thrust a bicycle, instrumentality a taxi, immoderate they person to bash to get to been seen.”

Dr. Garrison Whitaker, a manus surgeon, said it felt similar the crushed was moving from underneath him erstwhile helium learned of plans to adjacent the downtown infirmary connected Nov. 1.

“There was nary aboriginal discussion,” Whitaker said. “It truly came retired of the blue.”

Dr. Whitaker co-founded ATL Orthopedics with Dr. Alonzo Sexton, and they operated connected their patients astatine AMC.

“We acceptable up our signifier adjacent the airdrome and Camp Creek to instrumentality attraction of radical successful that portion of town. We were virtually the lone orthopedic signifier successful that area,” helium said. “Our main enactment strategy was AMC, and it is gone.”

According to Morgan, hospitals not lone enactment patients, but besides the communities were they are located.

“I deliberation it’s a stabilizing origin for communities due to the fact that it supports different business. It supports a neighborhood. It’s conscionable similar having a large section store oregon university,” Morgan said. “People, for generations, person counted connected jobs astatine that place, and hospitals prosecute a batch of people.”

Whitaker says that to a ample degree, the doctors astatine AMC were physicians of colour that catered to populations located connected the southbound broadside of the city.

Whitaker decided against joining Wellstar Kennestone Hospital successful Marietta due to the fact that helium felt it was excessively distant for his patients who formerly were cared for AMC. And helium didn’t deliberation that relocating to Kennestone would service the ngo of taking attraction of patients of colour successful the southbound portion of the city.

Yet, for analyzable cases, Whitaker has admitting privileges astatine Northside Gwinnett Hospital, a 42.9-mile thrust from his office, which inactive creates a question load for his patients.

“It’s an inconvenience to patients. The patients are astir being taxed,” Whitaker said.

To Fortson, Wellstar ne'er showed a committedness to serving the patients that AMC historically catered to, the city’s astir underserved populations.

“I don’t deliberation that Wellstar ever truly wanted to beryllium successful the wellness attraction arena successful the inner-city,” Fortson said. “I deliberation arsenic a effect of that determination were each types of strategies developed astir seeing that travel to pass.”

He recalled a deficiency of instrumentality and indispensable medications during his clip astatine Atlanta Medical Center’s East Point location. Now, Fortson is moving astatine Southern Regional Medical Center.

Wellstar Health Systems denied each suggestions that the wellness attraction enactment intentionally made decisions that led to the closure of AMC. According to Wellstar, 70% of the AMC physicians that were employed by Wellstar Medical Group chose to stay successful the company.

“With respect to the physicians who were employed by Wellstar Medical Group, we were committed to doing what was champion for each peculiar individual,” Wellstar said successful a connection fixed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “For those who preferred to proceed practicing successful the community, we worked to enactment that modulation arsenic well.”

Currently, Whitaker is speaking with Grady Memorial Hospital and different country hospitals to statesman admitting his patients there. Still, helium is acrophobic for what AMC’s closure means for diligent outcomes.

“Grady is already implicit capableness and stretched. You’re going to person patients that are going to person a hard clip getting in. Patients that would amusement up to Atlanta Medical Center,” Whitaker said. “I don’t cognize wherever they are going to get attraction from.”

”There are patients that conscionable aren’t going to get care.”

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