Community Care Physicians, PC Marks 25th Anniversary with New Business Ventures that Change Patient Care

LATHAM, NY (02/05/2009)(readMedia)-- Twenty-five years after Community Care Physicians, PC began offering healthcare services, the once single-specialty practice is now one of the largest providers of multi-specialty medical care in the Capital Region, with over 200 providers caring for 200,000 residents in the Capital Region.

In the early 90s, Community Care Physicians changed the medical landscape. Recognizing a shortage of primary care providers in the area and an opportunity to introduce progressive changes for patients, Dr. Shirish Parikh, originally a radiologist at Albany's Veterans Administration Hospital, pioneered the idea of forming the first fully-integrated multispecialty group practice in the Capital Region. Through mergers and acquisitions, this sub-specialized radiology group grew into a multispecialty medical group, recruiting its first primary care offices in 1995.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Community Care Physicians has grown to include over 35 practices, spanning across 4 counties (Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Rensselaer) in the Capital Region.

"What has made Community Care successful over the past 25 years is its ability to be flexible and cutting-edge to meet our customers' needs. Community Care is becoming a full service company, with 19 specialties, continually looking for opportunities to expand to better serve our patients," says Dr. Ronald Musto, primary care provider in Troy and Vice President of Community Care Physicians, PC.

The business growth experienced over the past years is in response to shifts in the healthcare landscape. Patients are becoming more proactive in their healthcare. They demand more, including convenient, quality care and access to additional services for overall health improvement.

Community Care is committed to investing resources for development of new patient services. This month, Community Care will open a fitness center for patients at its flagship location in Latham. With a new focus on total health, Community Care can go beyond exclusively treating illness and injury and can encourage exercise as a means for treating and preventing disease. This fitness facility allows physicians to offer patients an option for healthier living.

Other developments in the company include the expansion of urgent care centers. With an already established office in Latham and a recently opened urgent care center in Delmar, Community Care plans to have a total of 4 Urgent Care Centers open by the end of 2009.

"'Community Care: here when you need us' is the philosophy that drives our open access policy," says Dr. Musto. "Demand for convenient and prompt access to healthcare from patients with episodic medical problems is growing. In response, Community Care is expanding the hours in which patients can see primary care providers without an appointment, and we have our Urgent Visit Centers for patients to use nights, weekends and holidays."

Technology in healthcare has also improved. Six years ago, patient records were paper charts. Community Care Physicians is now completing the fifth upgrade of their integrated Electronic Health Record (EHR) with which all Community Care physicians have each patient's complete health record immediately available when and where it's needed.

Dr. Musto says, "We are moving more aggressively to use the EHR as a portal that allows our patients to access their own health records from anywhere in the world, to streamline the troublesome check-in, check-out office procedures, and to communicate easily and securely with their physicians over the internet."

Focusing on the needs of patients, physicians are finding new ways to diversify to service their patient base and keep pace with the changes in medicine.

"Twenty-five years ago Community Care Physicians built a system of health care on a primary care foundation characterized by competence, compassion and cutting edge technology," says Dr. Musto. "In the center of that foundation is quality patient care. That's why we grow, we evolve and we innovate - to enhance our patient's health care experience."

About Community Care Physicians

Community Care Physicians, P.C. is a physician-owned, physician-governed, multi-specialty medical group with more than 200 physicians and other clinical providers, located in four counties surrounding the Albany, New York greater Capital District. Community Care Physicians medical services include Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Aesthetic Laser, Audiology, Dermatology, Diabetic Education and Nutrition, General Surgery, Laboratory, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Occupational Medicine, Physical Therapy, Podiatry, Radiology, Radiation Oncology, Urgent Care, Urology and Vein Care. For more information, visit www.communitycare.com.

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Contact Alexis Musto, Marketing Manager at Community Care Physicians, PC, for more information by phone at 518-213-0322, by email at amusto@communitycare.com, or by fax at 518-782-3798.