Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Since last September, when the Women’s Care private practice in Glens Falls closed, Hudson Headwaters Women’s Health became the only game in town dedicated to women’s health services, gynecological care and obstetrics.
“Town” is actually all or part of seven counties — Warren, Washington, northern Saratoga and beyond — encompassing roughly 7,400 square miles.
Hudson Headwaters is now the only medical provider with delivering privileges at Glens Falls Hospital’s Joyce Stock Snuggery.
Dr. Cassie Leonard, Medical Lead for OB/GYN services at Hudson Headwaters, said that since Women’s Care closed, they’ve taken on about 5,000 more patients.
They’ve increased women’s health services not just at its base across the street from the hospital at 90 South Street but also at Moreau Family Health, West Mountain Specialty Care and Warrensburg Heath Center.
They report a 15 percent increase in women’s health patient visits across the four sites, with a 12 percent rise at 90 South Street alone.
They added second ultrasound machines at both 90 South Street and Warrensburg, and offer mammogram services at Warrensburg.
OB/GYN practice leader Desma Sheerer said they’ve hired four doctors, including two — Jennifer Bashant and Diana Sustar — from Women’s Care.
Ms. Sheerer said they also added two nurse midwives, two nurse practitioners and four new administrative staff “to help with things like the phones, the patients coming into the building, handling of medical records, all of those things that saw that increase in volume.”
The staff currently has a total of 24 doctors, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners. Two more doctors, both Albany Medical Center graduates with local ties, will come on board in September.
Hudson Headwaters streamlined on-boarding patients’ medical records — “with permission,” Dr. Leonard says — to ease the transitions for refilling medications, annual mammograms and other testing, even when patients hadn’t necessarily been seen yet in the office.
As now the only ob/gyn provider at Glens Falls Hospital, they added full time doctor and midwife coverage, “24 hours a day, seven days a week,” at the Snuggery, to also cover all emergency room and floor consults related to gynecological or obstetrical emergencies.
Previously, their doctors and midwives might be seeing patients at the office while on-call to “run over” to the Snuggery as issues arose, Dr. Leonard says.
The closing of the Women’s Care private practice last year reflects a trend.
“Labor and delivery is closing throughout the country,” Dr. Leonard said.
“This is a nationwide issue, where OB/GYN in general is having difficulty with private practices, due to insurance coverage and reimbursement.”
She said insurance payouts for births — which typically are a lump sum rather than per service — are surprisingly low.
“When people found out that Women’s Care was closing, patients were nervous a little bit,” Dr. Leonard says. They were given options to come to Hudson Headwaters or Saratoga Hospital.
Six months later, Dr. Leonard says, “We really had a nice plan in place, and we were able to fit patients in really quickly that needed to be seen.
“From our standpoint, I feel like we had could have been more prepared. We had all hands on deck from the administrative level all the way down to the staff here at our office, and everybody was willing. We had people coming in on the weekends to process new medical records.
“Looking back on it, even though it was a stressful time because we were worried. We wanted to make sure we provided excellent care for patients.
“We were trying to prepare for all the unknowns and the what ifs and I think we really did a great job. We had no real issues at the Snuggery level or office level that I can think of off the top of my head. We really did band together to deal with this.”
Dr. Leonard says the monthly birth rate at the Snuggery remains “really consistent” with what it was when both practices were still running.
Last year, 1,031 babies were born at Glens Falls Hospital, communications specialist Ray Agnew reports. He said 1,120 babies were born there in 2022.
With current pregnancies, Dr. Leonard says, “We are seeing some increases coming up in the summer, numbers between 90 and 100 deliveries a month.
“We don’t know if more people have moved to the area, or if there’s a shift in practice, but (the numbers) are a little bit higher than they’ve been,” she said.
Routine appointments are booking out as far as four to six months in advance, said a fact sheet provided by Hudson Headwaters. “Routine annual visits did get pushed back in order to accommodate our pregnant patients,” Dr. Leonard said, “and also what we would call acute visits. We prioritize that.”
There have also been increased wait times when calling for appointments.
“I think that’s probably been the biggest complaints and feedback we’ve gotten from patients, those two issues,” Dr. Leonard said. “We understand and that’s what we’re working on now with the additional staff. I would say that’s the normal sort of growing pains a practice would go through.”
Ms. Sheerer added that primary care providers and family medicine doctors can address basic gynecological and well care issues for women.
Communications specialist Pamela Fisher, who sat in on the meeting, said Hudson Headwaters, as a non-profit, Federally Qualified Health Center, cannot limit or turn patients away.
“We have to serve the community,” Dr. Leonard said. “We cannot cap our patients, fortunately or unfortunately. So we just have to change the practice by adding more personnel and providers.”
“We wanted to let the community know we really worked hard during this whole time,” Dr. Leonard says. “We’re really proud of the hard work we’ve done, and continue to do. We’re really proud to be advocates for women’s health. We wanted to make sure that people understand this.”
Copyright © 2024 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved
