2008-2009 Board of Directors Candidates

Jeff Collins, MD

Medical Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Chelsea Urgent Care Center
The MGH Chelsea Urgent Care Center has been in continuous operation since 1978. It started as a free standing emergency room and became an urgent care center in 1996 when it moved into its current location at the MGH Chelsea Health Center, the largest health center in the MGH/Partners system with over 175,000 patient visits per year.
The Urgent Care Center is the second largest urgent care center in New England with over 32,000 patient visits per year. The Center is located in the city of Chelsea, a busy urban suburb just north of Boston. The center has a professional staff of twenty full and part-time physicians, eight nurse practitioners, and thirty nurses. The center generates over $8 million dollars in gross revenue on a budget of just over $2 million dollars. The center is open from 7 am to 10 pm seven days a week.

Biography:  
Dr. Collins attended Bowdoin College as an Ives Scholar and graduated with honors in Anthropology/Sociology and Biochemistry. He then attended the University of Rochester Graduate School of Arts and Science where he studied social and medical anthropology. He was U.S. Department of Education National Graduate Fellow and a University Fellow. He has done research in India, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Africa and the U.S.
Collins is a Cum Laude graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. He was a National Health Service Scholar and upon completing his residency in the Harvard Medical School Combined Program in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics did his three-year commitment in the National Health Service Corps/U.S. Public Health Service where he was Head of Internal Medicine for the Providence Community Health Centers, Inc.  He developed multiple programs involving immigrant and refugee healthcare and prison healthcare as well as conducting research on patient care issues for the U.S. Public Health Service. 
Collins returned to the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2001 as Medical Director of the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care Center. He has grown the center from 17,000 patients a year on losses of over $2 million dollars per year to its current position.
He teaches Urgent Care Medicine as part of the Medicine residents’ sub-specialty rotations. He is a member of the Committee on Quality for the UCAOA, the Physicians Practice Advisory Council of the MGH/MGPO and the Faculty Committee on Social Service at the Harvard Medical School.  Collins is also Medical Director of the MGH Community Benefit Program which oversees $176 million a year in charity care, free care and over 35 community based programs for the hospital.

Visions for UCAOA:  
Urgent Care Medicine is at a critical point in its development thanks in large part to the efforts of the UCAOA. Urgent Care currently plays a vital role in the U.S. healthcare “system” and everyone needs to better understand the importance of this role. We are the continuity piece between a shrinking primary care pool and an over-burdened ER system. We are not a temporary fix but an answer to what is ailing our health system here and in other parts of the world. Making people understand this involves continuing the efforts of the UCAOA in four areas:

1. Promotion: continue to make those at the local, state and federal level, understand the unique role Urgent Care Centers play in our current healthcare delivery system
2. Training: continue to make medical schools and hospitals see that Urgent Care Centers provide a unique training opportunity that medical students and residents currently are missing because they are managing mainly chronic illnesses or the critically ill
3. Research:  continue to expand the efforts of the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine so that practitioners understand the unique aspects of urgent care medicine.  This includes primary research as well as benchmarking to know where we are currently as a field
4. Coding: hospitals, the government, insurance companies and others need to understand why urgent care needs a separate set of evaluation and management codes that better reflect the type and amount of work we do.

Gerry Cvitanovich, MD

Medical Director and Co-Owner, Millennium Management
Owner, East Jefferson After Hours Centers
Co-Owner, Gulf Coast Urgent Care Centers
Millennium Healthcare, located in the New Orleans area, was founded in 2005, just months after Hurricane Katrina. Millennium manages nine centers, (seven opened after Katrina). Services include start-up, Managed Care negotiations, Policies and Procedures, Accreditation preparation, accounting, and Billing/Collecting. Most centers are Accredited.
Millennium has two centers that are 100% physician-owned, but are affiliates of a Community Hospital. It also has three centers which are a 50/50 Joint Venture with a large Healthcare System (Oschner). Additionally, Millennium manages a community-owned center in Plaquemines, and a center in Lafayette. Millennium has another Joint-Venture Center in Thibodaux.

Biography:
Dr. Cvitanovich is 47 years-old, and has lived in the New Orleans area since he was two. He is married with four children, 7, 5, 3, and 8 months. He grew-up in the restaurant business and along with his parents and brother owns two restaurants in the area - both called Drago’s.
He attended Tulane University (82) and LSU Medical School (86) and did his Family Medicine Residency in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is also board-certified.
After Residency, he worked as a ER Doctor at East Jefferson General Hospital and was the Hospital’s Medical Director of Wound Care, and served three terms on the Medical-Executive Committee. In 2002, weary of the ER, he opened East Jefferson After Hours, which he now owns 100%. In 2005, he was preparing to open a second location when Katrina hit.
Post-Katrina he and his Staff re-opened the center eight days after the hurricane - with no running water, electricity, or telephone. In the next six weeks, the Center treated hundreds of patients for free and administered over 7,000 free Hepatitis and Tetanus vaccines.
Cvitanovich is also the Deputy Coroner of Jefferson Parish.
Last, he sits on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Visitor and Convention Bureau.
" Thanks to the UCAOA for supporting my City by having this year's Convention in New Orleans - and thanks to all of you who attend."

Visions for UCAOA:
I would like to see UCAOA continue to grow, and have it continue to be the loudest and most credible voice for the Urgent Care Industry. I envision an even greater explosion of membership, and I hope to see the organization’s infrastructure continue to grow to keep up with membership.
I would like to see the Accreditation program pick-up speed, and hope that the membership fully learns the values associated with going through the process - increased credibility, marketing advantages, and increased leverage in Managed Care negotiating.
I hope to see the Association begin an aggressive national Legislative agenda, so that our association has a seat at the table regarding legislative issues that affect our industry.
I would also like to see more UCAOA State Chapters to address issues which impact us at a local level.

Don Dillahunty, DO, MPH

Chief Executive Officer/President, PrimaCare Medical Centers
PrimaCare Medical Centers, with eleven clinics owned and operated by PrimaMed Physicians Association and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, comprises one of the larger and older urgent care networks in the nation.  Building upon our nearly thirty year history, the mission of PrimaCare is as follows:  To provide quality healthcare to the patients in the communities we serve with courtesy, convenience and compassion.

Biography:
Dr. Dillahunty is a board certified family practice physician and has made urgent care medicine his career focus since joining PrimaCare eighteen years ago.  He began as a staff physician, moved on to become a center medical director, and has served as CEO/President of PrimaCare the past seven years while maintaining an active clinical practice.  His interests include the business of medicine, risk management and quality assurance. 
In reference to his involvement with UCAOA, he currently chairs the organization’s Quality Standards Committee.  In terms of his academic background, he received his DO degree from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and his MPH from Loma Linda University.  He also completed a Medical Mini-MBA from the University of Texas, Arlington. On a personal note, he and his wife have been married for 26 years and have six children.

Visions for UCAOA:
As the result of the hard work and outstanding leadership of its founders, UCAOA has made great strides since its formation in 2004 in serving professionals within the urgent care industry. A solid foundation has been established for the organization to accomplish its mission (“to provide leadership, education and resources for the successful practice of urgent care”) and its vision (“to be the catalyst for the recognition of urgent care as an essential part of the health care system”). 

My vision is that UCAOA continue to grow in numbers, both in attracting new members and retaining current members, and in the quality and depth of resources made available to the membership  to achieve and maintain success in a competitive marketplace.  I also believe that continued adherence to the values which mark our association – professionalism, entrepreneurism, and dedication to excellence both in the practice of medicine and in the business of medicine – will result in increasing recognition of the value of urgent care within the health care industry as a whole.

William Gluckman, DO, MBA, FACEP,
CPE, CPC

Associate Medical Director of Emergency Services, St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center
St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, Paterson NJ - A 792 Bed Community/Academic institution with multiple residencies including Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Family Practice. The emergency department sees over 95,000 visits/year and has an APN/physician team-run urgent care area

Biography:
William Gluckman, DO, MBA, FACEP, CPE, CPC is the Associate Director of Emergency Services at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson NJ. He is the owner of FastER Urgent Care which will hopefully make its grand opening in the Fall of 2008. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine from Jacobi Medical Center, Bronx, NY and is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ. He served as a core teaching faculty member for the division of Emergency Medicine at New Jersey Medical School from 2004-2007, and is now a core faculty member for the residency program at St. Joseph’s. Dr. Gluckman has served on the Board of Directors for the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine.  He received his MBA from Rutgers University School of Business.

Dr. Gluckman is a consultant and instructor for the NJ State Police Hazardous Materials Response Unit and is the Medical Director of New Jersey’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, NJ-TF1. He received the NJ Chapter of ACEP Educator of the year award in 2006. Dr. Gluckman is also a certified physician executive as well as a certified professional coder.

Visions for UCAOA:
A voice: UCAOA has been an extremely important voice for urgent care medicine and I want to see that voice become louder and include other medical specialty organizations and the public arena. There is strength in numbers and I want to see our membership grow and facilitate the participation of every member which will help develop a sense of ownership in our organization.

Educational Leader: Education is critical to our growth. UCAOA will become more proactive in educating the consumer about the benefits of urgent care. There are still many areas of the country that could benefit from urgent care centers and are ripe for development. UCAOA will help bring the message to these communities and serve as a resource to members looking to forge into new territories. Our organization will continue to expand our fellowship training programs and provide opportunities for specialty training for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.  UCAOA will continue to improve and expand its educational programs for its members to include online CME opportunities and will encourage and facilitate quality urgent care research.

Finally, I share in the UCAOA vision to be the catalyst for the recognition of urgent care as an essential part of the healthcare system.

J. Dale Key

Administrator, Medac Health Services, P.A.
Medac was established in 1984 to provide convenient, low cost, episodic medical care as a service to the citizens of Wilmington, NC, and has been a vital member of the medical community since that time.  Medac has built a solid reputation based on high quality, cost effective health care while functioning as an integral part of our community, and providing a rewarding work environment for employees.  Medac has grown to become a four-location urgent care and occupational health practice, whose urgent care centers are staffed by board certified, local physicians who understand the unique needs of the urgent care patient.

Biography:
Receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, Dale Key has spent the majority of his post-college working career in the healthcare field.
Starting his healthcare career in 1989 as the Personnel Director of Comprehensive Home Health Care, one of the largest privately-owned home health care agencies in the United States, and headquartered in Wilmington, NC, he gained a working knowledge of all areas of operation of the home health care agency and industry.  This knowledge helped propel him into various senior management positions, ultimately becoming Comprehensive’s Executive Director.
In November 1999, he joined Medac Health Services, P.A., a four-location urgent care and occupational health practice also based in Wilmington, NC.  In addition to being Medac’s Administrator, he is also the Administrator for ECEP II, P.A., an Emergency Medicine practice consisting of 26 Emergency Medicine physicians who staff the Emergency Departments of three hospitals in the greater Wilmington area.
During his 17-plus years in the healthcare industry, he has obtained significant experience in financial management, growth and strategic planning initiatives, corporate project management, corporate planning and development, contract negotiation, designing and establishing compensation policies and strategies, developing and implementing personnel policies and procedures, and benefits administration.

Visions for UCAOA:   
My vision for UCAOA is that we be the “Go To” organization for all things related to urgent care, whether it be for issues related to urgent care as a practice model, practice administration, billing and coding, legislative or regulatory matters, patient requests for information, or clinical practice education.  This “Go To” vision includes expertly responding to all urgent care related information needs of UCAOA membership, patients, the general public, clinical personnel, and regulatory officials.  I feel this “Go To” vision can be accomplished through the cumulative talents, resources, ideas, and strategies that are brought to the Board of Directors by all of the Directors, in consultation with various UCAOA committees and task forces.

Peter Lamelas, MD, MBA

Owner/CEO and Medical Director,
MD Now Urgent Care Walk-In Medical Centers, Inc.
MD Now Urgent Care Walk-In Medical Centers, currently three state of the art urgent care facilities located throughout Palm Beach County, Florida, with a fourth center opening soon.
Open 7 days/week, 12 hours/day, 365 days/year. MD Now Urgent Care treats a wide variety of patients with moderate to minor injury and illness, providing a broad spectrum of services, including occupational medicine, travel medicine, physical exams, a full range of diagnostics, and specializing in individualized care and treatment in a beautiful and private environment.
Independent, physician owned and managed, MD Now Medical Centers, focuses on patient satisfaction while maintaining an excellent reputation and strong ties to the medical and local communities.

Biography: 
After attending an urgent care conference five years ago, Dr. Lamelas and his wife Stephanie successfully started their first center and have expanded to three locations throughout the Palm Beach area, a fourth opening soon.
Residency trained in Internal Medicine and Board Certified in Emergency Medicine, Dr Lamelas was Emergency Department Medical Director of Columbia Hospital for over 17 years, has over 22 years ER experience and was EMS Medical Director for over 15 years.
A long standing member of the American College of Emergency Physicians, Florida Medical Association and of UCAOA from its beginnings, he serves on UCAOA’s Accreditation Committee and Editorial Board of the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. A member of AAUCM and former member of NAFAC, he is involved in all aspects of Urgent Care.
Dr Lamelas earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University and received a gubernatorial appointment to the Florida Board of Medicine, during which time he served as Chairman of both the Rules and Legislative Committee, Quality Assurance Committee and was elected Vice Chair of the Board of Medicine. He has substantial healthcare legislative and political lobbying experience.

Visions for UCAOA:
To serve as an advocate for our new specialty of Urgent Care while at the same time promoting and protecting the interests of our member clinics, physicians, practitioners and staff.
We should routinely survey our members to see what they desire (training, conferences, accreditation, certification, benefits, etc.) what they expect, and provide tangible benefits for their dues.
I will continue to support the Board as they improve and promote our Accreditation efforts, considering carefully affiliating UCAOA with a nationally recognized Accrediting Organization. This will add value to our Accreditation process, leading to increased recognition and reimbursement for our members.
UCAOA should lead efforts to protect Urgent Care’s advancements, promote recognition, improve reimbursements, create legislative committees and appoint UCAOA representatives to other medical organizations.
Political involvement and lobbying efforts to further our specialty and interests in the legislature and within other organizations should be a key function of our organization.
Ultimately UCAOA exists to support, promote and protect its members, and if elected, I will always base my decisions on how they will benefit the members.
I envision UCAOA’s success growing, uniting our specialty, becoming the preeminent voice of Urgent Care Medicine and finally taking our place among the other specialties.

Disclosure (ownership interest of 5% or more):
MD Now Medical Centers, Inc

Cameron L. Perkins, PA-C, BHS, MPAS

Chief Operating Officer, Urgent Cares of America, Inc/Raleigh Urgent Care Network
UCA/RUCN is currently operating five urgent care centers with three in development to open in 2008.  The company also provides health care consulting, health care billing, leadership training, and urgent care provider staffing.

Biography:
Cameron Perkins began developing urgent care centers after being involved with patient care in the Emergency Department.  He has been both an urgent care clinician and an entrepreuner since 2002.  He quickly realized that leadership is a learned skill, and is required to have a successful business.  He then obtained his leadership skills through the The New American Leadership System created by Dr Richard Lazar.  This leadership system teaches techniques on how to innovate, build team unity, and work with teams to reach shared success.                             

He has lead teams to develop many urgent care facilities over the past seven years. His current position as Chief Operating Officer involves development of new urgent care centers, land acquisitions, health care consulting and billing, and management of a health care provider staffing company all specific to the urgent care industry.  He is also a founding member of the Urgent Care Assurance Company, as well as the Vice President of the Board of Directors.

Visions for UCAOA: 
Vision can only be obtained by having a group of individuals working toward the shared success of the community.  This group of individuals must focus on what benefits the community of UCAOA.  Here are a few of my visions that I believe we can reach for UCAOA.
UCAOA becomes the international authority on Urgent Care Medicine.  This recognition would continue to give the urgent care industry and UCAOA the acknowledgement and respect it deserves. 
Continue to be a resource for developing urgent care companies and a networking tool for existing companies.
Deliver products and services to other health care organizations.
Develop liaisons to other health care associations to ensure appropriate recognition of the urgent care industry.
Continue to develop residency training for both Physicians and Physician Assistants in Urgent Care Medicine.
Increase UCAOA facility accreditation.
Establish the UCAOA accreditation to be the premier accrediting body by commercial insurance carriers, state medical boards, and federal agencies.

Disclosure (ownership of 5% or more): 
Urgent Cares of America, Inc/Raleigh Urgent Care Network
Clayton Urgent Care and Family Clinic
Fuquay Urgent Care and Family Clinic
Wake Urgent Care and Family Clinic
FastMed Walk-in Clinic
Urgent Care of Cary
Urgent Care of Holly Springs
Wilson Urgent Care
Morrisville Urgent Care
Urgent Care Assurance Company
Guha, Perkins, and Williams, LLC
WUFCA, LLC
Williams and Perkins, LLC
Williams, Perkins, and Guha, LLC
PSG, LLC
New Image Medical Spa, PC
Cedar Creek Medical Group, PC
Remington Grille of Wake Forest, Inc

Laurel Stoimenoff

President, NextCare Urgent Care
NextCare Urgent Care, founded in 1993 by John Shufeldt, MD, has grown to 28 clinics and 5 on-site employer locations in six states with six additional clinics under development. 
NextCare is served by over 400 employees and 100 physicians, physician’s assistants, and nurse practitioners.  The company is resolute in its pursuit of its mission and has an organizational commitment to serve not only our patients, but also our communities, our colleagues and our profession.  The company’s focus on clinical and service quality is supported by its state of the art IT platform, custom EMR and unique throughput model, NextXpress. 

Biography:
Laurel Stoimenoff has over 30 years of healthcare management experience, specializing in organizational growth/ operations. Her experience includes:

• President, NextCare Urgent Care, 2005-present
• Senior VP of Development, Comprehensive Medical Imaging (a division of Syncor, International) responsible for acquisitions of diagnostic imaging clinics, de novo growth, and hospital partnerships
• President, MATRIX, a division of Beverly Enterprises, with oversight of 185 outpatient rehabilitation clinics and 10 urgent care clinics
• Western Region President, NovaCare, responsible for outpatient rehabilitation for the western U.S.

Additionally, Ms. Stoimenoff served the public in two consecutive five-year terms in a Governor appointed position as a member of the Arizona Physical Therapy Board of Examiners, serving as its President over half of her tenure.  Ms. Stoimenoff currently serves as the current Chairman of the Board of the Arizona Foundation for Women, an organization addressing issues of poverty, care-giving, access to healthcare, and domestic violence and recently served as a Board Member of the Banner Health Foundation Philanthropic Board. She has also been an active member/ speaker in the American Physical Therapy Association. She is a graduate of Ohio State University with a Degree in Allied Health Professions and a major in Physical Therapy.

Visions for UCAOA:
To continue to support the association’s commitment to initiatives that promote:

• Clinical & service quality via fundamental standards, including the option of accreditation,  while also recognizing that the membership is a professional one capable of implementing QA specific to practice and market nuances when provided the appropriate tools
• Increased public awareness of urgent care’s role and offering
• Enhanced payer relations, communication and awareness of UC’s unique niche and savings opportunities vs. alternative delivery sites, manifesting in appropriate and deserved reimbursement for UC services
• Membership support in growth and development of the urgent care practice and its profitability
• Membership growth such that the association’s collective voice is a formidable one
• A collegial and information sharing environment of administrative and clinical best practices, recognizing that quality urgent care provided by competitors assists all providers as UC gains credibility in the community at large
• Educational programs that are not only informative but provide a genuine return on investment for the practice administrator