Health & Wellness: Recruiting for the Future

Recruiting for the Future

by Lori Just

For more than two decades, Primary Care Associates has established itself as a privately-owned clinic in Bartlesville specializing in primary medical care for the whole family. In addition to minor emergency and routine care, their facility, at 4150 SE Adams Road, conveniently provides on-site labs and takes great pride in providing quality, comprehensive, and compassionate care to the community. A few of the doctors are looking to lighten their schedules, and the difficult task of finding additional physicians is PCA’s next goal.

“We look forward to bringing in some new doctors,” said Mark D. Erhardt, D.O. “We have a few that have been with us since the beginning and now they want to slow down and enjoy the later part of life. Most clinics go through a recruiter, but as a private practice, we have the ability to go old-school and recruit directly from regional family practice residency programs.”

Dr. Erhardt said that PCA has sent out recruiting packets to these residency programs that include information about the community. They are hopeful to find a few residents willing to do a rotation at the clinic, while also living and engaging in the Bartlesville area. “We will lodge these residents downtown and encourage them to get out and see what Bartlesville has to offer while they are here,” he said. “We hope after their rotation experience they will want to join our practice and relocate here.”

PCA is the largest, privately-owned family practice in the state of Oklahoma. All of the physicians focus on family care and provide a hands-on approach to medicine. “We all practice medicine here a little differently based on our personality,” said Dr. Erhardt. “When someone visits our clinic and likes the doctor they saw, they can keep coming back to that doctor. If they want to try a different doctor on their next visit, they can do that, too. No matter who you are, you will find someone at PCA that you click with and feel most comfortable.”

Another benefit is that PCA can react to situations must faster without having to wait on a response from a larger parent company located several states away. For example, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCA was able to adjust their clinic operations to ensure the health and safety of all of their patients seeking medical care.

“We want these new residents to come in and understand that taking care of patients is our most important priority,” said Dr. Erhardt. “We keep ourselves on the forefront of medicine and participate in various programs to improve quality of care, while hiring the best staff to support all of these initiatives. Technology is important, too, and we recently changed our electronic medical record provider to help with quality-of-care measures. We want to make sure the patient’s health journey is taken care of, too. We have increased our focus on coordination of care for patients after discharge from the hospital, along with a renewed focus on ensuring Medicare annual wellness exams are being performed.”

Packets went out to the family practice residency programs a few months ago, and PCA is hopeful to hear back from interested candidates that want to know more about Bartlesville and participate in the care of our community. “We want to keep our commitment of quality health care moving forward as Bartlesville continues to move forward.”

PCA was founded by a group of five local, independent doctors who came together to form a loosely associated group in 1999. That collaboration of the same management company, nurses, staff, and administrators became known as Primary Care Associates. Over the years, PCA has remained progressive in their approach to practicing medicine. As new technologies have become available since the mid-90s, the clinic expanded to offer patients the best possible all-inclusive medical environment. Find out more at primarycareassociatesbartlesville.com.