North Country buys Orleans Medical Clinic

The Orleans Medical Clinic has been sold to North Country Health Systemn. On June 30, Dr David Bourgeois sold the practice, which is located in the Village of Orleans, to North Country Health System in Newport. The doctor and his staff will remain at the clinic at the same location. The practice is now known as Orleans Family Medicine.
This year marks Dr. Bourgeois 20th anniversary of service on the North Country Medical Staff, Claudio Fort said. During this time he has earned a reputation for his considerable work ethic as well as for his devotion to caring for the people of this medically under-served community. I am pleased that this new relationship will enable Dr. Bourgeois to re-focus his efforts from managing the business affairs of the practice to concentrating on the provision of patient care and, with his staff, to continue this crucial work in partnership with North Country Hospital. Fort is the CEO of North Country Health System.
Kim Campbell, the Vice President of Medical Group Operations, also has high praises for Dr. Bourgeois and the staff as she welcomes them to the health system. He and his staff have done a tremendous job, Campbell said. It s wonderful that they are joining us. It s a nice opportunity for everybody. This is a very positive move forward.
While the ownership of the clinic has changed it will operate very much in the same manner as it always has. North Country Health System will upgrade the practice s technology, which in time will include an electronic medical record (EMR) system which will connect with the EMR system that is steadily being adopted by the rest of the organization. This will mean even better care for the patients who are served at the clinic.
One thing that won t change at the clinic is Dr. Bourgeois dedication to his patients. I m not going to do anything different at the clinic, he said. North Country s administration wants me to do what I do best -- treat patients. Under new ownership, the increased resources will allow Dr. Bourgeois more time to care for patients.
Much of Dr. Bourgeois strong work ethic grew from his blue collar roots growing up in the shadows of the oil refineries in Deer Park, Texas, a community located in the suburbs of Houston, and next to the rice fields of Evangeline in southwestern Louisiana. The first generation of his family to secure a college education, Dr. Bourgeois has never forgotten his humble roots. After graduating from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and completing his residency at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine, he found a place where he could safely raise a family and put his knowledge to work making a difference as a family practitioner.
Dr. Bourgeois and his wife, Susan, settled in Orleans County, Vermont in 1989. Between 1989 and 1991 Dr. Bourgeois worked at the Barton Clinic. In 1991 he became a partner in the Orleans Medical Clinic. He became the third co-owner of the practice, joining Dr. Ferial Ladak (Barber) and Dr. George Linton, and later became the sole owner of the Orleans Medical Clinic in 2001.
The clinic has a long history of providing medical care to the people of the region. Dr. Terrance Gage and Dr. Leigh Abbott purchased the clinic at its current location in 1952. Dr. Armand Bonvouloir joined Dr. Gage after Dr. Abbott died suddenly at the age of 35. Dr. George Linton joined Dr. Bonvouloir after Dr. Gage became ill and retired, eventually passing away at the age of 59. Dr. Barber later joined the team and then Dr. Bourgeois became a co-owner after he left the Barton Clinic when Dr. Bonvouloir retired. With the departure of Dr. Barber and retirement of Dr. Linton other local doctors have practiced at the clinic, Dr. Denise Niemira who owns a private practice in Newport and Dr. Allison Sturtevant who now works in the Emergency Department at North Country Hospital.
Dr. Bourgeois brings with him to the health system a dedicated office staff and several full and part-time mid-level providers, who are Christie Aldrich, nurse practitioner; Susan Dennis, nurse practitioner; Megan Garrigan, physician assistant; Patrick Heany, physician assistant; Rachel Pelletier, nurse practitioner, and Susan Snow, nurse practitioner.
They are a diverse and talented group, Dr. Bourgeois said, noting that any of them could have easily found jobs elsewhere but instead they chose the Orleans Clinic because of the practice style and the mission to maintain open access for the local community of people it serves.
Working in rural Vermont has its ups and downs. Reimbursement in rural areas is lower which often results in a private for-profit practice operating at a loss, Dr. Bourgeois said. He noted that over the 20 years he has provided the community with thousands of hours of free care so he could properly meet his patients needs. I have always worked with the individual patient in mind and that isn t going to change. The move to a non-profit status opens up more revenue and resources for small medical practices in rural areas such as northern Vermont. This change will hopefully improve and sustain a small rural family practice like the Orleans Clinic.
The move to have a regional health system buy out privately owned medical practices isn t only a trend in Vermont. It s common throughout the country, especially as the medical technology and practice overhead become more costly. Keeping up with ever-changing medical regulations and paperwork is a challenge for small, privately owned medical providers. Dr. Bourgeois practice has not been immune to these issues. Although he went to medical school to provide medical care for people, with each passing year, he has found more of his time used completing paperwork to advocate for the patient against the bureaucracies of insurance and government agencies. This has chipped away at the time with his patients. The most important outcome of this transition is that Dr. Bourgeois will be able to do more of what he was trained to do oversee and provide medical care for his patients.