AdventHealth Central Texas holds open house at Cove and Lampasas Clinics

By BRITTANY FHOLER 
Cove Leader-Press 

AdventHealth Central Texas held an Open House to celebrate the acquisition of the Family Medicine Clinics in Copperas Cove and Lampasas Thursday evening. 
AdventHealth acquired the Family Medicine Clinics at the beginning of the month and renamed the clinics to AdventHealth Family Medicine Rural Health Clinic, Inc.
Kevin Roberts, president and CEO of AdventHealth Central Texas in Killeen and AdventHealth Rollins Brook in Lampasas, explained that the acquisition was a partnership between AdventHealth and the clinics that is building a tighter network in Coryell, Bell and Lampasas counties, adding to the two hospitals, in Killeen and Lampasas, and creating what Roberts called a “large footprint of primary care doctors”, which encompasses family practice physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
“For tonight, we are just celebrating that and letting the community come in, inviting them for refreshments and information to understand what this all means,” Roberts said. “To let them know their doctors haven’t left them. They are still here. They love them, and they’re now part of a larger enterprise that has actually more resources at their elbow. Primary care doctors need great specialists, easily accessible, and by joining our network, they are going to have quicker access and better access to high quality care that we have in Killeen at our main hospital, at our Lampasas hospital and through our partnership with Baylor Scott & White for more complicated services that we can’t provide locally, of course we refer them there.”
The AdventHealth network extends from Lampasas to Temple, Roberts said, because Temple’s hospital is considered a key partner in the system’s healthcare mission and ministry. 
During its many decades of service, the Family Medicine Clinics in Copperas Cove and Lampasas have made a reputation for themselves among the community, Roberts said. That won’t change with the new partnership. 
“They’ve been here a long time and have really, really established themselves as the premier primary care clinic which is why AdventHealth was interested in acquiring them because that’s what you want to do,” he said. “You want to affiliate yourself with people that have great sense of quality, great reputations in the community and great skills.”
The Family Medicine Clinics were previously owned by Dr. James Cain and Dr. Mark Lane. Both doctors are still practicing at the clinics after the acquisition. 
“Now because we are joined, they are going to have quicker access. The electronic medical records will be more fluid and seamless, and we will develop relationships through events like this where the doctors come together and really understand what each other can provide,” Roberts said. “Healthcare can be complicated, and the system can be complicated and by having this new entity in this tight network, it will be less complicated for the community.”
With the two clinics, there are 15 primary care providers including Dr. James Cain and Dr. Mark Lane, who previously owned the Family Medicine Clinics. Texas House District 59 Rep. J.D. Sheffield is also a doctor practicing at the clinics and was present at Thursday’s celebration and had nothing but good things to say about the partnership. 
“You see so many hospitals doing this right now. They’ll go into business partnerships with certain clinics, certain specialists, and they’ll grow those clinics and grow those specialists, and it’s not that they have it in house, but it’s all in the same network that people get used to working together, and hopefully makes it smoother and more cohesive. Because as you can tell, there’s a lot of fragmentation in healthcare these days, with all the business of it, all the insurance hassles of it, all the pharmaceutical hassles of it,” Sheffield said. “The AdventHealth hospital is definitely in healthcare for the right reason, for compassion for humanity. They’re not in it for profit, just to make a buck and they looked at this as a way to spread their ministry and their mission to more people in Copperas Cove and also try to reach out to the people in the Lampasas area, so they’re in it for the right reasons.”
Inside the clinic, guests could try their hand at a life-size “Operation!” game while kids could make their way through the teddy bear clinic, watching as their bears went from EKGs to MRIs. 
The general surgeons, cardiac team, imaging team, wound care, PT solutions and more of AdventHealth were present at the event, showing their support. 
Refreshments included cake, Chick-fil-A and more. Outside, Kona Ice provided snow cones. 
The AdventHealth Family Medicine Rural Health Clinics are located at 2401 Walker Place Blvd. in Copperas Cove and at 187 P.R. 4060 in Lampasas.