Important message for our patients regarding hospital care

In February 2010, the physicians of North Sound Family Medicine began using the services of the hospitalists working at St Joseph Hospital.  Over the course of the past six months, we have worked closely with the hospitalists to provide coordination of care for our hospitalized patients.  While we miss the opportunity to be with our patients while they are in the hospital, we have been satisfied to know that they have had excellent care from the hospitalists allowing us to have more ability to see our patients in the office, including follow up visits for recently hospitalized patients.

We are excited to announce that as of October 15, 2010, hospital care for our patients over the age of 18 will be provided by the Family Care Network Inpatient Service.  North Sound Family Medicine is an office of Family Care Network, which is a group of family physicians who practice in 13 clinics located throughout Whatcom County. Our Inpatient Service is staffed by physicians and physician assistants, all of whom are part of Family Care Network. There are many advantages to having the FCN Inpatient Service provide hospital care to our patients.

·         The FCN inpatient physicians will have access to your chart through our electronic medical record which has your up to date medication list and medical history.

·         The FCN inpatient physician and your primary care physician will have rapid communication that will start with your hospital admission and continue throughout your hospital stay.

·         Changes to your medications that are made when you are discharged from the hospital and a follow up plan will be documented in your chart.

We are very excited about having our FCN colleagues provide care to our hospitalized patients. Our goal is to create seamless, expert and thoughtful care for our patients who need to be in the hospital.

All our North Sound physicians will continue to provide hospital care for our patients who are under 18 years old, including newborns.  Our physicians who provide obstetric care, Dr’s Short, Wakefield Pagels, Swanson, Floyd, and Raduege, will continue to see new and established obstetric patients, manage labor and delivery, and provide hospital care for mothers and babies. 

We encourage you to ask us questions if you have any concerns.  We also welcome your feedback as we make this transition.

Sincerely, Dan Austin, MD, Ying Wu, MD, Jason Short, MD, April Wakefield Pagels, MD, Sue Dabney, MD, Mary Swanson, MD, Kirk Gulden, MD, Anneliese Floyd, MD and John Raduege MD