Doctors in the area are denying that Intermountain Health Care had anything to do with the closing of the Sanpete Medical Clinic in Mt. Pleasant, but they also say that the clinic wasn't needed.
"The area is well-served by family practitioners," said IHC's director of public relations, Tom Vitelli. He said IHC has 19 family practitioners and doctors on its panel serving Sanpete County.
"The hospital serves the members of the community and the needs of the health plan's members," Vitelli said.
According to doctors in the area, family nurse practitioner Cristy Meacham had turned down other offers to open her own clinic in the Skyline Pharmacy four months ago. The clinic has since closed its doors.
Despite earlier claims printed in the Deseret Morning News, the Sanpete Clinic was not an after-hours clinic and served fewer patients each day, closing at 7 p.m. on weekdays. Allen M. Day, an IHC doctor who works at the Sanpete Valley Hospital, said physicians in the area supported her clinic opening and often assisted her with patients.
"We provided backup to her for patients that she didn't know what to do with, and we would also admit her patients," he said.
Charles Nunn, another doctor in the area, said the hospital supports a nighttime clinic, which remains open until all patients are seen. He said Meacham was previously employed by IHC. IHC declined to comment on Meacham's record.
Dr. Gary M. Cole said that when he started working in Mt. Pleasant three years ago, there was only one doctor and one nurse practitioner in the area.
"Health-care access has improved by leaps and bounds here with not only additional providers in Mt. Pleasant, but new physicians have been added in Ephraim and Manti, both communities just south of Mt. Pleasant," he said. "There are plenty of different providers here in Sanpete County, and there is also a clinic in Fountain Green run by a non-IHC entity."
Vitelli said the area has sufficient providers and hasn't shown a need for more. Day, Nunn and Cole basically run the local hospital and said they work to ensure the needs of the community are met.
The area has a population of more than 23,000, and IHC has only 16 percent of that market. Doctors in the hospital face some of the same problems Meacham did in vying for approval from various insurance panels, and oftentimes they are not approved either.
"We as doctors are all under the same pressures," Day said.
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com