Excellent Opportunity To Take Over A Plastic Surgery Private Practice

After 31 years of solo private practice, I want to hand the reins to a plastic surgeon with an independent and entrepreneurial spirit. The opportunity is perfect for a graduating resident or a mature surgeon looking to get away from a stressful big-city practice and provide plastic surgery care in a calm and charming southeastern town. Although it has been my preference to stay small and practice solo, the area can easily support a partner if desired. An interest in breast reconstruction is essential to continue to provide this service to the patients in the community and to work with the excellent general surgeons in town. There is plenty of cosmetic surgery to be performed in whatever area of interest you have. My interest was cosmetic breast and body work.

1206 Somerville Road, Decatur, AL

256-340-5188

3,000 Sq. Ft. Office

Efficient and low overhead space designed for a plastic surgery practice.

Walking distance to the hospital. Pull-up front parking for patients.

Excellent hospital facilities, care, and support.

Convenient Office Location

Decatur Morgan Hospital

About The Practice

Introduction
My name is Dr. Gordon Telepun, and I am seeking an independent-minded plastic surgeon with an entrepreneurial spirit and an enthusiasm for the rewarding challenges of running a private practice in a relatively small town to assume my solo plastic surgery practice.

I completed five years of general surgery at the University of Maryland Hospital, two years of plastic surgery at the Medical College of Virginia, and then did a one-year fellowship with Dr. Patrick Maxwell at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, focusing on breast reconstruction. During my fellowship in Nashville, I became aware of Decatur General Hospital in Decatur, Alabama. I learned that it had excellent general surgeons and outstanding medical and radiation oncology but no plastic surgery service to provide breast reconstruction to the community. After researching more about life in the Tennessee Valley area, I knew it was an opportunity to start a private practice and bring plastic surgery to the hospital. I started the plastic surgery division at Decatur General Hospital in the Summer of 1993 after finishing my fellowship with Dr. Maxwell.

My Practice
I have been in solo private practice in Decatur for 31 years and the only plastic surgeon, except for when the smaller hospital across town recruited a plastic surgeon who stayed for about three years. My patients come from the entire north and northwestern section of Alabama; Huntsville to Florence, and Cullman to southern Tennessee. I am honored to provide services for the military community from Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. There is a well-qualified otolaryngologist in the city who is a facial plastic surgeon. There is also a well-trained oral surgeon. It has been an amazingly gratifying place to practice.

When you practice in the same town for 31 years, provide quality surgical care, have an excellent reputation, and have a wonderful staff, your practice becomes self-sufficient based on continued patient referrals alone. Other than maintaining a website, I have zero advertising budget and no presence on social media. Presently, I limit my practice, concentrating only on breast surgery and body contouring surgery, and I have more work than I can do.

There is tremendous room for growth just by offering facial cosmetic surgery again and working to build up the Botox and filler aspect of the practice. However, a surgeon practicing here must enjoy and be excellent with breast reconstruction. In a community hospital, this would involve mainly expander and implant reconstructions, latissimus dorsi flaps, and an occasional pedicled TRAM flap. Bringing microvascular breast reconstruction techniques to this hospital may be possible but would need to be discussed with the administration.

I understand that it would be difficult to find a person who wants to practice solo for 31 years, as I have done, so I want to emphasize that the practice could easily be ready for a partner in a year or two.

My Goal
I don't look at this transition as "selling" my practice for a large profit. My goal is to "pass the reins" to another surgeon who can continue to provide plastic surgery to the community. Of course, the standard protocol for practice transitions like this would involve some value for the active charts and the inventory of clinical supplies. I have no expensive cosmetic devices to sell or to absorb the lease. My goal is to lease my 3,000-square-foot building completely furnished at market value. It is an opportunity to walk into a facility with design features specifically for a plastic surgeon and be busy practicing immediately. Transferring my present phone numbers to the new surgeon's phone service would mean the phones would be ringing with new patients on day one.

The new surgeon's only significant decision and capital expense would be buying and installing an EMR program with the necessary computer hardware. Then, in addition to the lease payment, there would be monthly expenses for staff salaries, EMR support, phone service, internet, utilities, and medical waste disposal. Other expenses would include accounting, licensing, and CME maintenance, etc.

The Hospital
The hospital, now called Decatur Morgan Hospital, has rebounded well with post-Covid staffing. I have excellent support from the outpatient surgery department, which I use daily. Unfortunately, two nurses who worked with me and had a combined plastic surgery experience of about 45 years recently retired, so I have been training and continue to train new people for the plastic surgery team in the operating room. Less than five percent of my cases require admission to the hospital, and when I need that, I find the floor nursing care to be high quality.

I care for breast cancer patients with five excellent general surgeons who are partners in the group in town. Located on the hospital campus is Alliance Cancer Care providing radiation therapy for breast cancer patients. Also, located on the hospital campus is Clearview Cancer Institute providing medical oncology. The anesthesia department has five outstanding anesthesiologists and a solid group of CRNAs.

I have two dedicated plastic surgery outpatient rooms that are more private due to the location of walls and glassed entries instead of just curtains. I have a dedicated operating room. My block scheduled surgery times are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 7:30 to 2:30 and Thursday from 7:30 to 11:30. I also have alternate Friday mornings from 7:30 to 11:30. The hospital has plans to add another operating room in the future. The hospital owns a nearby ambulatory surgery center for more operating room time, although I don't utilize it.

The hospital has a busy emergency room but it is not a trauma center. All significant trauma patients in the area are transported to Huntsville Hospital. The established emergency room referral patterns are that nasal fractures are referred to otolaryngology, other facial fractures are directed to oral surgeons, and hand surgery is referred to orthopedic surgeons. We don't do burn admissions, and the hospital and I don't have the capacity to care for pressure-sore patients. So, emergency room calls for a plastic surgeon are limited to facial lacerations from falls or dog bites, and they are very low volume. The EMTALA regulations will require plastic surgery coverage to the emergency room an average of every third night or third week. The surgeon can determine the schedule.

My Office Building
I renovated my office building with a plastic surgery practice in mind. The two main exam rooms are large enough to have a small table and chairs in addition to the exam table. The patient's consultation can be done comfortably with the patient and family members in the room before the exam. The two main exam rooms open into an adjacent dedicated photography room, allowing consistent preop and postop images with efficiency, patient convenience, and privacy. The larger third exam room is for minor procedures and postoperative care, such as dressing changes and drain removal. A 220-volt outlet is available in the procedure room for equipment that needs that power.

Postoperative cosmetic patients have a parking space and a small waiting room at the rear of the building, using the rear entrance for their privacy.

The reception area and the front waiting room facilitate immediate greeting by the staff, have an efficient open design, and permit privacy. The reception area has design features and cabinetry designed to enable patient registration and checkout.

Offices in the front and the rear of the building are equally suitable for physicians' offices, and the office manager can use the office in the center of the building. The nurse's station is open and adjacent to the reception area, the clinical area, and the central office to allow ease of communication and patient flow.

There is a standing workstation and a small dictation room in the vicinity of the nurse's station and the checkout area for the surgeon to do charting after seeing patients. This location allows for communication and improves patient care and efficiency.

Other building features include a staff kitchen with a staff bathroom and a housekeeping utility closet. There is a dedicated conference room for staff meetings, educational presentations, and meetings with industry representatives. A closet in the rear of the building is used for storing red bag medical waste in between scheduled pick-ups.

Heating and cooling is divided into two zones, one for the clinical area and the second for the clerical areas. The hot water is on a circulating pump, so hot water is delivered to the exam room sinks quickly. Bright and energy-efficient LED light fixtures have been installed. There is a new NEC PBX phone system.

Patients appreciate the convenience of direct pull-up parking and the large covered awning over the front entrance. There is parking for three staff cars in the rear of the building. The surgeons can park at the office and walk back and forth to the hospital. There is extra parking in the hospital parking lot adjacent to the rear of the building.

Two Adjacent Buildings
For surgeons who have a spouse who is a physician or runs another business requiring office space, I also own the building next door, 1208 Somerville Road. It is a 1,425-square-foot building that is perfect as a clinical or clerical office building. The hospital is leasing the building from me currently, but it could be made available in the future.

Summary
This is an opportunity for one or two plastic surgeons to begin a busy private practice. The hospital is not interested in hiring a plastic surgeon as an employed position. However, they desire to keep this vital service at the hospital, so they will assist in ways that are possible for them to do so.

Plastic surgeons interested in assuming a "turn-key" practice opportunity with minimal effort and low startup costs should call my office. My staff will take your contact information, and we can have a phone conversation where I will happily share more details about the opportunity. We will arrange an initial visit to discuss things in person if you are interested.

If you prefer to speak with a contact at Decatur Morgan Hospital first, the physician recruiter is Cheyenne Sanchez, cheyenne.sanchez@dmhnet.org 256-973-2597.

Thank you,
Gordon Telepun, MD
1206 Somerville Road
Decatur, Al 35061

256-340-5188

Decatur Plastic Surgery Picture Gallery

Ultimate Convenience for a Private Practice Plastic Surgery Situation

3,000 Sq. Ft Office

273 Bed Main Hospital

Ambulatory Surgery Center

Alliance Cancer Care (Radiation Oncology on the Hospital Campus)

Clearview Cancer Institute (Medical Oncology on the Hospital Campus)

Hospital Facilities (Private Outpatient Room and Operating Room)

Location

In the heart of the Tennessee River Valley. An amazing area for sportsmen and boating. Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail for golfers. The Bankhead Forest for hiking. Next to the "Rocket City," Huntsville, Alabama.