Albany Surgical settles into new North Westover Boulevard location

ALBANY — What was a longtime dream for the physicians at Albany Surgical became a reality last month when they moved into their new building on North Westover Boulevard.

Ground was broken in December 2014 on Albany Surgical’s new offices and ambulatory surgery center at 605 N. Westover Blvd. Completion of the facility represents an investment of more than $6 million and includes approximately 25,000 square feet of space on a 2.4-acre site. The facility opened to patients on April 20.

Albany Surgical’s practitioners are Drs. J. Price Corr Jr., John B. Davis, A. Cullen Richardson III, Christopher C. Smith and Robert Aderhold, with physician’s assistants Robert Brooks, Steven Snipes and Dan West. The facility contains expanded clinical practice and waiting room space, as well as an outpatient surgical suite, allowing for an expanded level of care from when the practice existed at its former 401 W. Fourth Ave. location.

“As a process, it has been a long time in the making, but it has finally come to reality,” Davis, a general surgeon who joined Albany Surgical in 2007 after relocating from Americus, said. “We feel that we are going to be able to offer services with (improvement) of quality of care.”

The new facility has the capability to accommodate several service lines, including the Southern Reflux Center — which offers the LINX procedure that has been performed at the practice for several years — as well as surgical endoscopy, the Albany Weight Loss Center, general surgery and the Vein Clinic.

“The trend is to do more and more procedures as outpatient,” Davis said.

Once state inspections are complete, the surgical suite — consisting of two operating rooms — will be certified for surgeries that have typically been carried out inside a hospital. Once Albany Surgical gets the go-ahead, scoping procedures already on the calendar can begin.

The idea for the new facility originated more than a decade ago after it became apparent to members of the Albany Surgical practice that the trend was to offer more opportunities on an outpatient basis. Once a required Certificate of Need hurdle was overcome, the opportunity was provided to offer such services in a different setting.

“Patients have been very receptive (of the new facilities),” Davis said. “There is more space and more parking. The staff was instrumental in making this happen. There is a lot of support from the community, and there has been (significant) positive feedback.

“I’m happy, and the patients are happy. It is nice having more room and more space.”

A long-term benefit of the flexibility, Davis said, should be more patients staying in their hometown to get the care they need.

“Right now, there are still a lot of procedures leaving the community. We feel it is a very exciting time, and we want to give excellent health care delivery,” he said.

While the center offers its patients new options, there are specific surgeries that cannot be performed outside a hospital setting. The physicians at Albany Surgical will still have a presence at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

“The major surgeries we will still do at the hospital,” Davis said.

A new Albany Surgical physician is expected to come on board in July, and another will follow in about a year.

Aderhold is a general surgeon originally from Moultrie. After college, he returned to Southwest Georgia in 2007 to practice at Surgical Associates of Albany before joining Albany Surgical in 2013. Like Davis, he said he has been pleased with their new facility.

“It is more up to date and more spacious than the previous office,” he said. “The patient flow seems to be facilitated by that. We get a lot of compliments from patients.

“An ambulatory surgery center will give us an opportunity to take care of people more efficiently.”

Tailoring schedules has been easier in the two weeks since the move, although there have been some of the pains usually associated with relocation.

“It is better for patients because it allows for them to get in and out,” Aderhold said. “We are hoping to be able to come up with an efficient and pleasant experience for everybody. I think it will expand what we can do in terms of volume and things we can get done.”

In addition to lower costs for care, the region stands to see an economic benefit from the new surgery center, the surgeon said.

“Access and economy, to a certain extent, the two are connected,” said Aderhold. “(The region) ends up with an economic expansion or a real economic development to the community. It helps more people to be employed and make a living.

“A stronger economy should benefit in a number of ways. We are hoping to contribute to a stronger local economy. I’m ecstatic. It (the facility) is really nice.”