Resignations, reappointments taking place on Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital staff

ALBANY — Aside from several physicians looking to gain privileges at the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, multiple others are resigning or retiring from their posts or seeking reappointment, the latest credentials report available from the hospital shows.

The most recent report, which went before the Professional Affairs Committee on Monday, also went before the Credentials and Bylaws Committee on Nov. 24, and the Medical Executive Committee on Dec. 2. It lists six physicians and three midlevel providers looking to come onboard, 11 physicians and midlevels resigning or retiring and a combined total of 187 physicians and midlevels seeking their two-year reappointment.

The prospective physicians were Drs. Cheryl Clark, David Purselle, Richard Rothfleisch, Virender Saini, Garrett Ward and Samuel Williams. Clark, Rothfleisch and Saini are looking to go into the Department of Adult Critical Care, Purselle will potentially be serving as psychiatrist, Ward a radiologist and Williams will be in the Department of Medicine, the report shows.

The midlevel providers hoping to be onboarded are Rachel Butler, Eric Henderson and Kate Mueller. Each require sponsorship of a physician, so Butler will be sponsored by Dr. Raja Sappati at Phoebe Gastroenterology, Henderson by internist Dr. Bernard Scoggins at Albany Area Primary Health Care and Mueller by Dr. Dellice Dickhaus in critical care.

The resignations include Drs. Robert Eilers, Antonio Lourenco, Yong Park, Ken Kalassian, Wajid Siddiqui, Curtis Quinn, LaTai Grant Brown, Ashli Alexander and nurse practitioners Leah Webb and Lisa Graves. Eilers and Lourenco were temporarily filling in for someone else, Park was a serving as a consulting pediatric neurologist and Kalassian was with the critical care department. Siddiqui, an infectious disease specialist, is resigning effective Feb. 15, and Quinn, cardiothoracic surgeon brought on last year, is resigning effective Dec. 31, 2015, the report says.

Dr. Phillip Roberts, the namesake for the pavilion in the Phoebe Cancer Center who had been serving cancer patients in the region for more than three decades, is listed on the retirements and has been invited to join the emeritus staff, the report says.

The last of the physicians resigning, Brown and Alexander, are resigning effective Dec. 24 and Dec. 31, respectively. Brown is with Phoebe Neurology Associates, and Alexander is with Phoebe Palliative Care.

To remain in good standing at Phoebe, physicians and midlevel providers are expected to undergo the credentialing process every two years. The most recent report lists medical staff members in anesthesiology, family medicine, emergency medicine, pathology, the Department of Medicine, critical care, pediatrics, podiatry, radiology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, urology, wound care and otolaryngology.

The Department of Medicine had the largest representation with 43 physicians and one midlevel provider seeking reappointment, the report shows.

The medical staff at Phoebe primarily takes on the role of looking into a physician applicants’ qualifications, in turn making a recommendation to the Professional Affairs Committee before the hospital’s full board makes a final decision. The full board usually meets on the first Wednesday of the month.