Area internist to close practice here Nov. 21, to become hospitalist at Oconee

Mark S. Wagner, MD, who specializes in internal medicine, announced this week he plans to close his practice here next month and become a hospitalist at Oconee Medical Center in Seneca, SC.

Wagner, who opened Wagner Medical Associates with his wife Debra four years ago, will be employed by the 150-bed South Carolina hospital and will see only patients that are hospitalized. Debra A. Wagner, MD, who is also an internist, plans to continue her part-time practice here in women’s health.

The couple and their triplets will eventually to move to their lake home in nearby Salem, SC, which is within commuting distance to both hospitals.

“We understand Dr. Wagner’s decision to leave us, but we are nevertheless very sorry to see him go. He has been a key member of our primary care medical community, but more than that he has played an important leadership role for the hospital over the last several years,” said hospital President and CEO Ken Shull. “As chief of the Medical Staff two years ago, and even since rotating out of that post, Dr. Wagner’s wisdom, leadership, and loyalty to the hospital have been invaluable during what was a difficult period. He has continued to play a major role in our efforts to recruit new physicians to the area.”

Shull said recruitment efforts are already underway to find a replacement primary care physician to serve the Highlands community. Preferably, the hospital would like to find another internal medicine physician, but Shull said the number of internists who want to have a patient-based practice is declining, in part because many are becoming hospitalists. A hospitalist sees only those patients who are admitted to a hospital, temporarily taking over the patient’s care from their regular primary care physician.

Wagner said the decision to take the position at Oconee was a difficult one that involved several factors.

“I have come to this decision with a heavy heart and after much hand wringing,” Wagner said in a letter released earlier this week. “The Highlands community and Highlands-Cashiers Hospital have been nothing but generous, kind, and supportive during the four years I have been here. Unfortunately, the winter population drops off to such an extent that a full-time internal medicine practice is not financially feasible.”

Other factors in the decision involved having a schedule that will allow him to spend more time with his family and not having to worry about who will take care of his patients when he is on vacation or away visiting family. He will be one of approximately eight other hospitalists, all of whom work regular shifts without having to take call.

Shull said Wagner’s decision to leave private practice and become a hospitalist is indicative of a major trend occurring all across in the nation, in part driven by mounting financial pressures on independent physicians in private practice. That trend is making it harder to recruit internal medicine physicians, Shull said. Compounding the problem is that significantly fewer medical school graduates are deciding to opt for careers as internists in private practice. That number is just 2 percent.

Shull said it may be easier to recruit family practice physicians (family physicians treat people of all ages, while internists treat only adults). In addition to recruiting a physician to replace Wagner, the hospital is also looking for two additional primary care physicians – one to replace Mark Heffington in Cashiers, and another to accommodate the growth in population that is occurring in southern Jackson County and the Sapphire area in neighboring Transylvania County.

“We hope to have good news on that front in the coming months,” Shull said.