Chapter 13: Always More to Do
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break point for our practice. Those of us who were entrepreneurially geared had a crisis of conscience and asked, ‘should I just go ahead and get a paycheck from Presbyterian?’ A few people split off and stayed solo, but the majority of our group became the Presbyterian Medical Group.” Over the next decade, Presbyterian Medical Group doubled in size and, in Presbyterian’s centennial year, had 485 practicing physicians in multiple specialties in more than thirty-three locations throughout the state.
Care at Traditional and New Settings Health care, and how to pay for it, was on everybody’s minds after the 1992 presidential elections. First Lady Hillary Clinton put the issue in the national spotlight in 1993–1994 when she chaired a national task force responsible for reforming health care in the United States. Presbyterian watched national developments closely. Managed care at Presbyterian moved forward, the Presbyterian Medical Group grew, and at Presbyterian Hospital, specialty care for the critically ill advanced. Cardiology, pediatrics, women’s services, cancer, and orthopedics became key services. Medical technology changed quickly and medical staff expanded capabilities in the hospital, surgery centers, and their offices. Advances in anesthesia reduced the required recovery time and made it possible for procedures like foot and nose surgery that once required overnight stays to be completed in physician offices. At Presbyterian, a good deal of “outpatient” specialty care started at the Kaseman Hospital campus.
Above: In 1992, Anthony R. Vigil II, MD, began his affiliation with Presbyterian and came to work for the Medical Group in 1998 Presbyterian Healthcare Services Photoarchive
circa 2000
Below: Kaseman Hospital was home to many of Presbyterian’s outpatient specialty care services. Presbyterian Healthcare Services Photoarchive photo by Michael McDermott
2002
Presbyterian Medical Group expanded mostly in primary care but also attracted physicians in specialty service areas like obstetrics and gynecology and rheumatology. Ed Benge was one of the original members of Presbyterian’s rheumatology practice located on the Kaseman campus. Raised in Lovington, New Mexico, Ed’s father was also the town’s pharmacist for decades. Medicine attracted both Ed and his younger brother Bill, who became a cardiologist. In 1990 Ed began practicing with Presbyterian under the Practice Development Agreement arrangement. His group joined Presbyterian Medical Group in 1994. He served on the PHS Board from 1995 to 1998 and became Vice President of Medical Staff Affairs in 2001. “These were times of substantial change, both in terms of the number of
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