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Physician Owned Hospitals

I have privileges and work in two hospitals primarily. One is The Methodist Hospital and the other is Foundation Surgical Hospital. It is important that I disclose to you that I have about a 2% ownership interest in the Foundation Surgical Hospital. My recommendation as to which hospital we use is based on the patient's medical conditions and on insurance issues. However, if the patient chooses me as their surgeon, they are also free to choose the hospital.

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The reason I choose to invest in Foundation Surgical Hospital was based on my frustration with large hospital chains. I have worked in many of the large corporate hospitals over the years. Patients have complained regularly that the food was poor, the nurses were not attentive and did not respond to the call bell. I have regularly received complaints of medications not being given on a regular basis. Complication of surgery such as infection, in some instances have been an issue and may be related simply to the large size of the hospital and the variety of medical conditions being treated in the facility. The 23 orthopaedists and neurosurgeons who came together to build the Foundation Hospital share this frustration and sought as the patients ultimate advocate to build a facility which was simply better. The hospital has been open only three years, but received last year the NUMBER 1 Ranking of hospitals in the Houston area! At the time of this writing each physician has invested or borrowed about a million dollars, the hospital is successful and profiting, but the physician owners have not yet received reported income. The following article from THE SENIOR CENTER FOR HEATH AND SECURITY summarizes well the status of specialty and physician owned hospitals.

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