MVHS suspends operations at Mohawk Medical Office after departure of doctors

MOHAWK, N.Y. — Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) suspended office operations at its Mohawk Medical Office beginning March 20.

MVHS is suspending the operations because the two physicians currently practicing at the office — Dr. Steven Sperling and Dr. Paula Vecchio — are leaving the office, MVHS said in a recent news release.

The office located at 5 Ann St. in Mohawk in Herkimer County, east of Utica.

The MVHS Medical Group has been “working diligently” to recruit primary-care physicians to support the Mohawk office, Dr. Michael Attilio, VP of MVHS Medical Group/Physician Practices, said in the release.

“However, we have been unable to recruit new providers that could start before Drs. Sperling and Vecchio leave. We want to make sure we support the continuous care for our Mohawk patients, they are very important to us. To do that, we need to suspend operations at the Mohawk Medical Office and refer our patients to other primary-care services. We are working with our Mohawk patients to assist them in finding new providers. Recruitment efforts are continuing as we’d like to reopen the office at a future date.”

MVHS also plans to relocate the St. Elizabeth Medical Center lab services to the Herkimer Medical Office as part of this transition.

The health system previously offered those lab services at the Mohawk Medical Office, according to the release.

MVHS sent letters to all of the patients of the Mohawk Medical Office notifying them of the change.

The patients were also provided a list of alternative providers as well as instructions on how to transfer their care to another medical office.

Marla Smith, a family nurse practitioner who currently practices at the Mohawk Medical Office, is also moving. She’s relocating to the South Utica Medical Office at 6 Hampden Place in Utica and is accepting patients at that location, MVHS said.

Recruiting “challenges”

The challenges of recruiting primary-care providers to the area “are not new.”

“There is a shortage of primary-care physicians not only in our region but nationwide,” per the MVHS release.

The Mohawk Valley has a “high number” of designated health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) for primary care as determined by the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, MVHS said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com