BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WLOS) — Hundreds of patients in Black Mountain and Old Fort have to find new physicians after the medical practice, Family Care of Black Mountain/Old Fort, closes, in part, due to Helene.
According to the medical practice’s website, it’s closing on Oct. 31.
Raleigh Durham Medical Group owns the practice. An individual responding to the group’s main number confirmed “patient volume could not support the practice expenses.”
“I’ve been going there for over 30 years,” said Elizabeth Collins, a patient. “Actually, it was a shock.”
Dr. Drew Schnyder, the primary physician at Family Care, told News 13 the following about the closures both in Black Mountain and Old Fort.
“I feel heartbroken we have to close the practice due to income loss,” said Schnyder. “We’ve been losing patients since the hurricane. People moved away or transferred. Our patient level was 1,200 a month. After Helene, it dropped to 900. Our management group pulled out. They gave us a 30-day notice.”
Dr. Bill Hathaway, Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) CEO, spoke with News 13 about the dynamics of small practices.
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Looking from the outside, Hathaway said the equation for running them involves patient numbers and practice costs. He said the days of locally owned small practices are few and far between. He wasn’t surprised to hear that a Raleigh group owned the practice and decided to close it.
“We’ve seen a significant shift even pre-Helene away from independent primary care practices,” Hathaway said. “Towards physicians being employed by health systems or otherwise employed. Those trends have been going on for five or ten years.”
Hathaway has worked in the Asheville medical field for decades, having come from Mission, where he served as chief medical officer.
“I suspect it’s the case that they were on a critical margin that depended on seeing a certain number of patients per month to see the finances work out. When they had a change in population, the margins weren’t there and tough decisions were made by someone else,” Hathaway said. “If you take the exacerbating effect of the challenges on the entire community and put it on a small medical practice that may be struggling because of high overhead and high costs, with a subsequent loss of patients, this doesn’t surprise me at all to see this.”
Next to the Family Care medical offices on old US Highway 70 in Black Mountain is a holistic practice office where Dr. Kirsten West works as a holistic health provider. She said there were often patient referrals between the practices. She’s aware Family Care next door is closing.
“We’re seeing a lot of people scrambling to see where their primary health is going to be,” said West.
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She said in her own practice, after Helene, patients have bought gift cards to cover costs for other patients in her practice.
“They’ve actually stepped up and donated to provide money care for other patients,” said West.
Across Black Mountain, the community and its people continue to move forward from Helene. Cheryl Hyde, Black Mountain’s Chamber of Commerce Director, said tourists are coming, but there’s still an issue she’s heard from local merchants.
“They aren’t spending as much money as they did,” said Hyde. “But we are happy to see them. And there is strong resolve. All of our shopkeepers are local, all of the people who work in the shops are locals and so it does affect the whole economy.”
Hyde was aware that the medical practice was closing, saying she’s seen patients posting on Facebook the past few weeks asking for recommendations on new physicians.
