USAMC Participates in Holiday Toy Drive

Rebecca Schaffer, director of accounting at the University of South Alabama Medical Center, poses with some of the toys that were collected for the Holiday Toy Drive Dec.10, 2014. Every year hospital employees gather toys for their annual Holiday Toy Drive for the Dumas Wesley Community Center Toy Store.

The University of South Alabama Medical Center recently assisted the Dumas Wesley Community Center this year with donations for the Community Center's Christmas Toy Store. Toys were collected within departments at the USA Medical Center for transport to the Dumas Wesley Community Center.

Donated toys are sold to pre-qualified Crichton residents at greatly reduced prices. The money generated from the toy sales goes to help other distressed community members with emergency needs.

According to Anita Shirah, human resources manager at the USA Medical Center, the hospital began working with the Dumas Wesley Community Center on the Christmas Toy Store in 2002 and has made the store an annual project in providing toys, books, and accessories.

The annual Christmas Toy Store serves approximately 75 families residing in the Crichton neighborhood and Sybil Smith Family Village, Dumas Wesley’s transitional housing program.

Click here to view more photos from the toy drop-off. 

USA Family Medicine Receives National Recognition for Quality Patient Care

The University of South Alabama Family Medicine Center recently was granted recognition on behalf of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The following clinicians are linked to this recognition: Drs. Robert Duffy, Tangela Atkinson, Michael Linder, Carol Motley, Gerald Liu, Allen Perkins, Shyla Reddy, Ehab Molokhia, and Janet Russell, C.R.N.P.

“Three years ago, the USA Family Medicine Center set out to transform the practice from physician-directed to patient-centered care,” said Dr. Atkinson, assistant professor and medical director in the Department of Family Medicine.  “Achieving patient-centered medical home recognition means we have raised the bar in defining high-quality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and coordinated care focused on patients.”

NCQA Recognition Programs empower employers, health plans, patients and consumers to make informed heath care decisions based on quality. Participation in a NCQA Recognition Program demonstrates that the practice or clinician values quality health care delivery and the latest clinical protocols to ensure that patients receive the best care at the right time.

“It is important for us to demonstrate and document the quality care that we provide. External groups such as the NCQA allow us to do that,” said Dr. Perkins, professor and chair of the USA department of family medicine. “The USA Family Medicine Center’s recognition places us in a select group of less than 300 physicians in Alabama.”

The University of South Alabama Family Medicine’s recognition as a patient-centered medical home (PCMH), which is a way of organizing primary care that emphasizes care coordination and communication to transform primary care into "what patients want it to be." NCQA patient-centered medical home recognition is the most widely-used way to transform primary care practices into medical homes.

The USA Family Medicine Center is part of the USA Physicians Group practice which is comprised of the academic clinical faculty in the USA College of Medicine.

To make an appointment with a physician affiliated with the USA Family Practice Center, call 251-434-3475.

Med School Café - Expert Advice for the Community

Dr. Brian Brocato, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, presented the November Med School Café lecture, “Advanced Reproductive Age.”

Dr. Brocato, who is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, addressed the testing available for the diagnosis of down syndrome and the specific risk to pregnancies as the mother gets older. In addition, discussed what women or families can do prior to conception to ensure a healthy pregnancy.

Watch the video below to view the lecture in its entirety.


November Med School Cafe - Dr. Brian Brocato from USA Health System on Vimeo.

USA Alum Named President of SMA

University of South Alabama Alum Dr. Mark S. Williams was named president of the Southern Medical Association (SMA) for the 2014-2015 year.

Dr. Williams became a member of the Southern Medical Association in 1977. During his time with the association, he has served as chair of the Coordinating Committee on Quality and has represented SMA in various leadership roles including associate councilor from 2007-2013. He is a financial supporter of The Society of 1906 which provides financial support to the Research and Education Endowment Fund designed to provide grants and scholarships for medical students and physicians-in-training.

Dr. Williams received his medical degree from the USA College of Medicine in 1980. He received his master's in business administration from Samford University in 1995, and in 2001 he received his Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law. Dr. Williams became a certified physician executive by the American College of Physician Executives in 2005. He was recently honored with the role of chief physician executive for Tenet Healthcare and Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala. Dr. Williams is a clinical associate professor for the University of Alabama Department of Anesthesiology in Birmingham. He has been an oral examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology for almost 20 years. He also serves on the Council of Medical Service for the Medical Association of the State of Alabama.

Dr. Williams was previously chief medical officer of the North Mississippi Health System based in Tupelo, Miss. He was a member of the Mississippi Hospital Association’s Medicaid Reform Committee and was also a member of Mississippi’s Physician Workforce Committee.

The Southern Medical Association is a non-profit, physician-led, multispecialty medical association dedicated to supporting the health of patients through physician encouragement. SMA is dedicated to supporting physicians as leaders within the healthcare delivery and reform movements. SMA supports physicians with informational and educational programs as that allow physicians to promote for their profession and their patients.