Practicing Medicine At Gould Medical Group
The strong relationship with Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, Sutter Health and area hospitals gives Gould Medical Group physicians access to modern facilities, advanced technology and ease of practice in a doctor friendly atmosphere. Among the advantages in a Gould practice:
Advanced Technology
Gould care centers are connected with an electronic medical record (EPIC), now in its 7th year. EPIC provides our physicians with access to patient consultations, office visit notes, lab and x-ray information, even from home. It also includes PACS, a filmless picture archiving and communications system that allows Gould radiologists to share digital images and diagnoses electronically between locations.
Education and Research
Part of the mission of Sutter Gould Medical Foundation is to enhance the quality of life and advance medicine through medical research. Gould physicians, in conjunction with Sutter Gould Medical Foundation, conduct a variety of medical research projects to help us achieve that goal. Educational classes are available for patients with diabetes, heart disease and other conditions.
Modern Facilities
Gould physicians practice in modern facilities, soon to include a 132,000 square foot office building at the 600 Coffee Road site to open in January 2009. The Briggsmore Specialty Center, housing general surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology and gastroenterology, opened on the Memorial Hospital grounds in 2006. The 100,000 square foot Stockton Medical Plaza, housing our Stockton primary care physicians, began serving patients in 2005. Additional facilities have been added in Lodi and other Central Valley communities.
Same Day Clinics in Modesto and Turlock provide after hours and weekend medical service for patients with minor or moderate illnesses. All centers are linked with a common communication and patient record system.
The Maino medical library
Sutter Gould Medical Foundation maintains a medical library open to the public and community physicians. In addition to over 2000 medical books and journals, the library has access to internet medical data bases and staff will aid physicians with literature searches.
Maino Community Health Library
Strong hospital relationships
Sutter hospitals are available in Los Banos, Tracy and Modesto. Memorial Medical Center, a Sutter facility in Modesto, is a 400 bed, full service hospital with level II trauma service, helicopter and 18 new operating rooms. Gould physicians staff the 18 member hospitalist service, the radiology department and provide the majority of anesthesia. Sutter Tracy Community Hospital is a full service acute care hospital serving more than 100,000 residents in the tri-Central Valley region. Our Stockton physicians primarily use St. Joseph's Medical Center.
Open Governance
The Gould Medical Group is governed by the Board of Directors whose members are elected by the shareholders for a 3 year term which may be repeated once. The Board selects the Medical Director and President of the group. The Medical Executive Committee is made of department heads and deals with day to day problems. Department chairmen are elected by the department members.
Patient Scheduling
Individual physicians control their own work schedules providing the schedule meets group standard for efficiency and productivity. Most departments have a 4 ½ day work week. Physicians have one or more medical assistants as dictated by patient volume. Scheduled office hours are 8 AM to 5 PM 5 days a week. The Same Day Clinic is open 364 days a year.
Committee Structure
Physicians are encouraged to serve on one or more group committees – utilization review, quality assurance, compensation and others.
Laboratory Services
Gould operates a central laboratory and partners with Memorial Hospital for infrequent or esoteric studies. All reports are entered directly into the electronic medical record (EMR).