A message from Dr. Richard Friend, Dean of the College of Community Health Sciences
As we near the end of 2023 and I look back over the year, I am pleased with what we have accomplished for University Medical Center patients, particularly our efforts to increase access to health care in West Alabama communities.
We expanded our physician workforce during the year at several of our UMC clinics. Dr. Hanna Bowers, a family medicine physician with additional training in obstetrics, joined UMC-Demopolis, along with Dr. Joy Ge, a family medicine physician with additional training in behavioral health. Dr. Ge will also care for patients at UMC in Tuscaloosa.
Dr. Anne-Laura Cook, an internal medicine physician, joined UMC-Northport. The Northport and Tuscaloosa communities have not had a new internist in practice in quite some time. Dr. Stacy Horsely, a family medicine physician and alumnae of our Tuscaloosa Family Medicine Residency who practiced for 19 years in rural Double Springs, Ala., also joined UMC-Northport. And Dr. Tiffany Watson is one of our new family medicine physicians at UMC in Tuscaloosa.
We also added to the ranks of our Capstone Hospitalist Group with the addition of Dr. Afrin Biswas, who is practicing mostly at Northport Medical Center, and Dr. Richard Mosu, who is caring for hospitalized patients at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa.
Capstone Hospitalist Group was established by UMC in partnership with DCH Health System. Physicians and nurse practitioners with the group care for hospitalized patients, providing services that include in-patient care after Emergency Room visits or doctor referrals, continuity of care with patients’ primary-care physicians, and patient consultation.
Also this year, UMC-Livingston became the medical home for the University of West Alabama. The clinic provides primary health-care services for UWA students, as well as university faculty, staff and their families. UWA has a student population of more than 2,300 and employs nearly 600 people.
UMC in Tuscaloosa cares for its own campus community, The University of Alabama. Again this year, UMC, with support from the UA Student Health Center and Pharmacy, Capstone College of Nursing and WellBAMA, led UA’s annual flu shot campaign. Through the campaign, now in its 12th year, UMC works to protect the UA campus community from the flu by making access to flu shots easy and convenient.
From early September until November, flu shots are provided – at no cost and with no health insurance required – at sites across campus, including the Quad, University buildings and student residence halls. Nurses from UMC, the Student Health Center and the Capstone College of Nursing administer the vaccines.
Throughout 2023, we have worked to remodel and refresh our clinic space at UMC in Tuscaloosa. We also expanded our Dr. Bill deShazo Sports Medicine Center, housed within UMC, where top trained sports medicine physicians care for athletes and active individuals from across West Alabama.
Less visible but equally important are the upgrades we have made to our telephone and billing systems. Our telephone system and service were enhanced at UMC in Tuscaloosa, and we launched a way for patients to pay and manage their health-care bills online – easily and securely. This service also allows patients to save their payment and health-care information in a secure digital wallet, and it lets patients view their payment history at any time.
At all of our University Medical Center locations across West Alabama, we want to expand access to care, enrich the patient experience and, ultimately, improve patient health outcomes. In all that we do, we strive always to improve the health of individuals and communities in Alabama.
The College of Community Health Sciences operates University Medical Center, the UA Student Health Center and Pharmacy, Brewer-Porch Children’s Center and Capstone Hospitalist Group.