UBMD combines entities to bolster primary care

One of Western New York’s largest medical groups is making a move that it says will “enhance primary care offerings” in the region.

UBMD Physicians’ Group has launched UBMD Primary Care, which combines UBMD Family Medicine and the Division of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics of UBMD Internal Medicine. 

“UBMD Primary Care is taking patient-centered care to the next level,” said Dr. Allison Brashear, president and CEO of UBMD Physicians’ Group and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo.

“By uniting UBMD Family Medicine and the Division of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, we’re building on the trusted foundation of primary care our patients have known and loved,” she said. This streamlined model strengthens our ability to offer expanded services, easier access to providers and a seamless experience for all ages.”

The combination will benefit patients, the organization said, by bringing together expertise that was previously separate. Further, the change allows UBMD Primary Care to expand its insurance offerings and cover more people needing primary care. The integration also sets the practice plan up for future growth and expansion in the region.

“Under the name UBMD Primary Care, we are making ourselves more accessible to those in need of our services,” said Dr. Andrea Manyon, president and CEO of UBMD Primary Care and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Jacobs School.

“Family Medicine in our previous name represented the medical specialty in which we trained to provide primary care,” she said. “By changing the name, not only do we better incorporate our care partners from the Division of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, we provide clarity about the role we play in the health of our community.”

The transition is already underway. 

In the first week of January, the UBMD Primary Care team started seeing patients at the UBMD Outpatient Center at the Conventus building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. In addition, UBMD Family Medicine’s other locations – on Hopkins Road in Amherst and on Sheridan Drive in the Town of Tonawanda – will transition to providing care as UBMD Primary Care “in the coming months,” the organization said.

Those three sites provide care to patients across all ages, from pediatrics to geriatrics.

“Primary care allows for long-term care and long-term health by establishing the relationship that looks at the whole patient,” said Dr. Jennifer Abeles, site medical director for UBMD Primary Care. “Our primary care providers work with patients to identify proper screening models for their individual needs. When issues are identified early, they are usually much easier to treat.”

UBMD Physicians’ Group said doctors in the Division of Addiction Medicine in UBMD Family Medicine also will transition to UBMD Primary Care. Those physicians treat medical conditions related to or worsened by addiction.

UBMD Primary Care is one of the many practice plans within UBMD Physicians’ Group, which has more than 500 doctors across 18 medical specialties. The group’s physicians are board-certified, and are faculty members at the Jacobs School – for instance, UBMD Primary Care’s doctors teach medical students and residents in the Department of Family Medicine or the Department of Medicine.

With the launch of UBMD Primary Care, Manyon said medical students and residents should also benefit by seeing the “different approaches to providing whole-person care to deliver a better primary care experience.”

“They will also gain more experience in interprofessional collaboration by being enmeshed with primary care providers from different training backgrounds,” Manyon said. “We hope that by seeing primary care delivered in this collaborative manner, our trainees will be encouraged to pursue primary care careers in Western New York.”

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UB marks $3.3 million renovation of dental clinic

Let’s stick with UB news, but switch gears to its School of Dental Medicine.

The dental school late last year cut the ribbon on its renovated first-floor clinic in Squire Hall on South Campus.

The $3.31 million, 11,400-square-foot renovated clinic opened in August following 14 months of construction, marking the first major renovation of the clinic since it opened in 1986.

The clinic contains 58 dental operatories that offer prosthodontics, periodontics, advanced education in general dentistry and endodontics post-graduate programs. Updates include advanced diagnostic imaging rooms and clinical support labs and offices.

UB’s dental school sees more than 14,000 patient visits every year. The clinic is the largest dental Medicaid provider in Western New York, serving as a safety net for many residents with little or no access to dental care.

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