A collaboration between the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Baptist Health Medical Center is proving to be a boon to both hospitals and to patients.
John Dornhoffer, M.D., chair of the department, said Baptist Health reached out to him last year about finding a way to allow the experienced otolaryngology team at UAMS to provide services to Baptist patients who needed access to round-the-clock ENT services.
Dornhoffer said a resulting agreement, after months of negotiations, led to the January opening of a brand-new, spacious clinic on the fourth floor of the free-standing Baptist Health Eye Center. The clinic is easily accessible from Interstate 630 and is staffed solely by UAMS otolaryngology physicians, who report that they have never been busier.
Dornhoffer said that because Baptist has a large network of hospitals, the agreement allows UAMS to “capture a group of patients that we never had before,” dramatically increasing the number of patients seen by the department’s physicians. At the same time, it enables Baptist, a full-service hospital, to provide essential ENT services.
Adrian Williamson III, M.D., an otolaryngologist who spent 30 years in private practice before joining UAMS in August, called it “a win-win situation for everyone.”
“It’s a big undertaking,” he said. “John Dornhoffer is a visionary person, and this was his vision. We’re already bursting at the seams.”
Dornhoffer said the agreement fell into place when Baptist Health offered to build the clinic in its Eye Center tower, located on the campus of its main hospital in Little Rock, and supply it with state-of-the-art equipment selected by UAMS’ otolaryngologists. The equipment is essential to a full-service otolaryngology clinic, Williamson said.
“ENT is very equipment-oriented,” he said. “We need microscopes, endoscopes, audiology hearing booths and a video stroboscopy machine. It’s almost impossible for somebody to start something like that from scratch.”
Williamson said the clinic has room to expand, but, even if it doesn’t, it “will be a huge legacy for Dr. Dornhoffer five to 10 years from now.”
“The clinic provides the same services we provide here on the UAMS campus, but the new clinic provides better accessibility for some patients,” Dornhoffer said. “We want to get five of our physicians working there,” Dornhoffer said. “Most will be general otolaryngologists, and the more complex cases will come to UAMS,” which has a staff of about 35 physicians and doctoral-level researchers.
In addition to Williamson, the clinic is staffed by Anvesh Kompelli, M.D., who completed his ENT residency at UAMS after receiving his medical degree from Louisiana State University Health in Shreveport, Louisiana. A third ENT specialist, Alexa Robbins, M.D., will start in September. She earned her medical degree at UAMS in 2019 and recently completed a fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Dornhoffer said the new clinic is “a really nice space” and that he was thrilled that his department was allowed to oversee the design of the space and the equipment purchases.
“Our long-term goal is to make this a satellite clinic or a third division in this office,” he said.
UAMS otolaryngologists also see patients at Arkansas Children’s and the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Little Rock, as well as at the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic in Conway and at Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale.
“We want all ENT patients in Arkansas to have access to UAMS physicians,” Dornhoffer said.