From left, Sarah Heenan, director of the Nash Heart Center; Dr. Carlos Espinoza, cardiologist; Dr. Michael Yeung, medical director of Cardiology; Lee Isley, CEO of Nash UNC Health Care; Dr. Paul Bondy, president of Boice-Willis Clinic; Dr. Michael Holland, immediate past-president of Boice-Willis Clinic; Dr. Sudhir Prasada, cardiologist; and Phyllis Hayes, adult nurse practitioner.
Partnership Forged for Cardiology Care
By Amelia Harper, Staff Writer
The Rocky Mount Telegram
Boice-Willis cardiology providers will become a part of UNC Cardiology at Nash beginning May 1, though patients will still see their physicians at their current locations.
Nash UNC Health Care announced in a press release that Boice-Willis Clinic and Nash UNC Health Care are combining cardiology resources to better serve the community’s cardiology needs. Dr. Sudhir Prasada and adult Nurse Practitioner Phyllis Hayes, who are currently Boice-Willis cardiology providers, will join forces with UNC Cardiology but will continue their daily clinical practice at their same location at the Rocky Mount Medical Park. They will offer procedural services at Nash UNC Health Care.
Dr. Paul Bondy, president of Boice-Willis Clinic, said the move will strengthen the relationship between the two entities.
“The two oldest and largest medical care providers in our community are working together with a renewed spirit of community caregiver team-building to deliver coordinated and state-of-the-art heart care in our service area,” Bondy said. “This approach allows UNC Cardiology at Nash to meet patients’ cardiology needs where they are already comfortable doing so, at their local primary care provider’s office. This collaboration also allows Dr. Prasada to continue and expand his clinical offerings.”
Prasada said the move will improve the services offered to his patients.
“Nash UNC Health Care and Boice-Willis Clinic working together better serve our community’s cardiology needs,” Prasada said in the release. “UNC Cardiology provides great resources and benefits to both patients and physicians, helping us continue to improve the medical care we provide to this community.”
Dr. Martha Chesnutt, executive physician of Boice-Willis Clinic, said that patients of Boice-Willis Cardiology should soon be receiving letters explaining the changes.
“We have mailed letters to our cardiology patients explaining the new relationship and that the only thing that has changed is the practice phone number,” Chesnutt said in the release. “I am looking forward to a closer collaboration between Boice-Willis Clinic and Nash UNC Health Care to expand cardiology services in the community. Both groups provide high-quality, patient-centered care. Together, we will be able to grow services offered and create a team of providers to meet the needs of our community.”
Dr. Michael Yeung, medical director of UNC Cardiology at Nash noted that the new relationship will offer expanded services to the community.
“We are currently expanding services such as opening a heart failure clinic as well as providing support services for pacemakers and long-term cardiac monitoring devices,” Yeung said. “Together, we now have a whole team of cardiologists that have interests in heart attacks, minimally invasive valve interventions, electrical abnormalities, peripheral vascular disease and heart failure. We look forward to working even more closely with Dr. Prasada and the providers at Boice-Willis Clinic to deliver comprehensive cardiology care in our community. We believe that working together is the right step forward for the community of Rocky Mount.”
The collaboration also demonstrates the stronger relationship between the hospital and the area’s largest multi-specialty medical practice, said L. Lee Isley, president and CEO of Nash UNC Health Care.
“We are excited that we’ve been able to build stronger relationships with Boice-Willis Clinic in order to improve the holistic approach to patient care in our community,” Isley said in the release. “This type of collaboration allows for a higher level of coordination of care between the hospital and their cardiology and primary care providers. Having a unified team of cardiologists in our community allows us to further invest and specialize in key heart services our community needs.”
