An Update on Your Patient Experience at South Shore Medical Center

At South Shore Medical Center, we know that trust and transparency are key to a strong relationship with your care provider.

With that in mind, we wanted to acknowledge some of the challenges patients have experienced in recent months and discuss the steps we’re taking to address those challenges.

Over the past year, several providers have left our practice, with some retiring and others choosing to move on to new opportunities.

We are not alone in this situation – primary care practices across the country are experiencing similar challenges due to a number of factors, including an ongoing physician shortage and the effects of the pandemic.

In response to these departures, we stopped accepting new patients in November 2022.

We remain closed to new patients at this time and are focused on ensuring that current patients have timely access to the care they need and that our providers can better meet the needs of their patients.

We are taking a number of additional steps to improve your patient experience:

• We are actively recruiting new physicians in Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics. We look forward to adding new physicians to our outstanding team.
• We have added a number of advanced practice clinicians (APCs), including nurse practitioners and physician assistants, to our care teams. Many of our APCs also have their own patient panels as primary care providers.
• We have put additional clinical support in place for our virtual care and self-service options, including MyChart E-Visits, to expand access to care and support.
• We have made several operational adjustments aimed at making things easier for our patients, including phone system enhancements and prescription refill improvements.

As we work through the steps described above, we appreciate your patience and value your feedback.

While these steps will not be completed overnight, we’re confident that you will see consistent improvements in the coming weeks.

Our goal is to provide our patients with convenient access to compassionate care, whether for routine well visits or same-day sick visits.

The past several months have not been without their difficulties, but we remain fully committed to achieving that goal on a daily basis.

We look forward to continuing to support you on your health and wellness journey, just as we have since becoming part of South Shore Health in 2015.

Thank you for choosing South Shore Medical Center for your care.