Gary Greensweig

Following residency at the University of Arizona I moved to Santa Rosa, California. I joined a then 62-year-old female physician who had practiced in the community for nearly 40 years. We practiced together for a few years and then she suddenly retired because of health reasons. She was a pioneer physician and recently passed away at age 94. We were privileged and took special interest in caring for members of the South East Asian Refugee Community in the early 1980s as they arrived from Viet Nam, Laos, and Thailand. I still see many of these patients and their children and grand children today. In the years after my first partner retired I recruited approximately one physician per year to join our practice until we were 8 physicians. We worked closely with and trained family nurse practitioners as well. In 1994 we merged our practice with other primary care practices in Santa Rosa. We were initially 18 physicians and ultimately grew to approximately 36 in the ensuing 4 years. I was the managing partner for the group while maintaining a full practice which included an active OB and peds practice. In 1998 our practice partnered with our local hospital to establish a Medical Practice Foundation. Our practice continued to grow to approximately 65 physicians. After nearly 20 years of very full time practice I became the CEO of the Medical Practice Foundation and ultimately the Chief Medical Officer of the St. Joseph Health System in Sonoma County. For the past 13 years I have maintained a small clinical practice working approximately _ day per week. In the last 3 years I have also worked as an inpatient hospitalist one night per month. We continue to be challenged by the changing face of health care and its impact on the physician community and primary care community.