ISABELLE DILLS Napa Valley Register | Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2012 12:15 am |

Dr. Joyce Colton-House had just finished her medical residency in June 2010 when she saw a job posting with Queen of the Valley Medical Associates. Like many of her peers, Colton-House wanted to avoid the complications of going into private practice.

By joining the new Napa medical group, Colton-House, an ear, nose and throat doctor, would be free of administrative responsibilities, like billing insurance companies and hiring staff.

I went to medical school, not business school, Colton-House said. I really wanted to focus on patient care.

Queen of the Valley Medical Associates began two years ago to attract more physicians to the Napa Valley and keep them practicing locally, said Walt Mickens, CEO of Queen of the Valley Medical Center. Currently, the group has nine physicians.

Physicians employed by the medical group provide outpatient and hospital-based services at facilities operated by Queen of the Valley, but the hospital does not manage the medical group.

All administrative responsibilities are handled by St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, a medical practice foundation operated by the St. Joseph Health System, to which Queen of the Valley Medical Center belongs.

The medical group uses fully electronic medical records, including physician notes, billing information and prescription orders, allowing the physicians within Heritage and Queen of the Valley Medical Associates to communicate and share information electronically, Queen spokeswoman Vanessa deGier said.

Before the medical group formed, the most viable local option for physicians was to join the not-for-profit Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser operates a closed-system model, offering both health coverage and medical care through its own clinics and hospitals.

Unlike most private practice physicians who operate on fee-for-service contracts, Permanente doctors are given fixed salaries.

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Queen of the Valley supports new medical group