San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
New Northwest Medical Center Showcases 5-Star Care from Gonzaba Medical Group
For nearly 60 years, Dr. Bill Gonzaba has been a central figure in positively changing the way family practice medicine is delivered in San Antonio.
In May 2018, that spirit of transformation in creating the healthcare model of the future arrives in western Bexar County with the grand opening of the state-of-the-art Gonzaba Northwest Medical Center.
The new $10 million medical complex, just off Loop 410 on Culebra Road, is focused on comprehensive care for seniors all under one roof, with urgent care services, radiology, physical therapy and rehabilitation, and specialty care available for all ages in the community.
Gonzaba’s three urgent care centers are the only San Antonio-based services to achieve accreditation and The Gold Seal from The
Joint Commission. Their commitment to quality healthcare is exhibited throughout the organization, as Gonzaba Medical Group is one of only 5% of medical groups to achieve 4.89% in 5 Star quality ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care nationally.
Most importantly, Gonzaba Medical
Group delivers that quality in a team-based, collaborative environment at the lowest cost, which has earned it’s designation as a Patientcentered Medical Home through the NCQA.
The journey to this value-based care for the Gonzaba Medical Group began early in Dr. Bill’s medical practice, nearly 60 years ago. As a young physician he noticed what he believed was a dangerous trend toward physicians spending less and less time with patients who were seeking care for more and more complex conditions.
“In my mind, in my heart, I felt there was a great need to find a way to spend more time with those patients who had increasing needs,” says Dr. Bill. “We believe every patient should be treated like family, como familia, because that is the care they deserve.”
This same standard of care, along with a comprehensive set of services, will be one of the defining characteristics of the new Northwest Medical Center.
“Como familia, like family, has long been the driving force on which we built our medical practice,” says Dr. Bill. “When someone seeks medical care they come to us with their hearts in their hands. This is the ultimate act of trust. We have an obligation to meet that trust with the best we have to offer, every day. That is the Gonzaba way, and the Gonzaba difference.”
The Gonzaba Northwest Medical Center clearly honors that trust through its large investment in brand new medical facilities to serve the people of the surrounding communities. Gonzaba Medical Group currently has three comprehensive medical centers – the Northwest, the Main Medical Center on Pleasanton Road serving south San Antonio, and the Woodlawn Medical Center serving surrounding neighborhoods in the Woodlawn Lake area.
In addition, the Gonzaba Medical Group has four additional primary care clinic locations throughout the city – Southeast on the city’s southside near Fair Avenue and New Braunfels; Castle Hills on Blanco Road inside 410 loop; Guadalupe near the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center; and, Downtown, next to Metropolitan Methodist hospital.
These seven locations provide points of easy access to quality comprehensive care for patients right in their own neighborhoods.
Dr. Bill believes the primary care physician should be the doctor who deeply understands the patient and orchestrates all care from ancillary services and specialists. This not only cuts down on duplication and waste in medical care procedures and costs, but it is the model that is best for the patients.
The Northwest Medical Center , along with all Gonzaba clinics, will serve as the medical home for patients where the physicians and the staff take the time to really get to know the patients, understand what they were feeling, and focus on their unique medical conditions on a personalized basis. The physician is empowered as the leader of the medical home to direct all aspects of team-based care. And, most importantly, all patients are treated como familia, like family.
“I grew up on the southside of San Antonio,” says Dr. Bill. “We were a family of modest means, as were most of the southside families, but we lived in a community that celebrated life and cared about each other. Although I did not really realize it at the time, growing up in the southside of San Antonio created the foundational values that would guide me in my later years. After becoming a doctor, I wanted to come back to this community to bring the best possible medical care to people who deserve the best.”
What started as a small clinic on the southside of San Antonio nearly 60 years ago is now one of the largest and most respected health care models in the nation, still independent, founded and still led by physicians.
The new Northwest Medical Center is the latest demonstration of the commitment Dr. Bill and his family have made to San Antonio and its surrounding communities.
“Our Gonzaba Northwest Medical Center is truly state-of-the-art, offering the best that modern medicine has to offer, with physicians and staff who treat our patients like family,” says Dr. Bill. “We have more than 600 employees, including 18, 5-star medical providers who create a continuum of care throughout the city that has been nationally recognized for its quality and service.”
For those turning 65 or older, the opportunity to choose a Gonzaba physician for personal medical care is available through Medicare Advantage health plans offered by Amerigroup and United Healthcare.