WESTFIELD – The parent company of two local medical offices has closed due to bankruptcy but apparently the practices will continue to treat patients without interruption.
Calls to the offices in Southwick and Westfield of Hampden County Physician Associates Friday (during the regular business hours reported by the recorded answering message) were answered by a recording which listed the regular business hours of the practices and invited patients seeking to refill a prescription or to schedule an appointment to call back during those business hours.
Persistence allowed a caller to reach an answering service operator who said simply that the practice was then closed and recommended calling again on Monday with non-emergency business.
However, a visit to the College Highway practice found the office open and keeping appointments with patients.
While staff there was unwilling to discuss the HCPA bankruptcy, a staffer said that patients will not be affected.
A spokesperson said that patient appointments will be honored at the usual location. “As a patient you are fine” she said, “you won’t notice anything.”
The HCPA web site (http://hampdencountyphysicians.com) offers a notice on its home page which states “Hampden County Physician Associates is in the process of winding down its business.”
Additional investigation reveals that the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 2 of this year.
The company had reportedly employed 68 health care professionals (including at least 38 physicians) working in 14 offices and one urgent care clinic who served about 55,000 patients.
The posting on the company’s web page states “The physicians at HCPA are presently making arrangements for office space in Hampden County. Many hope to stay at their current location.” The message goes on to say “HCPA’s office locations will be closed to patients as of 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 31, 2014.”
The wording of the message posted on the web site suggests that the document is a letter sent to patients but this writr, who is a patient of a physician who has been practicing at the Southwick HCPA location, did not receive it.
The posted message states “physicians will be on-call this weekend and next week until office arrangements are in place.”
“Your individual physicians will continue to be available for routine questions and concerns. You can contact your doctor through the patient portal at www.hampdencountyphysicians.com, or by calling the number for your usual office. Your call will be routed to our answering service, which will alert your doctor, and he or she will return your call as soon as possible.”
The posting suggests that patients may choose to continue to be treated by their physicians who formerly were employed by HCPA but promises that patients who choose to select a new doctor may “contact your current provider and he or she will make arrangements to transfer your records, or provide you with a copy of your records, upon receipt of your written authorization.”
The message lists the number of the administrative offices for the company in Springfield for questions but, although the recorded answering message offers an operator, an attempt to reach one yielded only an opportunity to leave a message for an operator.
