Clinic announces closure

Following the initial announcement on Aug. 7, 2018 that Health Management Services (HMS) LLC. would be taking over management of Platte Valley Medical Clinic (PVMC) with a tentative date of Oct. 1, many wondered when the inevitable transfer of management would take place. It was suspected that, despite the transfer in management, Dr. Bryan Kaiser would see his lease of the building through until the end of the year.

In the Sept. 25 edition of the Rawlins Daily Times, however, a public notice was published announcing the closure of PVMC effective Friday, Oct. 19 and instructing patients to obtain or transfer their medical records.

It is required, by the Wyoming Board of Medicine’s Rules and Regulations Chapter 3, Section 5(b), that any physician licensed by the board publish a notice of closure for four consecutive weeks “in the newspaper of greatest circulation in each county in which the physician practices.”

The notice is also to be published “in a local newspaper that serves the immediate practice area, a notice which shall contain the date of termination, sale or relocation and an address at which the records may be obtained from the physician.” While Kaiser published his notice of closure for the first week in Tuesday’s Times, the Saratoga Sun did not receive any such notice for publication before the Sept. 26 edition was sent to press on Tuesday afternoon.

Under Wyoming Statute 33-26-402 it is stated that the Wyoming Board of Medicine could “refuse to renew, and may revoke, suspend or restrict a license or take other disciplinary action on grounds that include “violation of any board rule or regulation.”

The Saratoga Sun reached out to the Wyoming Board of Medicine Thursday morning via email. Executive Director Kevin Bohnenblust responded and confirmed that, in the event of closing a primary practice, Kaiser should have published the notice in both the Times and the Sun.

“A physician who fails to comply with the rule may be subject to discipline by the Board for, among other things, violation of a Board rule,” said Bohnenblust. “As in all Board of Medicine cases, though, the facts of the specific situation would be considered in determining whether there was a violation of the Wyoming Medical Practice Act and, if there had been one, what level of discipline would be appropriate in the circumstances.”

With Oct. 19 rapidly approaching, current patients of PVMC can request copies of their medical records by sending a written request to:

Platte Valley

Medical Clinic

P.O. Box 648

Saratoga, WY 82331

Patients can also walk into the clinic at 1208 S. River St in Saratoga and obtain an official form to request a copy of their records or that they be transfered to HMS or another physician of their choice. Official forms are also available at Saratoga Care Center, located at 207 Holly Ave.