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Kaweah Health partners with Keck Medicine of USC to enhance urology services

To better serve patients in Tulare County, where a recent community needs assessment found that urology services are severely lacking, Kaweah Health and Keck Medicine of USC have collaborated to open a urology clinic in downtown Visalia.

Kaweah Health is running the downtown Visalia clinic in coordination with Inderbir S. Gill, M.D., executive director of USC Urology, part of Keck Medicine, and chair and distinguished professor of urology at Keck School of Medicine of USC. The clinic, located one block west of Kaweah Health Medical Center, is providing patients in the region with access to a world-renowned urology program that is currently ranked in the top 10 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Additional Keck Medicine urologists at the clinic will include: Shilo Rosenberg, M.D., Gerhard Fuchs, M.D., David Alan Ginsberg, M.D., Jeffrey Loh-Doyle, M.D., and Jamal A. Nabhani, M.D. Keck Medicine urologists will practice alongside local urologists Joseph Ford, D.O., Tu-Hi Hong, M.D., and Marty Prah, M.D., to ensure that Kaweah Health Medical Center patients have improved, on-call access to care.

“Working alongside the Kaweah Health system enables us to deliver preeminent urology care at a convenient location, lowering geographical barriers to access for these patients,” said Dr. Gill, an internationally recognized leader in the field of robotic and laparoscopic surgery for urologic cancers. “We are thrilled to work alongside our esteemed medical colleagues and our already strong local urology colleagues at Kaweah Health to expand the spectrum of available services for this community.”

Urology services are in high demand in the Central Valley. A recent community needs study conducted by the Coker Group found that while there should be 11 urologists in Tulare County to adequately serve the population, there are only four. Those who have Medi-Cal, which is 55 percent of the population in Tulare County, have virtually no access to urology services close to home.

“We all know that urology and gastroenterology are significantly under-resourced specialties. Our patients would normally have to leave the community,” said Gary Herbst, Chief Executive Officer of Kaweah Health.

Urology is a specialty that addresses diseases of the urinary and genital system. Urinary issues, including urinary leakage, stone disease and urologic cancer, affect both men and women in ways that can significantly impact daily life. Common conditions for urology that a patient might experience include: urination difficulty, blood in the urine, pain in the abdomen, cancer of the kidney, urinary bladder, prostate and testis, along with difficulty conceiving a child and erectile dysfunction.

Through the Kaweah Health – USC Urology effort, the Central Valley region will also have access to subspecialists in Visalia, as needed, for the following:

“The caliber of Keck Medicine’s urologists available at the new clinic is outstanding,” said Dr. Gill, who pioneered minimally invasive surgeries for kidney, prostate and bladder cancer. “These are seasoned experts, all of whom are subspecialty fellowship-trained, and in many instances amongst the top-rated physicians in the nation for their respective specialties.”

The Kaweah Health Urology clinic in alliance with Keck Medicine of USC is located at 325 S. Willis St., Visalia. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and referrals are currently being accepted. For more information, please call 559-624-4026 or visit www.kaweahhealth.org/urology.

Kaweah Health is a publicly-owned community healthcare organization that provides comprehensive health services to the greater Visalia region and Tulare County. Visit www.kaweahhealth.org.

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