Effective March 1 a new chapter in the history of Purcell Municipal Hospital began.

Patients of Dr. Bryan Dye and Dr. Rick Schmidt, both in-patient and observation services, will be admitted and followed by Dr. Jared’s TeleHospitalist group.

Dr. Dye and Dr. Schmidt will continue to send patients for IV infusions, according to PMH CEO/CNO Chris Wright.

“The change was requested by doctors Dye and Schmidt in order to lighten their 24/7 commitment to their patients,” Wright said.

“This allows them to focus on the out-patient practice and provide them the opportunity to enjoy their life a little more fully without having to worry about their patients receiving excellent care when in our hospital,” Wright continued.

“Thank you to doctors Dye and Schmidt for all your years of providing exceptional care and commitment to the patients you serve when in our hospital. Cheers to a continued long out-patient practice. We are so appreciative of what you mean to our hospital and the city of Purcell,” Wright concluded.

“We are still committed to the community,” Schmidt said. “That is not changing and will never change.

“We are just going to be able to place all our continuing effort on our out-patient services.

“I look forward to serving the community for many years to come,” he confirmed.

Dr. Dye agrees it’s the right move for his patients.

“When I started practicing medicine over 30 years ago, the training I received allowed me to perform both in-patient and out-patient care at a high level,” Dr. Dye said.

“Medicine has changed so much since that time that physicians are now trained and specialize in either in-patient hospitalist care or out-patient primary care.

“The complexity of each of these specialties makes it difficult to practice both together and maintain the skills to be as proficient as we desire and our patients deserve,” Dye continued.

“Allowing physicians that are specifically trained in hospital medicine will allow our hospital patients to receive the highest quality of in-patient care available to small community facilities.

“These same hospitalist physicians work in large metropolitan institutions as well as function in this same role in other small community hospitals,” Dye said.

“This transition will allow me to focus all of my time and energy on my out-patient Family Medicine practice so I can continue to practice the highest quality of primary care our patients deserve,” he concluded.