Dr. Turner began his career as a family medicine doctor after graduating from the Seton Family Medicine Residency Program in Austin, Texas in 2004. He initially took a position as faculty in a New Mexico family medicine residency program but very shortly began moonlighting in the ER. After the residency director left the program, Dr. Turner made emergency medicine his full time career. He has been a full time ER doctor for over 10years.
Dr. Turner graduated from the University of Texas in 1996 with a degree in Biology and a minor in Economics. He was a cheerleader for the University of Texas for 2 years and obtained a pilots license during his time there. He taught high school geometry for a year before enrolling in med school at Ross University School of Medicine. He graduated from med school in 2001 and then from his family medicine residency in 2004. He was the Rural Medicine Resident of the year during his first year in residency. His plan was initially to open a small town practice where he would care for the traditional family patients in the clinic, hospital and ER as well as obstetrics. His career path took him to a family medicine residency program in southern New Mexico in 2005 as a faculty member but after his mentor and director of the program retired he began a career in emergency medicine.
While working at Northwest Healthcare System in Amarillo, Texas, which is the regional trauma center he met other ER physicians who talked about free standing ERs and possibly opening up centers in the west Texas region. He worked with these doctors for over a year to open a center but they just never got any traction so he and Dr. Berman decided to open a center themselves. They searched out consultants to help them get started. Eventually after 3 long years their first center opened in Lubbock in 2014. Dr. Turner also opened a second center with a residency colleague, Dr. Cradeur in San Marcos, Texas later that same year. Both centers did very well. They did so well that they decided to expand.
West Texas ER opened a second center in Lubbock in 2016. We won ‘Best ER of Lubbock’ 2 years in a row. We were doing so well that the local hospitals took notice and we ultimately sold our operations to Covenant Hospital in February 2018. We have retained a management contract with them to run the ERs for 3 more years. We sold the 2 ER’s to them for $22.5 million and we still own the real estate and have a lease with covenant for the next 10years.
The My Emergency Room 24/7 centers expanded out of San Marcos to add centers in Dallas, San Antonio, Abilene and Boerne, Texas. The Dallas center goes by Uptown ER. Abilene is our first hybrid center which allows the community the option of either the ER or the urgent care side depending on their level of care needed. We added an urgent care to our San Marcos system which opens up more options now for patients. We opened our urgent care in Boerne in April 2018 and expect our ER to open there in the fall.
Dr. Turner got involved in the free stand ER world early on and has seen many changes occur in the last 5 years. The industry has seen ups and downs and so the need to adapt has become essential. Patients like having options thus the addition of the urgent care clinics. Our vision also sees Mico-hospitals as way to cement our presence in the healthcare world. Micro-hospitals give us a way to open up billing to CMS, something we currently have no way to bill except in our urgent cares. Emerus has proved the mico-hospital model with its association with Baylor in Dallas and Babtist in San Antonio. We see much greater potential of profits by adding micro-hospitals to our system for future growth. This would allow for a hub and spoke model of hospitals surrounded by satellite ER’s. This model would allow for expansion into other states. Legislators are getting behind the micro-hospital option as a way to replace failing hospitals.
Lastly Dr. Turner has begun a Telehealth clinic and a mobile clinic is about to start this summer. If these ventures go well they would compliment our other sites very well. All of this would not be possible if it weren’t for his loving wife, Vina Delao-Turner and their newly adopted baby, Hugo.
