In Depth: A Conversation with Pediatrix
For over 36 years, Pediatrix physicians have been the pediatricians of choice for many north Phoenix residents and their children.
Arizona Physician recently sat down with both Ronald Serbin, MD, FAAP, and Jay Caruthers, Practice Administrator to discuss the practice and the programs and services they provide to patients.
ARIZONA PHYSICIAN: Dr. Serbin, what is your history with Pediatrix?
DR. SERBIN: I started at Pediatrix in 1995 participating in a weekly community-based continuity clinic during my 2nd year of residency. After completing residency, I became an employed physician in 1997, and then an owner/partner in the practice in 1999.
ARIZONA PHYSICIAN: Jay, how about you, what is your history at Pediatrix?
JAY CARUTHERS: Prior to Pediatrix, I served in the US Air Force as a medic. I came to Pediatrix in 1994. I started in the back office and then was promoted to back-office assistant supervisor, then supervisor. Later, I held positions in front office & referral department supervisor at various times, then in 2018, I became Practice Manager.
AZP: Jay, can you share with us a brief history of Pediatrix?
JAY: Pediatrix was founded in 1986. The practice started as a small group of physicians, and both grew and shrank over the last few decades. At one time Pediatrix had three offices and
11 physician owners. Currently, there are two offices and six physician owners. Pediatrix is very proud of its motto, “We Care for Kids,” which is why the practice always takes just about every insurance in the valley including AHCCCS. Also, one of the practice’s goals is to provide primary care services for as many kids in our community as possible.
Pediatrix is proud to take care of its large Hispanic community by attempting to hire Spanish speaking bilingual physicians, mid-level practitioners, and staff. In the same theme, we have added more female physicians to better serve our female patients. The last five years have been challenging for Pediatrix due to retirements from founding physician owners. Yet, our current physician ownership group has not only adjusted but through its flexibility moving forward is moving the practice in the right direction.
Pediatrix by the Numbers:
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Founded in 1986
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8 Physicians
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1 Nurse Practitioner
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2 Physician Assistants
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Services & Programs
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Well checks, sports physicals, ADD/ADHD​ diagnosing & treatment, circumcisions, immunizations, sick visits, and weekend sick & well
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2 Locations
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Phoenix (Black Canyon & Happy Valley)
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Connect with Pediatrix: (602) 866-0550 or visit pedatrixmd.com​
AZP: Dr. Serbin, can you share what pediatrics services you provide, and which are the most popular with patients?
DR. SERBIN: My personal practice has evolved to caring for children with complex special needs, mental health problems, along with routine medical care. I now see children whose parents I cared for when they were born.
I learned the difference between caring for a patient and taking care of an illness when my wife was treated for metastatic melanoma. Families value the care I provide to their child, accessibility to my services, and my collaboration of their children’s health care needs with their child’s medical team of providers.
One of the founding pediatricians in our practice cared for special needs children and participated in community organizations to advocate for children and pediatricians. As a result, I became experienced caring for children with special needs children in the practice. In addition, I have become involved with multiple community organizations that advocate for children’s healthcare and pediatrician’s medical care. Being involved with these community organizations has enabled me to build relationships with community providers and organizations despite the present trend of isolation of community-based practices from the hospital setting.
AZP: Pediatrix has two locations in the West Valley, what makes it stand out from other pediatric groups?
DR. SERBIN: Our two offices are in North Phoenix. Like other community-based clinics, we are accessible to our families. One of our offices is open on Saturdays all year and Sundays during the school year. We are available to see sick children for appointments the same day. Our practice has easy access to care to be consumer friendly, but more importantly, to prevent urgent care and emergency room visits.
AZP: Jay, Pediatrix has two locations within Maricopa County, are there any thoughts on expanding beyond those two?
JAY: Currently there isn’t much interest in expanding within the group. We used to have three offices and could easily purchase another. Yet, the biggest challenge we have been facing is finding physicians who want to work the way you need to work in primary care pediatrics. We could buy buildings, we could populate our buildings with staff and patients, yet without enough pediatricians, it just doesn’t make sense. We employ nurse practitioners and physician assistants, yet the Pediatrix way is always physician driven.
AZP: Dr. Serbin, can you share with us some of the changes you’ve seen in pediatrics in the last 10 years. How do those changes affect Pediatrix?
DR. SERBIN: There are multiple changes that have occurred since I started practicing in 1997. First, the change from paper charts to the electronic medical record. My practice made the transition in 2001 to electronic medical records. Previously we had to wait 1-2 weeks for the dictated paper
transcription to be placed into an unorganized manila folder. Now, I have immediate access to the chart of a patient that was seen by another provider at my office or our other office. In addition,
I have access to charts from some hospital systems of the care received at the urgent care,
emergency department, during hospitalization or from the specialty clinic. Another drastic change is that my office solely provides outpatient care due to the innovation of the hospitalist caring for hospitalized patients.
Our practice is used to caring for children at 7 hospitals, that included ill patients we admitted, ill
newborns, and healthy newborns. We no longer see any patients in the hospital setting. This has transitioned care into a hospital based corporate like setting. When I first started practice, and I called the hospital for any reason, the resident, specialist, or nurse responded to me by name, whether it was “hello Ron,” or “Dr. Serbin.” Now, the most common response when I call the hospital is “how do you spell your name? and what practice are you from?” The last time I visited one of my hospitalized patients, the lobby staff would not allow me to go to the patient bedside until I obtained approval from the family even though I admitted the child to the hospital.
In addition, our office used to be open 8 AM- 8 PM Monday through Friday, 8 AM – 4 PM Saturday and Sunday, open every day except major holidays, and rounded on at 7 hospitals. Now we are open 8 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday, 8 AM-11:30 Saturdays, 8-11:30 on Sundays during the school year, and off during most holidays.
Another challenge is adapting to the recommended changes in care management. We need to incorporate more screening tools and preventative interventions during office visits. These adaptations take time to perform yet don’t adequate reimbursement for the time spent incorporating these changes to produce the revenue necessary to stay profitable.
AZP: Jay, what do you see are the largest obstacles in running a multi-location group practice today?
JAY: Pediatricians aren’t as easy to recruit as we always hope. Also, the cost of running a private practice group is becoming more and more difficult. Staff salaries, benefits, and medical supplies continue to rise. These cost rises are not only at times unpredictable but at times make it close to impossible to remain profitable. Reimbursement rates from insurance companies continue to be less than satisfactory. Finally, recent events like the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help either, creating many problems for the practice.
AZP: Are there any technological trends that Pediatrix is taking advantage of to better help its patients?
DR. SERBIN: As mentioned, we started utilizing electronic medical records in 2001. Also, our office manager promotes our practice on various social media platforms.
AZP: How are you and Pediatrix keeping your patients informed/updated on medical/public health issues concerning their children?
DR. SERBIN: The best way to educate families about health issues is during an office visit. Our office is proactive and attempts to identify the children who are due for a well exam and contact their families to schedule an appointment. This allows us to provide families with objective health education and resources.
Interacting with families during their well exam visits allows for dialogue and develops trust in the physical and patient relationship. We also have information on our website and various social media platforms.
AZP: How many other types of healthcare professionals are working at Pediatrix? Do you see advantages or disadvantages in practices using other medical professionals like nurse practitioners and physician assistants?
DR. SERBIN: Our healthcare team includes physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, an office manager, front office supervisors, back-office supervisors, medical assistants, care coordinators, front office personnel, billing staff, and laboratory. Every staff member is
a vital member of the team. If you don’t have a team of office staff who work together, the office does not function efficiently, the staff is not happy, and ultimately patient care and customer service is compromised.
AZP: What does the future hold for Pediatrix?
DR. SERBIN: One big challenge is managing a profitable medical practice in the present economic state of medicine. Inflation has increased the fixed costs of operating a medical office, yet the reimbursement for our medical services has not increased relative to the cost of doing business. For example, if the plumber charges me $100 for their service, I pay the plumber $100. When I first started practicing, we were reimbursed 65% of our charge.
Presently, our reimbursement rate is 35% of our charge. The insurance companies who reimburse us are a barrier to practicing primary care medicine and the medical home model. In my opinion, if insurance companies helped support primary care physicians financially and gave community based primary care physicians more resources to be efficient in our care of patients, the long-term overall cost of providing cost would be less and the medical home would be improved.
In the present state of animosity in our national and world affairs, we need to continue to progress to work together and not against each other to make our own lives more enjoyable, make the world a better place, and provide for the future of our children and their children. Everyone deserves to hear thank you and see more smiles in their life. â–