Houston, MO— Texas County Memorial Hospital has received a letter of resignation from Dr. Doug Crase, family medicine and obstetrics physician, at TCMH. Dr. Crase, an employee of TCMH since 2018, is leaving TCMH to be closer to family.
Dr. Crase will work at TCMH until August 11.
Chris Strickland, chief executive officer at TCMH, expressed his disappointment, “TCMH hates to see any physician leave a rural area, and it’s especially hard to lose anyone like Dr. Crase who has found his niche at TCMH and in the Licking community.”
Strickland explained that the Board of Trustees and Administration completely support Dr. Crase in his decision to do what was best for his family.
“Dr. Crase has been an important part of this organization,” Strickland said. “We extend our heartfelt thanks to him for his hard work and support of TCMH.”
“It’s been a pleasure working at TCMH,” Crase said. “As much as I hate leaving my patients and staff at the Licking Family Clinic, I look forward to being closer to my beautiful wife and family.”
In addition, Strickland said he and Dr. Crase have agreed to “leave the door open” should he wish to return to TCMH in the future.
“Recruiting for rural areas is very difficult and retaining a physician is even harder,” Strickland said. “There’s a lot of competition for good physicians with the vast shortage of physicians.”
Strickland and the staff at TCMH are already working on a plan to continue to provide physician coverage at the Licking clinic after Crase departs. Whitney Hall, PA-C sees patients full-time at the clinic, and Dr. Jessica King, family medicine physician, will begin seeing some of Crase’s patients. A search for another full-time physician for the clinic is already underway.
