Steven Roger Hoebelheinrich, M.D.
Washington Square Clinic
3150 Clinch Street
Richlands, Virginia 24641

Phone: 276-964-6711
Fax: 276-964-2240

Roger Hoebelheinrich, M.D. is a general surgeon in practice at the Washington Square Clinic in Richlands, Virginia. The Washington Square Clinic is a multi-specialty service staffed by primary care physicians, cardiologists, radiologists, and surgeons. The clinic building is just across the street from the Clinch Valley Medical Center.

Dr. Hoebelheinrich is a Fellow of the American College of Surgery (1991, 1999), having been board-certified by the American College of Surgery since 1988. He has completed advanced training courses in operative laparoscopy and laser cholecystectomy.

Born in the small town of Crofton, Nebraska in 1953, Dr. Hoebelheinrich attended college at the University of Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. He took a BA degree in 1975 and two years later enrolled in medical school at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Omaha. Dr. Hoebelheinrich received an MD degree in 1981 and moved to Yankton, South Dakota, where he completing an internship at Sacred Heart Hospital in 1982. He remained at Sacred Heart Hospital for all five years of surgical residency, completing his training in 1986.

Upon graduation, Dr. Hoebelhenrich moved to Richlands, Virginia and set up practice at the Clinch Valley Medical Center. He has been practicing general surgery since 1986 and laparoscopy surgery since 1990.

Within the Washington Square Clinic, Dr. Hoebelhenrich and his staff enjoy exclusive occupancy of a six-room suite. The suite includes two patient examination rooms and a treatment room used for minor surgical procedures. Washington Square offers standard x-ray services and complex medical laboratory services on the premises. The Clinic has a computerized billing system and Dr. Hoebelhenrich is in the process of updating personal computers in the office for Internet access.

Dr. Hoebelhenrich maintains office hours from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He sees an average of 15 patients a day in the office and an additional 8-10 patients a day in the hospital. The vast majority of his patients are adults in their 40s or older. He estimates that 60% of his patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid and that the remaining 40% are covered by commercial carriers.

Given a restrictive malpractice climate and resulting hospital precautions, Dr. Hoebelhenrich doubts that residents will be able to perform hands-on surgery in the hospital. However, residents may apply for privileges and assist him there with surgical procedures. He does many gall bladder, colon, breast cancer, hernia, and carpal tunnel surgeries. Residents who demonstrate competence may perform hands-on skin procedures under Dr. Hoebelhenrich's supervision in the office. Residents who train with Dr. Hoebelhenrich will be exposed to a small town practice and gain expertise in the evaluation and treatment of common problems requiring surgery.

Dr. Hoebelhenrich has admitting privileges at the Clinch Valley Medical Center, an acute-care hospital with 98 staffed beds (excludes long term care beds, newborn nursery bassinets, and observation beds.) In 1997, the staffed bed occupancy rate for the hospital was 78.7%. Eighteen percent of the hospital's total expenses were allocated to charity care, bad debt or taxes in 1997 and Medicaid patients accounted for 18.6% of patient days at the hospital.

The medical center offers an expanded range of services: emergency, inpatient and outpatient care, intensive care, surgery and anesthesia, pathology, radiology, imaging, nuclear medicine, obstetrics, critical care nursery, cardiopulmonary rehab, diabetic unit, cardiac catheterization, radiation therapy, laboratory, nutrition, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, pharmacy, and home health.

Specialties represented on the staff include allergy & immunology, anesthesiology, cardiology, emergency medicine, family practice, general practice, gastroenterology, general and vascular surgery, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics & gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, pathology, nuclear medicine, oncology, pediatrics, podiatry, psychiatry, pulmonary medicine, radiology, oral surgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, and urology.

Residents who train with Dr. Hoebelheinrich can be housed in furnished apartments in Richlands or in a boarding house often patronized by visitors to the hospital. Alternately, residents may stay in local hotels - Comfort Inn, Day's Inn, Super 8, Timberline Lodge, Bedrock Inn, or Cuz's Cabins Bed and Breakfast. GMEC will try to secure furnished apartments for residents, but we cannot guarantee results because short-term rentals are sometimes hard to find in rural areas.

The population of Richlands is 4,144. An additional 5,500 people live in the surrounding communities of Cedar Bluff, Raven, and Claypool Hill. Tazewell County has a population of 44,598. As measured by employment, major elements of the Tazewell economy are educational, health and social services (21.8%), retail and wholesale trade (19.5%), manufacturing (11.6%), construction (7.2%), and agriculture, mining, and forestry (6.8%). In 1995, the largest employers were Clinch Valley Medical Center, the public schools, Southwest Virginia Community College, Long Airdox Company (mining machinery), and Cumberland Mountain Community Services.

Four lanes of U.S. Highway 460 join with four lanes of U.S. Highway 19 just south of Richlands in Claypool Hill. There are two malls and several shopping centers in the area, along with any number of local and franchised restaurants, cinema screens, discount stores, groceries, and specialty boutiques. The surrounding countryside is lovely, replete with forested mountains and high rolling hills of green pasture. Area attractions include the Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park, Burke's Garden, Pocahontas Exhibition Coal Mine, Cedar Bluff Mill, and Breaks Interstate Park.

For more information, see the profile of Tazewell County at www.uvawise.edu/gmec.