Tushar G. Patel, M.D.
Washington Square Clinic
3150 Clinch Street, #106
Richlands, Virginia 24641

Phone: (276) 963-2231
Fax: (276) 964-9701

Tushar Patel is a board-certified internal medicine physician who practices at the Washington Square Clinic in Richlands, Virginia. Washington Square is a rural health clinic. The clinic staff includes three family physicians, one general surgeon, one internal medicine physician specializing in cardiology, one general internist, and one family nurse practitioner. Dr. Patel enjoys teaching and finds it exciting when residents apply their knowledge in the context of personal relationships with patients.

Dr. Patel and his wife, Shobhana, have two sons in high school, Tejas and Sapan. They are all avid tennis players. In addition, the doctor enjoys travel, reading, and school-based activities such as gifted student programs, career days, and sports physicals.

Patel was born on November 2, 1956 in India. He completed secondary school in Baroda, India and pre-medical college at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, India. In 1980, he completed medical school at Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College, which is affiliated with Gujarat University. From 1980 to 1981, he completed a rotating internship at V.S. General Hospital, Ahmedabad, India, gaining 6 months of experience in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, 3 months in General Surgery, and 3 months in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Then, in 1982, Dr. Patel matched with an internal medicine residency program at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, one of the busiest hospitals in the United States. He completed training in 1985. Shortly afterward, he moved to southwestern Virginia and became director of the emergency department at Buchanan General Hospital in Grundy, Virginia. He also worked as an emergency physician at Mattie Williams Hospital in Richlands, Virginia. In 1987, Dr. Patel moved to Richlands and joined the medical staff of the Washington Square Clinic.

The six physicians who practice at Washington Square Clinic share call with colleagues from Clinch Valley Physicians, a larger multi-specialty group in Richlands. This arrangement means that Dr. Patel is on call one evening every two weeks and one weekend every two months. He looks forward to sharing call experiences with residents and, if residents wish to take more call, the practice will be glad to accommodate them.

Dr. Patel is currently (September, 2000) chief of staff at Clinch Valley Medical Center where he maintains privileges in medicine and ICU/CCU. He is an experienced preceptor with East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Clinch Valley Medical Center is a 200-bed hospital located across the street from the Washington Square Clinic. In the past, Dr. Patel has been medical director of the chemical dependency unit, chairman of the quality assurance committee, and chief of staff at the hospital. In addition, he has served as medical director of Keen Mountain Group Home, a facility that serves mentally retarded patients. He is now medical director for Cumberland Mountain Mental Health Services.

While office hours for the clinic are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Dr. Patel usually starts his day at 8:30 a.m. with rounds at the hospital. He generally arrives in the office at Washington Square by 10:30 a.m. He sees from 20 to 25 patients a day in the office. His normal workday ends about 6:30 in the evening, when he completes hospital rounds. Typical procedures performed in the office include physical examinations, minor laceration repairs, joint aspirations and injections, pulmonary function tests and EKGs. In the hospital, he sees more patients during the winter, but averages about 7 patients per day. Most of his patients are adults (30%) and geriatric adults (60%) with the majority being covered by Medicaid or Medicare (65%). Dr. Patel estimates that about 30% of his patients are privately insured and about 5% are uninsured.

There are a total of 20 exam rooms in Washington Square Clinic, with 3 exam rooms per clinician. On site, the practice offers a medical laboratory of moderate complexity, x-ray (including ultrasound and mammography) services, and respiratory care (including stress testing and Holter monitoring). The clinic has a computer link with Clinch Valley Medical Center, used for billing purposes.

Residents who train with Dr. Patel may be able to stay in apartments leased by the hospital. Alternately, they may stay in local hotels – Comfort Inn, Day’s Inn, Super 8, Timberline Lodge, Bedrock Inn, or Cuz’s Cabins Bed and Breakfast. GMEC can attempt to locate furnished apartments for residents, but we cannot guarantee results because short-term rentals are extremely difficult to secure in rural areas.

Clinch Valley Medical Center hospital 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.

The population of Richlands is 4,456 and an additional 5,000 – 7,000 people live in the surrounding communities of Cedar Bluff, Claypool Hill, and Pounding Mill. Tazewell County has a population of 45,960. Major elements of the Tazewell economy are personal services, manufacturing, retail trade, coal mining, transfer payments (retirement pensions, disability income, and welfare benefits), and agriculture. In 1995, the largest employers were Clinch Valley Medical Center, the school board, 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. 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. 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 about the local community, please see the county profiles for Tazewell, Buchanan, and Russell Counties.