Rural practice's closure has 3,000 patients seeking care

Feb. 12—SOUTH BOARDMAN — Carrie Dingwell lives in Fife Lake, works in Kalkaska and has long depended on staff at Boardman Family Practice for routine health care and prescription medications.

So has Benjamin Curtis of Williamsburg, who said he travels frequently for work, often at a moment's notice, and was able to see his provider —physician's assistant Todd Kreykes — without a long wait.

The former patients separately expressed satisfaction with the care they received from Kreykes and said they never felt rushed — Krekes was personable and took care in answering their questions, they said.

Dingwell and Curtis are, however, are now among Boardman Family Practice's approximately 3,000 patients who must seek new providers, following the practice's abrupt closure, days after law enforcement, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, exercised a search warrant there.

Kreykes' attorney Mark Kriger previously said his client faces no charges, cooperated with law enforcement and assisted office staff in providing medical records to patients.

Kriger said Friday there was nothing new to report.

DEA spokesperson Brian McNeal previously confirmed an agent, with help from local law enforcement, conducted a search of the facility Dec. 2. A post on the practice's Facebook page Dec. 9 announced the closure, followed by a message on the practice's main phone number stating the office was permanently closed.

The closure leaves a geographical gap — the closest family practice is in Kalkaska, 10 miles from South Boardman and 15 miles from Fife Lake — which could prove especially onerous to seniors.

"I was lucky," Dingwell said. "I work in the medical field, I was able to get in somewhere new and transfer my prescriptions, but I know some who had to wait."

Dingwell said many area seniors were known to order their prescriptions online, and without a physician or physician's assistant to approve refills, there were concerns patients could be forced to go without their medications while they waited for an appointment with someone new.

Related concerns were echoed by Boardman Township Clerk Tonya Hart, who said residents of the township and of nearby Village of Fife Lake, depended on the local family practice for a variety of general medical care, including sports physicals and immunizations.

"As a township official, I feel for the people who live here because I would prefer for them to have a place close to home to go to," Hart said. "The hope is, especially for those who are older and don't want to drive to Kalkaska or Traverse, that someone new will re-open it."

Staffing medical offices in Michigan's rural counties was a challenge even before the pandemic, according to a 2018 report from the Michigan Center for Rural Health in East Lansing.

For example, access to care was listed as a priority for Kalkaska County residents, as detailed in a 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment, which ranked the county 72nd of Michigan's 83 counties in health factors, and 62nd in health outcomes.

Health outcomes track how a county's population is doing now — or in this case, was doing in 2018, the latest year for which figures are available. Health factors include access to clinical care, social and economic issues like education and employment as well as behaviors that can be modified, such as smoking and drug use.

Statewide data is difficult to come by, though anecdotal evidence shows rural health care has not improved during the pandemic.

Jeff Wattrick, a spokesperson with Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, said neither LARA nor the state's Department of Health and Human Services tracks closure rates of rural medical offices, which operate under federal authority.

A 2020 survey of more than 3,500 U.S. physicians by a medical nonprofit found 8 percent were closing their practices, 43 percent reduced staff and 59 percent predicted the pandemic would lead to fewer independent medical offices in their communities.

Kreykes is not a physician — he's a physician's assistant, and while medical practices like his are not tracked by the state, his license is subject to oversight by LARA's Bureau of Professional Licensing.

State licensure records show Kreykes, was placed on a year-long disciplinary probation in late 2020, after an investigation found he mis-prescribed controlled substances including opioids.

Records show Kreykes opened Boardman Family Practice in 2011, obtained a controlled substance license in 2019 and worked in conjunction with at least two physicians during that time period.

One of those, Dr. David Best, agreed to serve as Kreykes' physician reviewer, an oversight requirement LARA mandated as part of the disciplinary probation, records show.

Best referred a reporter's questions to his attorney, Justin Withrow, who did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

Documents produced by LARA in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, however, show Best resigned as Kreykes' physician reviewer Dec. 6, after the DEA exercised the search warrant and before the practice closed.

"My understanding is that the DEA registration of Mr. Kreykes has been suspended," Best wrote in his resignation letter to LARA's Bureau of Professional Licensing. "Further my understanding is that the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Michigan issued a search warrant on Mr. Kreykes practice last week."

The DEA earlier this month produced no records in response to a Record-Eagle FOIA request, which sought a copy of the warrant.

Curtis said he is still unclear on the specifics of what led to the closure, even though he inadvertently witnessed what took place on one of the last days the facility was open.

"I was still in my car, about to go in to for a sinus infection, when a sheriff's deputy knocked on my window and said I couldn't be there," Curtis said. "I told him I have an appointment and he was polite and everything, then just told me again I had to leave."

Kalkaska County Sheriff Pat Whiteford previously confirmed his office responded to the Pine Street medical office Dec. 2 to assist federal and local law enforcement.

The facility is listed for sale, and the $189,000 asking price includes lab equipment, the phone system, patient exam tables and a separate building previously used for COVID testing.