Kelsey-Seybold: the McDonald's of Medicine

(Part 2 of Stateside Healthcare: Art, Science, and Commerce?)

With apologies to the food magnate, the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic (KSC) in Houston, Texas is comparable in accessibility and convenience to the McDonald’s fast food chain. It has been, for more than half a century now, a pioneer and key player in managed care in the city of Houston. It is the largest, community-based physician group caring for more than 300,000 patients, with active service to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since 1966. It also has a research arm, the Kelsey Research Foundation. Currently it is under the supervision of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System.

KSC founders Drs. Mavis P. Kelsey, William D. Seybold, and William V. Leary established the group practice in 1949. The clinic’s mission includes highlights on 1) improvement on community healthcare quality and value, 2) provision of comprehensive medical care for patients through a multi-specialty group practice, and 3) provision of exceptional opportunities for personal and professional growth. It currently has twenty locations all over the city of Houston, allowing for convenience to patients who would prefer locations close to home or work .

KSC Specialties and Sub-specialties include fields from Aerospace Medicine to Vascular Surgery.

Central to the theme of KSC is the founder’s original goal to “combine the expertise of physicians in a variety of medical specialties, with the close personal care of the general practitioner, or family doctor. ” This is attributed to an original Mayo Clinic concept, an idea of primary care in the named institution where KSC’s founders originally came from in the 1950’s. KSC is thus a pioneer in the sense that it first brought the concept of primary care into the state of Texas.

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