CHEYENNE - Cheyenne Regional Medical Center plans to recruit more internal medicine doctors to the Capital City.

"There is a definite community need for internal medicine physicians," Margo Karsten, chief executive officer at CRMC, said, adding that the issue is a national concern. "In Cheyenne, we need to quickly address it."

Internal medicine doctors are specialists who diagnose and treat adults.

An internal medicine doctor is a primary care physician who often treats one or more chronic illnesses in the same patient. A patient may have heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, for example.

Hospital officials hope to recruit three to five internal medicine doctors in 2015, she said. After that, they will re-evaluate and decide how to proceed.

These new internal medicine doctors could be employees of the hospital or work in private practice here, she said.

"The focus on primary care is a strategic imperative for this organization," Karsten wrote in a report to CRMC's board of trustees.

CRMC now has affiliations with two internal medicine doctors and a nurse practitioner.

The hospital's search accelerated after an internal medicine doctor recently left a strong independent practice called IMG, Karsten said.

Cheyenne Medical Specialists practice has three internal medicine doctors. CMS is affiliated with the University of Colorado health system based in Colorado.

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Internal medicine doctors in short supply