AMHERST/NORTHAMPTON — Dr. Katherine Atkinson has left the Amherst and Northampton family practice she ran for more than two decades, a year and a half after selling it to keep it out of bankruptcy.
“I would never leave my patients on short notice if I had any option,” Atkinson said in a phone interview with the Gazette. “I didn’t have options, and I’m devastated. I miss my patients and my practice.”
Atkinson announced her departure in an Oct. 15 Facebook post. She declined to say why she left, noting that paperwork she signed when she sold the business bars her from discussing it in detail. She said retirement was not the reason.
“If I was retiring, I would have done it with plenty of notice and tried to make sure that patients had everything they needed to,” Atkinson said.
Public business records list Dr. Piyush Gupta as owner of Atkinson Family Practice, as well as CEO of healthcare company Sevi Health based in New Haven, Connecticut. Gupta confirmed that Sevi Health is affiliated with Atkinson Family Practice.
Atkinson still owns the practice’s two buildings, at 7 Research Drive in Amherst and 6 Hatfield St. in Northampton.
In a statement to the Gazette, Gupta said he could not discuss the details of Atkinson’s departure. He said concerns involving multiple current and former employees had been investigated by independent, outside human resources and legal professionals. He declined to elaborate further.
“We followed that process through,” Gupta said.
A primary care doctor and internist by trade, Gupta said he bought the practice to maintain its independence from private equity firms or large hospital systems.
“The goal was to make sure your practice would still be here, and it is,” Gupta wrote in the statement, referring to his message to patients. “If you’ve been seen at AFP over the past year and a half, you’ve already been cared for by the practice as it runs today.”
Sevi Health offers both primary care and concierge medicine services nationwide. Both Atkinson Family Practice locations are listed as clinics on the Sevi Health website, along with two additional offices in Connecticut. The company previously operated two other clinics in Arizona, according to a lawsuit filed by Sevi Health against the clinics’ former owner Steven Wool, but both have since closed.
Atkinson, who opened her practice in Amherst in 2005 and later expanded with a second office in Northampton, sold the practice for $100 with the hope that Gupta could keep the doors open. Over the years, Atkinson said the health insurance system and primary care financing forced her to take out loans to save the business. She even went so far as to borrow on her house, but the fiscal pressures became unsustainable, she said.
In selling to Gupta, the new owner agreed to take all of the debt, with the caveat that Atkinson would reinherit the loans if the business folded. She continued working at the practice and seeing her patients. Atkinson decided not to formally announce the sale, but answered honestly when people inquired about the new owners.
“I didn’t want to scare people,” Atkinson said. The plan was to keep the practice running the same way “and for the first year, it really was.”
Then at the end of August, Atkinson said she lost access to all her patients. The same day, the Northampton office temporarily closed due to concerns about the building’s condition.
There are no structural or system-related issues in the building, according to Atkinson. She confirmed that mold was found in the basement, but experts brought in to inspect assured her that it would not affect patients upstairs.
The office remains closed, and Gupta said Atkinson Family Practice will not return to the Hatfield Street location. Patients can either go to the Amherst clinic, which remains open, or reach their doctors by telehealth. Atkinson said her tenants moved out of the building without telling her.
“We’ve also decided it’s time for a fresh start for the whole practice,” Gupta wrote. “We’re actively looking for new, modern space in the area…”
With Atkinson gone and the pending departure of Dr. Michele Spirko, who announced in a Sept. 22 email to patients that her last day is Nov. 13, Gupta will be the only primary care doctor at the practice.
Gupta said Atkinson Family Practice is actively recruiting new providers and accepting new patients. While he understands that major changes at a healthcare office can hinder trust, he asks for understanding and patience while the practice continues to relay updates to its patients.
“AFP has been part of this community for many years, and I’m grateful to Dr. Atkinson for building a practice that so many families have trusted with their care,” Gupta wrote. “I do this because we believe in primary care that’s personal and local, and because this community deserves it.”
In his statement, Gupta acknowledged the past few months have been unsettling for patients. In addition to finding out that Atkinson is leaving and the Northampton office’s closure, he said many patients have received a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield about 2027 in-network providers.
“Please know that we are not leaving Blue Cross Blue Shield and there should be no interruption in care,” wrote Gupta, saying a new communication regarding insurance should be sent out shortly to patients.
Despite all the challenges, Atkinson wishes to return to family medicine in the future, although the timeline remains unclear. Former patients have been reaching out to Atkinson for advice and doctor recommendations. But she has no answers.
This entire situation is a symptom of the current healthcare system, Atkinson said, and one she has warned about for decades.
“The problem is not me, it’s not Sevi, it’s not mold. The problem is that it’s impossible to run a primary care office in Massachusetts,” Atkinson said. “There’s no winners or losers, this is a tragedy for thousands of patients, for me and for my family. It’s just horrible.”
