A decade ago, Dr. Peter Nutson could be found treating world-class athletes by tending to black eyes or concussions in his role as a team physician for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

These days, Nutson is at home helping patients manage their diabetes, chronic emphysema, osteoporosis or arthritis as a primary care physician at the WellMed Senior Clinic at Midtown (3708 Jefferson St., Ste. A).

The journey from the ice in Denver to the home of the now-defunct Austin Ice Bats has been an interesting one for this accomplished and active young physician, who was an Adidas Academic/Athletic All-American in Soccer and continues his love of sports today by going fly-fishing and coaching his two young children in soccer and basketball during his time off.

Nutson is a board-certified internist who joined the WellMed Medical Group in 2008 to help launch one of three WellMed clinics in Austin. WellMed has 24 clinics in the Central and South Texas regions and is the largest primary care provider for Medicare-eligible seniors in the region.

Nutson, 43, is the oldest of two (his younger brother, Greg, is an engineer in Seattle) and the first in his family to become a physician.

“I wanted to become a doctor because I was very interested in the scientific and intellectual aspects of medicine,” Nutson said. “I also loved the idea of being in a job where you help people. I want to help the patient. I can always feel good about doing my job.”

Born and raised in Modesto, Calif., Nutson earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of California at Davis in 1989. He received his medical degree in 1994 from UC Davis Medical School, where he was awarded the Ernest M. Gold Award as the top medical student to enter an internal medicine residency.

Nutson is passionate about internal medicine and said he chose to become an internist because of the internist’s ability to treat the “whole patient. I didn’t want to specialize in just ears, nose and throat or heart and lungs. I wanted to be somebody’s doctor [and] to be able to see a patient for any healthcare need.”

From there, he completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and served the school as chief medical resident in 1997. That same year, the center awarded Nutson the Gold Apple Teaching Award as the top medical student educator in internal residency.

It was during this time that he met his wife, Dr. Maria Gutierrez, an allergist and University of Texas alumna who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. After a few years in private practice with a multi-specialty group in Denver, including shared duties as team physician for the NHL team, Gutierrez convinced Nutson to relocate to Austin.

In July 2001, Nutson joined an internal medicine and gastroenterology practice called McHorse, Foster and Nuston PC, which serves the Central Austin area. “That was very rewarding, but in the last give years or so, the cost of running a private practice outstripped our income,” he said. “The only response was to see more patients, but that can be exhausting, and it doesn’t always allow you to practice good medicine.”

Adding to the dilemma was the fact that the practice had a large roster of senior patients who often required more time to address their chronic conditions. As Nutson says, “You can’t effectively treat a patient with multiple conditions and multiple prescriptions in 10 minutes.”

With Dr. Tom McHorse planning to soon retire, Nuston and Dr. Nancy Foster started mulling options. That’s when they learned about WellMed.

“I met with [WellMed Medical Group President] Dr. Carlos Hernandez,” Nutson said, “and he explained WellMed’s philosophy of focusing on preventive care and utilizing the medical home model to address the whole patient.”

The advantages? WellMed patients who have a medical or financial need qualify for no-cost transportation to and from the clinics. And many patients qualify for an award-winning disease management program that may provide no-cost medications to address chronic ailments, such as diabetes, heart disease and emphysema.

As a WellMed physician, Nutson says he has access to a nurse practitioner, administrative staff, a social worker, visiting nurses, an in-house diabetic and medication educator and support staff – all of which allows him to practice the kind of quality medicine that made him want to become a physician. On average, WellMed patients spend 15 minutes or more with their primary care physician on an average visit, which is about twice the national average.

“I have a lot more resources, so I can see fewer patients and spend the time together to address their healthcare and focus more [on] preventive care,” Nutson said. “We can provide better care because we can follow up more with patients because we have the staff to do it.”