At age 10, Dr. Manuel Quiñones and his family were drivinghome in pouring rain from an outing at his uncle’sranch when a driver traveling in the opposite direction lost controlof his car and slammed into their vehicle head–on.
Quiñones suffered a broken arm and third degree burns onhis left leg, which resulted in a month–long stay at Santa RosaChildren’s Hospital. The loving careand attention he received from doctorsand nurses left a lasting impressionon the young boy.
“I always wanted to be a doctorsince I was a kid, and that experienceof being in the hospital solidifiedmy decision to be a doctor,” saysthe 52–year–old San Antonio native.
Quiñones, a family practicephysician at the HealthTexas MedicalGroup of San Antonio, is alsopresident of the Bexar CountyMedical Society, which representssome 4,200 physicians in Bexar andsurrounding counties.
“As president, you become thevoice and image of physicians inBexar County,” he says. “It’s an awesomeresponsibility. It takes a considerableamount of time, but it’ssomething I’ve always wanted todo.”
In this role, Quiñones acts ascommunity ambassador of the society.He also serves one year as president–elect and one year asimmediate past president. “He is the representative of organizedmedicine and is the proponent for medicine and for patients inthe community,” says Stephen Fitzer, BCMS CEO and executivedirector.
“Dr. Quiñones is a passionate physician who advocates forpatient care,” Fitzer says. “He is a generous and compassionateman who has given much back to the community of San Antonioand Bexar County, both personally and professionally.”
After 23 years of practicing medicine, Quiñones has listenedto patients’ concerns over the desire for quality healthcare, hehas come to know the difficulties of the uninsured, and he is wellaware of the liability issues that many physicians face. Today, headvocates for a change in medicine inwhich, he says, the patient’s best interestsmust come first.
He believes that over the next fourto six years those in the medical fieldmust accept the fact that medicinemust go through what he calls a “painfuland drastic metamorphosis.”
“Similar to what we had 25 yearsago, we must re–orient ourselves tobegin to think in terms of primarycare as the hub of care,” Quiñonessays. “We must begin to demand thatdoctors think in terms of creating a‘medical home’ for patients – a sourceof information, entry level care, managementof chronic disease states,enhanced and easy access, and thecapacity to be referred when appropriatefor specialty care to specialists,who share in the excitement of providingthe best care in a most efficientand effective environment.”
He says his conceptual ‘medicalhome’ should be a source of qualitycare overseen by a well–trained primarycare provider, such as a doctor, advanced nurse practitioneror physician’s assistant with best practice goals and guidelines,measurable high–quality outcomes that meet or exceed currentpractice standards rewarded with autonomy, fair reimbursementand continued protection from unrealistic liability issues.
Quiñones would like to see the medical profession train andproduce more primary care doctors, although he knows that indoing so, there are issues that would have to be resolved.
“We can’t attract them into our specialty when (a physician’s)income in a specialty field is two to three times what most primarycare doctors earn,” he says. “Do we pay primary care doctorsmore fairly, or do we cut reimbursement to specialists tobe more in line with primary care reimbursement? Probably ahybrid of these two.”
As for Quiñones, it was during medical school at Baylor Collegeof Medicine, fromwhich he graduated in1982, that he chose to bea family practice physicianbecause of the mentorshipof the former assistantdean, Dr. MajorBradshaw.
“Aside from my parents,I learned more fromMajor about being a caringdoctor and a greatperson than from anyother human being,” the1973 Holy Cross graduatesays. “He taught methat if you take care ofyour patients like they areyour family, you will never make a baddecision; and they will always take careof you.”
Family practice, he says, allows himto assist with surgeries, admit patientsto the hospital and take care of a widespectrum of patients in the office – “everyonefrom newborns to my 104–yearoldpatient.”
Yolanda Acosta and her family have been patients of Quiñonesfor 20 years. She remembers that the first time she madean appointment with him she was surprised that he came outto the waiting room to sit down and have a chat with her beforeleading her back to one of the examination rooms.
“He is not only a doctor, but he heals people,” the 60–yearoldretired hairdresser says. “He is very perceptive and he listensto what you have to say. If there’s a physician who cares, it’s him.Medicine is not his profession. It’s his calling.”
His skills in family practice have earned him quite a few impressivehonors, as well. He was named a Texas Monthly SuperDoc for 2008–2009 and has been listed in Best Doctors ofAmerica from 2005 to 2008.
Quiñones, incidentally, has definitely paid his dues on theroad to earning his medical degree. While at St. Mary’s University,where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1977, hewas a substitute teacher with the Edgewood School District,sold insurance for Banker’s Life and Casualty, worked retail atTodd’s in North StarMall, drew blood frompatients at the VA Hospitaland was an electrician’shelper for a localelectrical company. Healso was a library assistantat Baylor College ofMedicine.
In an ironic twist offate, Quiñones oncehad the pleasure ofencountering the surgeonwho tended to hisburned leg more than40 years ago. His nameis Dr. Leroy Bates Jr.
“When I appliedfor staff privileges at MethodistHospital, Dr. Bates was on staff,” hesays. “I showed him my leg, and he wasproud of his work. His father had beenour Family Physician for many years.”
Quiñones and his wife, Gloria, of31 years have two children, Amy, 25,a clinical psychology therapist; andManny, 23, a recent Texas A&M –Kingsville graduate with a bachelor’s degree in criminology. Inhis spare time, the physician enjoys hunting, fishing and watchingthe sun go down at his 150–acre ranch called ‘The Flying PigRanch.’
“It’s a tribute to my best friend since childhood, Robert Lopezwho died way too young of leukemia,” he says. “I once toldhim that some day we would have a ranch together. He said,‘Manuel, we’ll have our own ranch when pigs grow wings.’”
