Stephen Haynes: 40 years in private practice in Clovis

When Dr. Stephen Haynes turned out the light and locked the doors to his office in Clovis on June 30, it ended 40 years of medical practice in the city.

On July 1, however, Haynes returned in the morning to begin year 41 of his private practice in the city.

Haynes has remained in Clovis because of the people, he said.

"These are people who would give you the shirt off their backs and help you in any way they can," he said of the people of the Clovis area. "they're the best people in the world."

In addition to enjoying Clovis, he said, "I've been able to help a lot of people" in the area.

At age 72, he said, he will stay in practice "as long as I can help them."

Until a few years ago, Haynes was listed as a general surgeon who also conducted family practice.

Then he had an accident, he said. A fall from the roof of a horse trailer shattered his ankle.

"I can't stand on it for more than 17 or 18 minutes," he said, rendering surgery impossible. When he stands too long, he said, "I'm thinking about the pain more than what I'm doing with the patient," so, he has given up surgery.

But he still practices medicine in, and he emphasizes this, private practice.

As a private physician, he said, "I can take the time with my patients that they need" without worrying about quotas placed on the number of patients he must seen in a day and other limits placed on physicians who work in corporate settings.

In a private practice, he said, he can practice medicine as he learned it from his father, the late Dr. Allan Haynes, and his father's partner, the late Dr. Jeffrey Neff.

"They were fantastic surgeons," Stephen Haynes said. "They were skilled with their hands and had great bedside manner."

They operated by a medical Golden Rule: "Treat patients as you would want to be treated in their place," Haynes said.

Haynes has also followed in his father's footsteps by serving the local community in Clovis and the medical profession in New Mexico in leadership roles.

In Clovis, he was one of the founders of the Bank of Clovis and still sits on the bank's board of directors.

In that time, he has developed a friendship with Randy Harris, the bank's president and CEO, which goes beyond business. Their families have taken horseback treks to the New Mexico mountains together, Harris said.

But on the business side, Harris said, Haynes has always been competent and reliable.

Because of his involvement with medical malpractice insurance issues, Harris said, Haynes has developed knowledge of "policy, procedure and compliance with the law" that makes Haynes a vey effective head of the bank's audit committee.

Haynes also served on the Committee of 50, which has helped guide relations between Clovis and Cannon Air Force Base, at a time when Cannon was on the U.S. government's list of bases to be closed. Through the committee's efforts, Cannon remains open as a special operations base.

Haynes has also exercised leadership among his peers in what another good friend, John Anderson, who has served as a legislative representative for the New Mexico Medical Society, calls "organized medicine."

Haynes has served as president of the state medical society and currently serves as secretary-treasurer, and Anderson added, as a delegate to the American Medical Association.

Haynes was also one of the founders of a medical malpractice insurance company that has been incorporated into what is now The Doctors Company Insurance Services, which provides malpractice insurance coverage to physicians all over the country.

Haynes is a member of the advisory board for the Doctors Company.

Haynes, Anderson said, "has done more for organized medicine in New Mexico than anyone I can think of."

Haynes is concerned about malpractice insurance, which has become so costly over the years that it is discouraging physicians from entering private practice, influencing them to work as employees for hospital and provider networks.

Premiums that doctors pay are excessive, and liability caps, limits on how much can be recovered in malpractice cases, are still too high, Haynes said.

Small cities and rural areas, Haynes said, need private-practice physicians.

The Clovis area has a shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists, Haynes said, largely due to malpractice insurance issues.

Among patients today, he said, the greatest health problem is obesity. Obesity, he said, leads to diabetes, high blood pressure and joint problems as people grow older. Obesity, he said, is the greatest contributing factor to COVID-19 deaths.

Haynes said Clovis is a "great place to raise a family," and he and his wife Debbie raised their four children in Clovis, all of whom have grown into successful adults.

Harris said Haynes' story should be told to young people.

"They should know that you can grow up in a town, go away for education, and come back to your town, be very successful, and have great qualify of life," he said.

He added, "Young people should know you don't have to go somewhere else to achieve greatness."