Keith Wilson’s interest in babies began early, back in his childhood in Compton, where he taught himself by reading medical books and bemusing his schoolmates with his knowledge.
Wilson indeed became an Ob-Gyn, and he has risen up the corporate ladder, too.
He is chairman and CEO of Costa Mesa-based Talbert Medical Group. He runs a company that anticipates $80 million in revenue this year for the physician-owned company, which has eight offices in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Talbert’s 636 employees serve 70,000 patients with more than a third being Medicare patients.
Talbert has emerged from recent turmoil with a second wind, with backing from a bank and the other physician members.
“We’re doing fine,” Wilson said. “We could pay the loan off now We expected a loss of members but we’ve actually gained members.”
But while Wilson, 43, has moved a long way from Compton in social status,he lives in Diamond Bar and works in Orange County,he hasn’t lost touch with his childhood roots. One day a week, he donates his services caring for the poor at Talbert’s office in Compton.
Resisted Acquisition
Wilson has been credited with leading an effort to resist an attempt by MedPartners, Talbert’s physician management company, to include Talbert in the KPC Global Care acquisition. MedPartners was forced into bankruptcy by state regulators; KPC (now KPC Medical Management) picked up the pieces, buying a large portion of MedPartners.
Wilson, who didn’t agree with KPC’s business model, initiated a physician-owned future for Talbert, obtaining all but two or three doctor’s signatures on a common letter of resignation. The signors also agreed to contribute a total of $200,000 for a legal fund to challenge MedPartners in court.
The group opted against venture capital funding, he said, because it would have required an exit strategy, not part of Talbert’s game plan. So, 120 of 140 eligible doctors agreed to fund the start-up of the group, each paying $5,000 per unit for up to five units of the firm. The ownership buy-in raised $1.2 million. First Professional Bank of Santa Monica loaned the balance of the needed financing.
Wilson, who has delivered “thousands of babies,” wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His late father, Walter Wilson, was a waiter and bartender. His mother, Juanita Wilson, was a full-time mother raising a daughter and three sons in the economically depressed Los Angeles suburbs of Compton, Inglewood and Carson. She still resides in Carson.
Wilson contributed to the family income working at the McDonald’s on the corner of Avalon Boulevard and 223rd Street in Carson. He started as a “bun boy,” then worked up to “lead grill man” and eventually managed the facility.
Interest in Medicine
Part of his personal medical academia goes all the way back to elementary school. That’s where he schooled his classmates on the medical aspects of childbirth from knowledge he gleaned studying medical encyclopedias. Taunted by his peers for his preoccupation with medicine, the schoolyard is also where he gained his self-confidence and ability to fend for himself.
The sixth grader was brought before administrators for his schoolyard teachings, but instead of scorn he was praised for his sound medical knowledge on the miracle of childbirth.
His interest in babies began during a visit with a pregnant aunt in Oakland, where he poured through books on childbirth and breast feeding.
While his brothers went on to successful high school and college athletic careers,Michael Wilson won four Super Bowl rings as a member of the San Francisco 49ers,Wilson dedicated himself to his “calling,” to be a baby doctor.
In eighth grade he wrote an essay titled, “These Hands are the Gift of Life,” based on his philosophy: “When a baby comes into this life, the first hands it touches are mine.”
Wilson went to Howard University upon completion of his medical undergraduate work at the University of Southern California where he attended on a Scholastic Aptitude Test scholarship. He graduated from Carson High School.
The zenith of his career, which served as a professional and personal awakening, was his first delivery as an intern at Howard University, Washington, D.C.
“I was elated, ecstatic about delivering my first baby,” Wilson said reflecting on the birth at D.C. General Hospital. “Then I looked at the single mother. She was withdrawn and crying, alone and scared. She was barely more than a baby herself. She was 13 years old.”
That conflicting experience helped form his position on abortion today.
“My professional position is that people who specialize in women’s healthcare should take care of the whole woman.” Although Talbert doesn’t perform abortions, it does outsource them.
“My social position is that women have the right to make a choice,” he said “But if they opt for an abortion, have it done by a competent physician. I’ve seen the consequences of botched abortions and what it does to people.”
His residency at the King-Drew Medical Center in south-central Los Angeles brought him a lot of baby delivery experience. There the norm was 700 deliveries per month, he said.
From Line Doctor to Management
Wilson began his rise to the top of what is now Talbert Medical Group in 1991 as a line obstetrician at a local clinic for FHP International Corp., the giant OC-based HMO that was later acquired by PacifiCare. Four years later he was a department head.
His ascent into management began with his participation in what was then a beta program for executive transition offered by FHP University and UCI. The former model program is now UCI’s Healthcare Executive MBA program.
A man with a modest demeanor, Wilson reluctantly acknowledges that he could serve as a role model. But he does offer these tips for success:
n You are your worst enemy. You can be your own best friend.
n The limitations you have are those you place on yourself.
n Don’t accept externally imposed limitations.
n Steer away from instant gratification. Stay in school.
Bemoaning the current state of affairs, Wilson expressed a need for doctors to get back in the decision-making process. “There is a disconnect between doctors and patients, insurance companies and patients, and doctors and insurance companies.”
Ongoing Challenges
Further, the reduction of Medicare reimbursements are an ongoing challenge to Talbert, he said. More than one-third of Talbert’s patients have Medicare. “The reimbursement ratio, Medicare versus commercial (private insurance), is about 5 or 6 to 1,” Wilson said.
He and his wife, Rylva, a dentist, have been married 18 years. She is the former Rylva Johnson, a 1973 graduate of Dorsey High School, an inner-city school in Los Angeles. They have a daughter and three sons. Wilson has returned a measure of his success to communities where he spent his formative years. While attending USC he was part of the university’s outreach program to inner-city schools, tutoring in physics, chemistry and biology.
Today Wilson talks at inner-city junior and senior high schools, in addition to his work at Talbert’s office in Compton. And, yes, he still occasionally delivers babies. n
Joe Cordero is a Yorba Linda-based writer. Sherri Cruz contributed to this story.
