When Dr. Alan Covin founded HeartSouth in 1999, he saw that Hattiesburg presented a unique opportunity to start a unique practice in a city that was very progressive and well-suited for raising a family.

Heartsouth is a multi-specialty clinic without walls, but the core is the cardiology practice in Hattiesburg and Magnolia. It has one of only two board certified nuclear cardiology technicians in Hattiesburg on staff. Other practices in Wiggins, Petal, Brookhaven, Corinth and Oxford chose to become part of HeartSouth rather than just be managed by the company HealthStar that was set up as the practice management arm. The practices set up Escribe to provide transcription services. Currently all three are combined into HeartSouth.

HeartSouth is based on an integrated group model, designed to bring more primary care to the area and help with management of clinics. Dr. Covin, who is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiology and is certified in nuclear cardiology, recognized the need for more efficient and cost-effective management of practices in anticipation of cuts in reimbursements and increases in the cost of supplies, benefits and other services.

HeartSouth has brought many “firsts” to Hattiesburg. It started the first Lipid Clinic and Heart Failure Clinic, and was the first to implant devices for heart failure. In 2002, HeartSouth helped Wesley Medical Center start its CV surgery program, introducing endovascular vein harvesting and other state-of-the-art techniques. Its reputation is built on quality of care and truly caring for patients. The staff works to earn the trust of their patients.

HeartSouth is the only multi-specialty practice to serve north and south Mississippi. As the practice of medicine becomes more challenging, it will become more important for practices to share resources, work together and negotiate better contracts with third party payers and vendors, and HeartSouth will lead the way.