Medical Services

Our in-house services include primary care, laboratory, x-ray, bone density, disease management, and referral coordination.

GMA Laboratory

Laboratory Information

  • Our lab is open from 9:00 - 12:00 pm and 2:00 - 4:30 pm Monday through Friday.
  • No appointment is needed for lab work.
  • Sign in at the front desk for all lab work. Be sure to update any insurance, address or other changes.
  • The lab will be notified, and we will call you back as soon as possible.
  • If you are here for fasting blood work (cholesterol/triglycerides or sugar levels), you should be fasting for about 12 hours. You may drink all the water, black coffee, or diet drinks you like.
  • You may take any of our medicine except diabetes medicine and medicine that needs to be taken with food.
Guilford Medical Associates

Osteoporosis Care

With a skilled team of professionals, we are able to perform DEXA scanning and/or result interpretation. We have trained clinical extenders who will provide patient education on bone health and help to select and initiate pharmaceutical management if needed.

Chronic Disease Care

We have the ability to provide patient education and medication management for the following chronic disease states to improve patient care. Our Clincial Pharmacist Practitioners are certified by the North Carolina Center for Pharmaceutical Care, AHEC, and UNC School of Pharmacy to provide care in:

  • Asthma/COPD
  • Hypertension
  • Dyslipidemia

Diabetes Care

We have a Certified Diabetes Educator available for all aspects of diabetes care. Patient goals to be covered are blood glucose monitoring, foot care, medications, nutrition and activity management. We are qualified to assess appropriateness for and starting insulin pump patients. We can also help your patients with insulin starts and titration of insulin dosing. We will keep an open and consistent dialog with the patient's physician to assure that the physician's goals for the patient are met.

Anticoagulation Clinic

We have Clinical Pharmacist Practioners certified to anticoagulation management available to monitor patients requiring chronic anticoagulation. We use point of care testing to provide on the spot monitoring and dosing or oral warfarin therapy. We are able to bridge therapy from heparin to oral warfarin when needed.

Hospital Admission Policy

For the last 50 years the physicians at Guilford Medical have remained committed to providing continuity of primary care to our patients across all spectrums of care: in the outpatient setting, in the hospital, and at select skilled nursing facilities. As health care continues to evolve we remain steadfast in this commitment to our patients.

Over the past 2-3 years, particularly with the expansion of the Hospitalist Movement in Greensboro and across the country, we have experienced an increased pressure to serve as the admitting service for subspecialty patients. Consequently, more and more patients are being admitted to our service for care that is primarily dictated by the subspecialist. We maintain that a patient is best served when the admitting physician is the one who dictates the reason for the admission, the care during the hospital stay, and the ultimate disposition. We believe that this approach is crucial for achieving the highest quality of care and appropriate utilization of resources. Outlined below are our guidelines for admissions to our Primary Care Hospital Service as well as for Subspecialty Service (or their appointed service) admissions:

  • We continue to admit Guilford Medical patients with general medical issues that warrant hospitalization.
  • We coordinate medical care of patients with multiple active medical issues; however, if the primary reason for admission is beyond the scope of primary care, we assume a consultative role (e.g., patients with chronic medical issues being admitted for management of a hip fracture).
  • Subspecialty admissions, defined by the need of a given specialist for their expertise, direction of care, and disposition, are directed to the appropriate subspecialty service (e.g., patients with acute stroke symptoms; patients requiring admission for issues related to active cancer/treatment; patients actively followed by a cardiologist presenting with chest pain warranting admission). If the subspecialist chooses to delegate such admissions to one of their Extenders or to the Hospitalist service, that is their choice.

We hope this clarifies our admission processes and procedures. Please note that this does not deviate from our traditional GMA philosophy to provide continuity of Primary Care across all spectrums of care, which has been our standard of care for decades.

Addendum Concerning Hospital Admissions by Drs. Avva and Perini:

With changes in hospital practice, the delivery of primary care, and the advent of full time internal medicine hospitalist coverage in Greensboro, practice patterns are changing here and nationwide. These changes, especially with respect to subspecialty driven care and the increasing complexity of primary care standards/documentation, have made it difficult to continue the old tradition of admitting and caring for hospitalized patients while accommodating multiple demands in the office setting. Triad Hospitalists currently admit Guilford Medical patients having various specialty problems such as stroke, and stage kidney disease, and cancer related treatments. This group of internists, who specialize only in hospital medicine, now performs over 50% of the total admissions to the Cone Health system.

Dr. Perini and Dr. Avva are now allowing the Triad Hospitalists to admit all of their patients who present to the Emergency Room and need medical admission. This change only applies to patients of Dr. Perini and Dr. Avva: all other Guilford Medical physicians will continue to admit their patients in the traditional manner as stated above. Dr. Perini and Dr. Avva will always be available for in-hospital consultation when needed and will facilitate the admission of patients from the office if indicated. They will always be available for courtesy consultation as well. Please be assured that all patient s of Guilford Medical Associates will continue to receive excellent care in all facets of their healthcare. Please let us know if you have questions or concerns at this time.

View letter by Dr Avva (PDF doc)

View letter by Dr Perini (PDF doc)