Hey Pokin! Almost every day I drive by a building near Campbell and Grand that says “Total Point Urgent Care” on it, but it seems like the structure has been vacant for years. What's going on?
— your newsroom colleague, Jack McGee, of Springfield
Well Jack, the short answer is that there have been construction delays and it will open before the end of June.
That information comes from Muneeb Mahmood, office manager of two Total Point Urgent Care facilities that opened in Branson and Hollister on Jan. 12, 2023.
The long answer, Jack, is complicated and involves the fact that the owner of the facilities, Dr. Talal Zahoor, 37, has had state medical boards in Oklahoma and Texas take actions against his medical license.
I learned this simply by trying to reach Zahoor to ask him why things appear to be progressing so slowly at Grand and Campbell.
I'll get back to this in a minute.
The Branson Tri-Lakes News has written about the urgent care centers in Taney County and Zahoor was a willing interviewee.
Prior to Missouri, the company opened site in Texas and Arizona and has a Facebook page for its Missouri operation where it states:
“Our clinics provide immediate medical care at a fraction of the cost of emergency room care. We offer many services including, urgent care, walk-in care, onsite labs, onsite x-rays, vaccinations, primary care, and physical exams. Total Point Urgent Care’s professional, highly qualified staff is here to ensure you’re comfortable with the best possible care.”
Hard to find someone going by ‘Jeffrey L.'
That Facebook page lists “Jeffrey L.” as the founder and “Dr. Talal Zahoor” as co-founder.
I passed on trying to reach “Jeffrey L.” because, I'm guessing, there are a few thousand in the Ozarks.
Who lists their founder with an initial for a last name? That's odd.
That left me with trying to reach Dr. Zahoor.
Over the years, I have fond a surefire way to locate medical doctors in Missouri. I go the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts.
There is no listing in Missouri for Dr. Talal Zahoor. I also searched under “nonactive licenses,” as well, and found no listing. I found this odd, too.
When I searched the city's building permits for the Springfield site for contact information I saw a contractor listed I'd never heard of: TJKZ Construction LLC.
I googled it. It's in Dallas. Its website lists eight different Total Point Emergency Center sites that it has worked on in Texas.
This made me think Dr. Zahoor was likely a doctor in Texas. So I checked the Texas Medical Board website for his license, hoping to find contact information... so I could get an answer your question, Jack.
‘Respondent engaged in pill mill activity'
Zahoor had a medical license in Texas. But action was taken against it
According to online records, Zahoor met with members of the Texas board Oct. 13, 2023. The order from the board states, in part:
“Board staff charged that Respondent had a disciplinary action entered against him based on a standard of care violation with the Oklahoma State Board of Licensure based on excessive prescribing, failure to maintain adequate medical records, prescribing and/or violation.
“... Some of the Findings of Fact and Recognition of Allegations and Conclusions of Law in the OK Order stated Respondent engaged in pill mill activity, improper prescribing for family members, standard of care violations, and improper prescribing to himself.
“... The OK Order had ordered Respondent to be reprimanded. Additionally, the OK Order stated that if Respondent applied for reinstatement, then the OK Order required Respondent to: be assessed for chemical dependency; be assessed for clinical skill and competency by the OK Board; not practice pain management; and appear before the OK Board upon completion of his assessment for further consideration.
” ... Respondent shall not diagnose, treat, or prescribe for patients in Texas or use his Texas license to practice medicine in any jurisdiction until such time as Respondent requests permission in writing to resume the practice of medicine in Texas, personally appears before the Board to orally petition for permission to resume such practice, and provides evidence and information which in the discretion of the Board adequately indicates that Respondent is physically, mentally, and otherwise competent to safely practice medicine.”
‘Two completely unrelated things'
None of the above poses a problem in Missouri, Mahmood tells me, because Zahoor is operating as a businessman and is not practicing medicine.
The doctor's difficulties with his medical license are totally unrelated to the fact, Mahmood says, that some people here in Springfield might perceive that it's taking a long time to open the Total Point Urgent Care at Campbell and Grand.
“I believe those are two completely unrelated things,” he tells me.
“We've actually been expanding a lot quicker,” he says. “We have a second site in Springfield that we just bought and a site in Harrison, Arkansas. Our Nixa location will finish fairly quickly, as well. Everything is moving pretty well. I don't know where anyone got the hint or the sense we've slowed down. I know that the Springfield building was prepped first, but it was planned to be finished last. So that's maybe why people have seen it sitting there for a while.”
I ask him for Zahoor's cell number but he won't give it to me.
Instead, he takes my number to forward to the doctor, who did not call me by the deadline for publication of this story.
Federal action taken against Hollister clinic
I also ask Mahmood about the fact that in March the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revoked the CLIA certificate at the Hollister location of Total Point Urgent Care.
CLIA stands for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, a set of federal standards that apply to U.S. facilities that test human specimens. The cancellation means the Hollister site cannot receive Medicare payments for services. The site had to stop all patient laboratory testing.
The federal decision states that Zahoor, the operator, and Dr. Joseph Moleski, the director, cannot own, operate, or direct any laboratory for two years from the date of the revocation, or until March 16, 2026.
Not a big deal, Mahmood tells me.
“The facility is open,” he says. “Once again, everything's pending with the higher ups I'm not at liberty to say, but I do know there was no sense of wrongdoing or anything. It's just a paperwork issue. It's already been appealed and we've already talked to them, so it should get resolved fairly quickly.”
Suspicious that I'm not who I say I am
I wondered: Who is Dr. Joseph Moleski?
He is 37, as is Zahoor, and he practices family medicine at St. Louis Medical Weight Loss in Chesterfield.
I called to ask how a Chesterfield physician working at St. Louis Weight Loss got connected with Zahoor and Total Point Urgent Care in the Ozarks, but my time was cut short.
Moleski said he is the prescribing physician in Christian County, not Zahoor. Moleski also said he did not know Zahoor had actions taken against his medical license in Oklahoma and Texas.
He then adds: “I think it's odd. I've never had a reporter call me. You could be anybody, basically.”
I suggest ways for him to check me out. In hindsight, I should have asked him who Total Point founder “Jeffrey L.” was.
“I run a medical practice,” he tells me. “I have a lot of things going on right now. I don't have the liberty to take 30, 40 minutes to figure out why you have a concern about a vacant building.”
“Can you give me five minutes?”
Apparently not. He hung up.
This is Answer Man column No. 76.
