Concord Hospital acquires two more practices.

Concord Hospital has acquired two more area specialty practices, bringing the total to five such acquisitions made by the hospital in the last two years.

The hospital most recently announced that both Concord Neurological Associates and Pittsfield Medical Center, a primary care practice, are now under its management umbrella.

Mike Green, CEO of Concord Hospital, said he was "very excited" about the additions. He said the acquisitions "certainly help fulfill our mission of meeting the health needs of people in all of the communities we serve."

Patients should not experience much of a change, Green told the Concord Monitor.

All of the current staff members of Concord Neurological Associations will keep their jobs, and the office will remain in the Pillsbury Building on the hospital campus, he said. The practice's neurologists have traded in their ownership shares for the stability of salaried jobs as hospital employees.

The Pittsfield practice will remain at its facility at 44 Loudon Rd. in Pittsfield.

The acquisitions are part of a national trend in medical specialty ownership, which in recent years has moved from physician ownership to ownership by hospitals.

Joining the staff of Concord Hospital from Concord Neurological Associates are:

* Dr. Mildred H. LaFontaine, board-certified in psychiatry and neurology, is a graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., who completed a residency and internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

* Dr. Mark A. Lombardo, board-certified in psychiatry and neurology, is a graduate of Rutgers University of Medicine in Piscataway, N.J., who completed a residency and internship at Letterman U.S. Army Hospital in San Francisco, Calif.

* Dr. John R. Pettinato, board-certified in psychiatry and neurology, is a graduate of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in Chicago, who completed a residency and internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Green told the Monitor that he hopes to hire a fourth neurologist by this summer to improve access for patients in the area. The practice currently has a three-month waiting list for an appointment, he said.

Providers affiliated with Pittsfield Medical Center are:

* Dr. John F. Barksdale, board-certified in family practice, is a graduate of the Boston University School of Medicine in Boston, who completed a residency and internship at Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.

* Dr. Mark H. Selesnick, board-certified in family practice, is a graduate of the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing who completed a residency at the Malden Hospital/Boston University in Malden, Mass., and an internship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester.

* Dr. Robert J. Zahn, board-certified in family practice, is a graduate of the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Maywood, Ill., who completed a residency and internship at Womack Army Community Hospital in Fort Bragg, N.C.

* Paula Weeman, ARNP, completed the nurse practitioner program at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She graduated from the Concord Hospital School of Nursing in Concord.