Preferred Provider
L&F Distributors Selects Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso as its Preferred Primary Care Provider
Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso is now the preferred provider of world-class patient care for L&F Distributors’ employees and their families.
For the first time, TTP El Paso has teamed up for health with a private Borderplex business to be the provider of choice for its employees’ medical needs, such as primary care, annual checkups and treatment from a wide variety of medical specialists. The new partnership was announced by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso President Richard Lange, M.D., M.B.A., and L&F Distributors’ Owner and General Manager-West Nick LaMantia at the company’s warehouse.
“We’re very excited about how this partnership will transform the health of our employees,” said LaMantia, who is also a member of the TTUHSC El Paso President’s Development Council. “We strive to give our employees the very best and TTP El Paso’s primary care is a huge step in that direction.”
LaMantia said the health of employees and their families is a priority for L&F Distributors, a major regional beverage wholesaler and distributor. Since its establishment, the business has always placed a focus on the communities it serves and its employees, who they refer to as family.
To encourage employees to take advantage of the world-class physicians and specialty care available at TTP El Paso, L&F will cover the copay for its employees and their dependents beginning July 1. LaMantia’s hope is that L&F Distributors employees will find it easier to establish a primary care physician relationship and schedule annual checkups for every member of the family.
Peter Catinella, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor at TTUHSC El Paso and chair of the Department of Family Medicine – Transmountain at TTP El Paso, said family medicine physicians and residents are prepared to provide services and can even see the entire family together. With routine checkups, physicians can identify health conditions early and provide preventative care, which can help reduce health care costs in the long run. The partnership will also support TTUHSC El Paso’s educational mission of equipping the Borderplex with talented physicians. TTUHSC El Paso medical residents train with faculty physicians at all TTP El Paso locations, caring for the region’s diverse patient population.
“L&F Distributors understands family, service and community. We hold these same core values at Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso,” said Dr. Catinella. “This partnership builds on these values and helps support our efforts of caring for the people of the Borderplex, while also contributing to our mission of training the future physician workforce for this region. I’m excited to have our department contribute to this innovative collaboration.”
Beyond family medicine, TTP El Paso clinics offer services from a variety of subspecialty providers, helping local families avoid the expense of traveling outside the city for specialized health care services.
“This is a first-of-its-kind partnership for TTP El Paso, and quite frankly we hope it’s not the last,” Dr. Lange said. “That first doctor visit is sometimes the hardest, but we’re here to make it easier for our friends at L&F Distributors. They can set an appointment and know they’ll be accepted as a new patient and cared for by some of the best physicians in the region.”
About L&F Distributors
L&F Distributors began as a family business with a single location in McAllen, Texas, and less than 20 employees. Today, the business owns eight distribution warehouses, including its El Paso location, and is the primary beer distributor along the Texas border with Mexico. The company, which also distributes a wide range of popular nonalcoholic beverages, employs more than 1,200 people and is deeply involved in the communities in which it operates.
The Texas-based business also has a history of looking after Lone Star State communities. L&F Distributors rose to the occasion in 2021, following the Texas winter storm and amid the COVID-19 pandemic to donate $10,000 and coordinating food drives to feed service workers in South Texas. The company also worked with the Red Cross to provide emergency drinking water for Corpus Christi-area communities when it was a crucial need.
In the Borderplex region, L&F Distributors gave $10,000 to the Paso del Norte Community Foundation’s food and beverage workers fund during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as $35,000 to the El Paso Community Foundation fund during the Khalid benefit concert for victims of the Aug. 3, 2019 mass shooting at a local Walmart.
Additionally, both LaMantia and L&F Distributors were instrumental in providing a Hunt School of Nursing student with a complimentary one-year lease for a 2021 Nissan Kicks last year. L&F Distributors paid for the vehicle lease, allowing then-student Angela Lopez to focus on her studies. She graduated at the age of 19 and is currently serving the community as a nurse at El Paso Children’s Hospital.
Also in attendance from the LaMantia family was Lisa Peisen, a Stars Scholarship Fund Board Member and proud Texas Tech University alumna. The Stars Scholarship Fund was announced in 2020 as a partnership between L&F Distributors and TTUHSC El Paso. The partnership supports future health care professionals who will work for the El Paso region, which has been historically underserved.
About TTP El Paso
As the official clinical practice of the Foster School of Medicine, the providers who comprise TTP El Paso each hold faculty appointments at the school, where they teach the next generation of doctors. TTP El Paso is the region’s largest multispecialty medical group practice, with over 250 specialists and subspecialists at several locations across the city.
TTP El Paso provides more than $31 million of uncompensated care annually and its doctors conduct more than 200,000 clinic visits each year. In 2020, TTP El Paso served 205,407 patients, 24% of the county’s population at that time.