Valley Medical Group, a prominent primary care practice in western Massachusetts, has been struggling financially, but the doctors there didn’t want to sell the practice to a hospital system. Instead they recently joined an Independent Physician Association (IPA). Karen Brown/New England Public Media hide caption toggle caption Karen Brown/New England Public Media Western Massachusetts, a patchwork of rural communities and low-income cities, is a difficult place to find a primary care doctor, if you don’t already have one. Frustrated patients often take to online forums asking for leads or advice on how to find a practice that is accepting new patients. One name repeatedly crops up in these discussions: Valley Medical Group. With four locations in the Connecticut River valley, the practice has been a mainstay of family medicine since the 1990s. Valley Medical’s flagship office in Northampton can be found right off Main street, next door to a pizza restaurant and a Friendly’s. Valley has 90 medical providers — including doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants — and on-site labs, x-rays, and vision care. …