New primary care clinic to open in Lacey this fall

Work has started on a new primary care clinic in Lacey, one that will emerge from a renovated chemical dependency center at 4800 College St. SE.

The new clinic speaks to the demand for primary care needs in Thurston County. Providence Medical Group recently completed a clinic in west Olympia and is set to do the same in south Lacey. Walk-in care patients now total about 50 a day at the west Olympia clinic, said Dr. Rik Emaus, chief executive of the medical group.

The Lacey clinic, which is expected to open in November, will begin with primary care services, followed by walk-in care at a later date. The clinic will be called the Providence Multi-Service Clinic, a collaboration between the medical group, Pacific Medical Centers of Seattle and Providence St. Peter Hospital, which will bring diagnostic imaging and radiology services to the site.

PacMed is an affiliate of Providence Health & Services, an arrangement announced in 2014, spokeswoman Maryjane Banks said.

The 9-acre College Street parcel is home to three buildings, two of which will be renovated immediately, while a third building is still providing outpatient treatment for substance abuse, problem gambling and tobacco cessation education and information.

“It is open for business,” said Geoff Glass, facility director for Providence Health & Services in Southwest Washington. By the end of the year, the chemical dependency services will relocate to a site in the Woodland Square Loop area, Glass said. After those services leave, the third building will become home to the Center for Clinical Integration, an internal operation to support more than a dozen clinical services.

People driving by the site might be alarmed at seeing mature firs being cut down, but Glass said Providence is sensitive to environmental stewardship, recalling that Lacey City Council members inquired about tree removal before they approved a conditional use permit for the project.

Native plants that were removed have been replanted elsewhere in the community, trees will be replanted on site, and felled firs will be incorporated into the clinic design, including wooden columns in the lobby, he said.

Altogether, 31,000 square feet is being renovated. The cost of the project is in the range of $5 million to $8 million, Emaus said.

The clinic will employ about 100 people, including 15 to 16 primary care doctors once fully staffed, he said.

Emaus said Providence data show the need for 75 to 80 more primary care doctors in Thurston County. The new clinic helps work toward that goal, he said.

Not only is it the first clinic for Providence in the area, but it’s a first for PacMed in Lacey.

Banks said Lacey makes sense for their services because they are one of the few providers in the country that accepts the US Family Health Plan for active-duty and retired military members — many of which call Lacey home.

“We are proud to be able to offer that,” she said.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "New primary care clinic to open in Lacey this fall."