June 26, 2013

It was a groundbreaking day for MU Health Care, as prominent MU faculty members dug their shovels into the future grounds of the University Physicians Providence Clinic, opening in 2015.

The clinic is expected to serve more than 100,000 patients annually, according to a news release.

“It’s an investment in the community, and it’s an expansion in our academic mission for providing sate of the art facilities for our residents and our students,” UM System President Tim Wolfe said.

The two-story, 85,500-square-foot clinic will total approximately $35 million.

The new clinic at the intersection of Providence Road and Southampton Drive is set to replace the University Physicians-Green Meadows Family Medicine Clinic.

“During the past few decades, the Green Meadows footprint has grown to include several buildings totaling about 50,000 feet,” Harold Williamson, vice chancellor of MU Health Care, said. “But as demand for healthcare in our community has increased (and) our interest in teaching students and nurses, we have outgrown the Green Meadows campus, and now we need to expand.”

The new building will be able to consolidate services that are currently provided in several buildings under one roof, Williamson said.

The new facility will be staffed with more than 50 physicians and 100 staff members, have 30 rooms for pediatric patients, 15 rooms for outpatient behavioral healthcare, two conference rooms for group behavioral therapy, 48 rooms for family medicine patients, a drive-through pharmacy, radiology services and an on-site medical testing laboratory.

“This represents the future of what we would like to do with all of our MU Health Care facilities,” said Mitch Wasden, MU Health Care chief executive officer. “In the next five to seven years, you will see more projects like this as we try to update our facilities for our patients.”

John Lauriello, medical director of the Missouri Pediatric Center and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, said the new facility is a milestone in expanding outpatient mental health services.

The new facility provides 17 outpatient treatment offices, he said.

The mission of the Univiersity of Missouri Health Care is to enhance the health of all Missourians,” Lariello said. “This new facility is going to help us move forward in that mission, especially in regard to providing the outpatient mental health facilities we need in our community.”

Between pediatrics and mental health, the facility will have 80 examination rooms, said Steven Zweig, chairman of the department of family and community medicine.

The facility was also designed to address future needs and be convenient to patients, Zweig said.

“When we began designing the building, we wanted to build it not only for healthcare today, but for healthcare five, 10, 15 years from now,” said Michael LeFevre, vice chair and director of clinical services of the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

It was designed to make it easier for primary care physicians, nurses and health care professionals to collaborate to treat their patients, LeFevre said.

“It also was designed with a high-tech, high-touch philosophy, taking advantage of electronic medical records, so we can spend more time with patients and less time flipping through patient charts,” LeFevre said.

These designs keep the family, the child, the parent – the patient in mind, Thomas Selva, professor and director of general pediatrics for the MU School of Medicine and chief medical information officer for MU Health Care, said. Patients even helped design the center.

“It is often said change isn’t good, but this is good change for a good reason,” Selva said.

With the advances in technology and facilities, the University Physicians South Providence Clinic will allow MU to produce a productive work force for the future, Wolfe said.

“We have to allow our students the opportunity to take advantage in the best of facilities and technology in a way that they can deliver the best service possible,” he said.

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