SMOKEY POINT — The Everett Clinic broke ground July 21 on a new two-story clinic designed to serve 60,000 patients per year when it opens in September 2012.
Situated on 3.6 acres at the northwest corner of the I-5/172nd Street NE interchange, Everett Clinic Chief Executive Officer Rick Cooper and Chief Operating Officer Mark Mantei touted the efforts of the clinic’s staff in carefully analyzing patient and staff needs during the last 18 months to make the new clinic run smoothly.
“Thirty years ago, we opened our first branch office in Marysville,” Cooper said. That building covered 2,500 square feet. “In terms of the scale of the initiative, this is a testament to the people and culture of The Everett Clinic.”
“In spite of the challenges” of health-care reform and the lingering recession, Cooper said, “the board of directors had confidence to make this kind of investment.”
The Smokey Point project will cost $24 million, which includes the building, land, design, permits and medical equipment. The new clinic will feature the largest offering of medical specialists outside The Everett Clinic’s main offices in Everett. Primary care will include family and internal medicine, pediatrics and a walk-in clinic. Specialties will include neurology, dermatology, ear-nose-throat, allergy, behavioral health, heart and vascular, gastroenterology, orthopedics, podiatry, physical therapy, occupational medicine and gynecology, along with advanced imaging and comprehensive lab services.
The Everett Clinic plans to open the Smokey Point office with a workforce of 60 and expand as needed.
Since 40 percent of The Everett Clinic’s 295,000 patients live in north Snohomish County, clinic officials expect to schedule 60,000 medical appointments per year during first three years of operation.
The Smokey Point clinic will be designed with a focus on patient flow so providers can serve patients quickly and efficiently as they move through stages of care with minimal delay.
Mantei said the Smokey Point office was designed with extensive staff and patient participation, based on their own experiences.
The underlying concept is to get the patient through the clinic with minimum fuss. The entry will offer touch-screen kiosks for patients to check themselves in to reduce wait time and eliminate paperwork. Exam rooms will be considerably larger than the typical 8-by-10-foot room, allowing for more services to be done privately. Portable equipment carts will allow providers to bring treatment to the exam room, rather than moving the patients. The efficient patient flow means patients will get to spend more time with physicians while getting in and out of the clinic 25 percent quicker.
Patients won’t have to walk through busy clinical work areas to reach an exam room. A consult area will be available for private discussions between doctors, patients and their families.
Looking to the future, flexible interior walls will allow expansion without remodeling and associated costs.
Lea Treml-Ellis is an Everett Clinic patient representative who helped with the design of the Smokey Point clinic.
“They took my opinion on everything,” the Stanwood resident said.
One of Treml-Ellis’ suggestions was to put scales in the exam rooms instead of out in the open.
“They listened and found ways to make things happen,” she said. “It was most amazing. I wanted to be heard, and they heard me.”
Thanks to Treml-Ellis, don’t look for a scale in a hallway in the Smokey Point clinic.
Kurt Batdorf: 425-339-3102, kbatdorf@scbj.com.
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