EVERETT — The new medical clinic at Compass Health’s offices on Broadway had just been open a few weeks, and even then they knew they’d need more staff to keep up with patient demand.
The clinic was launched to help better coordinate medical care for Compass’ mental health patients. It opened for limited operations in February until all remodeling on its 4,000 square feet of office space could be completed.
It began full operations March 15, only to quickly learn they would need more staff to keep up with demand.
“We’re filling a need,” said Andy Machin, clinic administrator. In addition to Compass’ patients, it now also treats Medicaid, Medicare and those with Molina health insurance.
The clinic was opened through a partnership with Molina Healthcare of Washington.
Compass is sponsoring a grand opening celebration for the clinic Thursday, open to the public. Tours of the new clinic will be provided.
“It’s gorgeous; they did an amazing job,” said Tom Sebastian, chief executive of Compass Health, the largest mental health organization in Snohomish County.
Sebastian worked with officials of Molina Healthcare of Washington to open the clinic because mental health patients often weren’t getting the help they needed with medical issues.
“It’s actually working much better than we hoped,” Sebastian said. “It’s amazing how busy they are already.”
Molina has 17 medical clinics in Southern California. This is the organization’s first clinic in Washington state.
The clinic is on the building’s second floor. “They gutted the entire floor and everything is really brand new,” Machin said.
Many of Compass’ patients, in addition to having mental health diagnoses such as depression or bipolar disorder, also have medical issues such as asthma, diabetes, seizures or drug and alcohol abuse, he said.
Dr. Tom Tocher, an internal medicine specialist, works with a registered nurse from Compass to coordinate care.
The clinic hopes to hire a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant within the next few weeks. That would allow the clinic to increase from about 20 appointments each day to 40 to 50, Machin said.
The clinic is considered such a success that Compass and Molina are considering opening other medical clinics, Sebastian said. Although Compass also has offices in Skagit, Island and San Juan counties, “we’ll look at Snohomish County initially and really concentrate on meeting as much of the need” as we can, he said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
See the new clinic
A ribbon cutting ceremony for the Molina medical clinic at Compass Health is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday. Tours will be provided. The clinic is inside Compass Health, 3322 Broadway, Everett.
The clinic provides services to Compass Health patients, but also takes Medicaid, Medicare and Molina patients. For more information, call 425-249-4822.
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