EVERETT — Goodbye Everett Clinic, hello Optum.
The Everett Clinic and The Polyclinic in Seattle will be renamed Optum in April 2024, the clinics’ parent company since 2019 announced in an email to patients Monday.
“While the name will differ, our commitment to this community is stronger than ever,” Imelda Dacones, market president for Optum Pacific Northwest, wrote in the email.
Optum spokesperson Karrie Spitzer said changes to expect by April include “Optum branding on exterior signage, patient communication and new employee badges.” Optum also announced the launch of new clinics and services including online scheduling, on-demand video visits, and expanding the “care at-home program.”
“As we become Optum, we’re making access to innovative care even easier,” Dacones said in a video announcing the rebrand.
Optum, owned by parent company UnitedHealth Group, is a global company with over 500 locations in Washington serving more than 330,000 patients. The company operates 49 locations in the Puget Sound region under The Everett Clinic name, as far north as Bellingham and as far south as Puyallup, but mostly in Snohomish County.
The Everett Clinic is one of the top 10 employers in Snohomish County with over 2,500 employees, according to Economic Alliance Snohomish County.
Some have have noticed a change since Optum bought the clinic, which has existed for 100 years.
“This is not the physician-owned Everett Clinic that I joined in 1996, but instead the disturbing evolution of the corporate-owned, profit-hungry entity I retired from in 2021,” Eileen de la Cruz, a former Everett Clinic physician, wrote in The Herald earlier this month.
Long-time patient Kelly Barton, 67, said he is disappointed by the name change.
“I feel like I belong to a huge conglomerate,” he said. “To them I’m a number, not a name.”
One former employee, who was part of a wave of layoffs in August, said the upcoming name change has been common knowledge within the clinic for years.
“It’s not The Everett Clinic,” said the ex-employee, who asked to remain anonymous because of a severance contract. “Don’t call it the same thing when it’s really not anymore.”
Private practice doctors Samuel Caldbick, Harry Secoy, Arthur Gunderson and Leo Trask founded the clinic in 1924.
“Everett was in the midst of a post-World War boom,” according to the clinic’s website. “When mill workers prospered, the community and its doctors thrived. The new clinic survived the Great Depression due to its leaders’ foresight. They had contracted with local mills to cover workers’ medical care.”
Timeline:
1910: Dr. Samuel Caldbick, a surgeon, establishes his Everett practice
1924: The Everett Clinic is founded by four physicians: Samuel Caldbick, Harry Secoy, Arthur Gunderson and Leo Trask
1963: Founders Building opens in Everett
1981: A clinic opens in Marysville
1985: A Harbour Pointe clinic opens
1987: A Lake Stevens clinic opens
1989: The first walk-in clinic opens in Everett
1993: A clinic opens in Snohomish
1994: A clinic opens in Silver Lake
1995: The Everett Clinic Foundation forms
1996: A clinic opens in Stanwood
1998: The clinic bans pharmaceutical companies from its offices
2001: Trask Surgery Center opens in Everett
2006: A Mill Creek clinic opens; Providence Regional Cancer Partnership opened in Everett
2011: The Everett Clinic is recognized as a national best place to work
2012: Smokey Point Medical Center opened; featured on the PBS documentary, “U.S. Health Care: The Good News”
2016: Merges with DaVita Healthcare Partners; a Shoreline clinic opens, the first location in King County
2017: The Optum unit of UnitedHealth — one of the nation’s largest insurers — buys The Everett Clinic for $4.9 billion; the Edmonds and Woodinville clinics open; Totem Lake Family Medicine joins The Everett Clinic
2018: A Bothell clinic opens
2019: The Polyclinic joins Optum
2020: Island Internal Medicine, La Conner Medical Center and Summit View Clinic join The Everett Clinic
Sydney Jackson: 425-339-3430; sydney.jackson@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @_sydneyajackson.
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