East Iowa clinics example of new model for health care

Experts say a proliferation of hospital-affiliated primary care and urgent care clinics is part of the future wave of health care.

The clinics help provide the access, continuity and integration of care that are hallmarks of health care reform, while at the same time promoting “brand” loyalty to the hospitals, said Scott McIntyre, communications director for the Iowa Hospital Association.

“If it's your clinic, (doctors) will refer patients to your hospital,” McIntyre said. “Health care providing is still a business and there's still competition.”

Hospital-employed doctors have replaced the older model of independent doctors, he said, a model that facilitates communication and connects the primary care doctors to specialists and to hospital care.

Clinics aren't confined to the city where the hospital is located, with some in counties far beyond the flagship site.

Julie Zuber, director of clinic operations for St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, said St. Luke's opens clinics where patient demand exists.

The newest is a 20,000 square-foot facility built in the former Floor Trader building, 1001 N. Center Point Rd., Hiawatha.

St. Luke's Hiawatha Campus, which will open Monday, will include internal medicine, urgent care, imaging services, Therapy Plus and Medlabs.

“It's a growing area,” Zuber said of northeast Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha.

The site is patterned after St. Luke's Marion campus, which opened in 2009 and added urgent care six months later.

“We saw 90 patients the first day and it hasn't slowed down,” Zuber said.

She agreed that St. Luke's urgent care centers and 18 primary care clinics instill a certain amount of loyalty from patients, including those in rural Benton, Cedar and Jones counties, who come to the Cedar Rapids hospital when needed.

Moreover, Zuber said, clinics and urgent care centers provide cost-savings as an alternative to more expensive emergency room care and help keep the focus on prevention, another goal of health care reform.

Dr. Tim Quinn, president of MercyCare Community Physicians, which is affiliated with Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, said patients can be treated for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries at urgent care clinics for a fraction of the cost of hospital emergency rooms.

Clinic hours have evolved to keep up with patient demand and to replace using emergency rooms after hours for non-emergencies.

“It's really an inadequate model,” Quinn said of insurance covering the cost of hospital emergency care that was common decades ago as the only after-hours health care option. “As people are busier, they need extended hours and weekend hours and we've responded to that.”

A new MercyCare Urgent Care clinic is opening at 3701 Katz Dr. in Marion, one of MercyCare's three urgent care centers, four specialty clinics and 13 family practice clinics in the Cedar Rapids area, along with Center Point, Monticello, Mount Vernon, North Liberty and Tama.

Mercy Iowa City opened a new internal medicine office this month at 2769 Heartland Dr., Coralville.

Tim Ahlers, vice president of marketing and business development, said Mercy has not historically operated internal medicine clinics.

“However, we've all monitored the quickly developing population in the west side of the area, and after discussions of how to best provide accessible services, Mercy decided to open this new clinic,” Ahlers said in an email, noting that the site is convenient for people living in Coralville, North Liberty and West Iowa City.

Mercy Iowa City has primary care clinics in a dozen Eastern Iowa towns, along with two urgent care centers.

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics operates UI Health Care clinics in about 10 cities, along with three UI QuickCare Centers and a fourth set to open on Mormon Trek Boulevard.

The hospital's new five-story Iowa River Landing clinic in Coralville is expected to handle up to 300,000 patient visits annually after the clinic opens in October, with outpatient programs such as dermatology and cardiology, along with general medicine and pediatrics.

A Family Medicine Clinic is set to be built on Melrose Avenue in Iowa City and the UI bought 40 acres in North Liberty to replace a clinic in that area.

UI officials have said the clinics are part of a strategy to shift traffic away from the main hospital in Iowa City.

Hospital spokesman Tom Moore said the primary factors UI Health Care leaders consider when determining the placement of urgent care and primary care clinics are access and convenience for patients.

“We have a strong history of working closely with Iowans who invite our leadership to consider providing health care services in their communities,” he said by email.