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February 21, 2012
Austin officials celebrate opening of once-controversial clinic
A clinic that had riled neighbors before it was built was celebrated this morning with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony involving health officials and other community leaders, including Mayor Lee Leffingwell and state Sen. Kirk Watson.
Central Health built the $17 million North Central Health Center with a $12 million federal grant and local certificates of obligation backed by Travis County taxpayers. It opened in October at 1210 W. Braker Lane with a final cost that was less than the original $18 million estimate, noted Central Health Chairwoman Rosie Mendoza.
“We are thrilled that this facility will allow us to bring important primary health care services to an additional 11,000 Travis County residents — caring for those who are most in need,” Mendoza said in a statement. “As an accountant, I am very pleased that the project was completed $700,000 under budget.”
CommUnityCare, the clinic network that Central Health oversees, operates North Central, which also provides women’s health services, pediatric care, chronic disease management, diagnostics, dental services and behavioral health counseling. It has an on-site pharmacy and imaging services, as well as bilingual nutrition and prenatal education.
Construction of the nearly 50,000-square-foot structure began in September 2010. It is energy-efficient and is seeking to be awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certificate.
The North Central clinic, however, has not been without controversy. Neighbors in the Gracywoods subdivision fought it for months, starting in 2008, arguing that the location was wrong and inaccessible to most patients.They also raised concerns about traffic.
One opponent, Walt Esquivel, who headed a neighborhood association, said he still believes the clinic is not close to most of the patients it was created to serve. Nor does he support the decision-making process Central Health officials used to choose the location.
He has not heard of any major problems since the facility opened, he said, though he added that he has not been monitoring the situation.
Janet Fulk, president of the Gracywoods Neighborhood Association, said she didn’t know about today’s celebration but had been invited to tour the facility previously. “It’s beautiful,” Fulk said. “So far, so good. They’ve been a good neighbor.”
Central Health officials said North Central meets Watson’s goal of establishing modern, “uniquely Austin” clinics in the community. That was among the 10 goals Watson outlined last fall when he called for a medical school, modern teaching hospital and other health care advancements in Austin.
“This new facility is an excellent example that links academic medicine to our local health care in the community,” said Christie Garbe, a spokeswoman for Central Health.
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May 10, 2011
$10 million clinic planned for Southeast Travis County
The Travis County Commissioners Court signed off today on Central Health’s plans to open a new clinic at an undisclosed location in Southeast Travis County.
Central Health, formerly the Travis County Healthcare District, plans to issue a form of debt called certificates of obligation, which are similar to bonds but don’t require voter approval, to cover the estimated $10 million cost of the clinic. That amount is expected to cover the $8 million cost of acquiring a building and the $2 million cost of renovating it, said John Stephens, Central Health’s chief financial officer.
Neither Central Health nor the commissioners would disclose the site location. That is not required by law until the sale is final and the property is closed on, likely in June or July, Stephens said.
The clinic is needed to meet demand in the area for a variety of health care services, including primary care and specialty services, he said.
The Central Health board approved the $10 million deal at a board retreat April 30. The commissioners have oversight of the board’s budget and tax rate, and payments will come from the board’s reserve account.
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April 21, 2011
Scott & White building Leander clinic; Ken Starr on S&W board
Scott & White Healthcare is building a clinic in the growing city of Leander that will provide primary care and other services, the health system announced today.
The 12,000-square-foot clinic will built by Development 2000 one block north of Crystal Falls Parkway on U.S. 183 and is expected to open in the fall. It will start with two medical providers with capacity to expand to six, officials said.
“By building a clinic in Leander, we’re responding to an unmet need in this community for primary care services including physical therapy,” said C.M. “Bud” Chumbley, chief medical officer for Scott & White Healthcare - Round Rock.
Scott & White has an increasing presence in Williamson County that includes clinics, its hospital in Round Rock and partnership with Johns Community Hospital in Taylor, now Scott & White Hospital - Taylor.
Scott & White also announced that Baylor University President Kenneth Starr, right, famous for prosecuting President Bill Clinton in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals in the ’90s, has been elected to its board of trustees.
Scott & White’s press release merely says, Starr “was appointed Independent Counsel for five investigations from 1994-1999.”
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May 26, 2010
$2 million Seton donation opens two more clinics in Williamson County
The Seton Family of Hospitals has donated another $2 million to the Lone Star Circle of Care, which provides health care mainly to underinsured residents of Williamson and Travis counties. The money will go toward opening two pediatric clinics — at 123 Ed Schmidt Blvd., in Hutto and 1730 E. Whitestone Blvd. in Cedar Park, officials announced today.
The donation brings to $5 million the amount Seton has provided to Lone Star in the past two years to expand health care services in Williamson County.
“Our two organizations have similar missions — making sure the under-served have access to care — and for Lone Star, we don’t have the capital to grow and open new clinics on our own without support from outside partners,” Lone Star spokeswoman Rebekah Haynes said. “That’s why it’s so important to have this support.”
The two new clinics, slated to open in July, bring to five the number of Seton-sponsored pediatric clinics operated by Lone Star, with more planned in the future, Haynes said. All five will be named Dell Children’s - Circle of Care Pediatrics. A sixth existing clinic will be known as Dell Children’s — Circle of Care Adolescent Health. An estimated 40,000 children and adolescents will be served by the six clinics, Haynes said.
Seton also supports five other Lone Star clinics. They provide behavioral health care, women’s services, family health care and senior health services. All are open except the senior clinic, which is opening this summer, Haynes said.
Those clinics will be named “Seton - Circle of Care” as soon as “the new signage goes up,” she said.
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March 8, 2010
St. David's opens urgent care center in Circle C
St. David’s HealthCare has opened its fourth urgent care center in Central Texas, this one in Circle C Ranch, officials announced today.
The clinic, which opened earlier this month at 5700 Slaughter Lane, Suite 260, is open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The phone number is 394-0020.
“This will allow us to treat patients who need immediate attention, but aren’t serious enough to require a visit to the emergency room,” Brett Matens, interim chief executive officer of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, said.
Patients with such ailments as asthma, broken bones and pneumonia and those needing lab tests, vaccinations or physicals can get them at the clinic, officials said. St. David’s other urgent care clinics are in Pflugerville, Kyle and Round Rock.
St. David’s Urgent Care Circle C is the third such clinic the health care system has opened in a little more than a year, officials said.
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February 16, 2010
Health district awards contract on Gracywoods clinic
Board members of Central Health, the organization formerly known as the Travis County Healthcare District, have approved a $12.7 million contract to build a new clinic in the Gracywoods subdivision.
The design-build contract, approved at a meeting Thursday goes to Flynn Construction Inc. of Austin and the Lawrence Group, a national design agency with an office in Austin, said Christie Garbe, a spokeswoman for the district.
The clinic has been the topic of intense community debate, especially from residents in the Gracywoods area who argued the health center did not belong in their neighborhood. They said it was too far from the people it intended to serve, which the district disputed.
The district was turned down in December for a $12 million federal stimulus grant to help pay for the $18 million project, which the district calls North Central Health Center. The district hopes to find other grants that could be used for the project, Garbe said.
The clinic at 1210 W. Braker Lane replaces an aging Northeast Austin Community Health Center at 7112 Ed Bluestein Blvd.
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January 26, 2010
UPDATED: Seton donation opens four clinics in Round Rock, with a fifth coming
UPDATED: Quote from Seton and information from Texas A&M inserted below
A donation of $2.8 million from the Seton Family of Hospitals has led to the opening of four clinics at a medical campus in Round Rock, with a fifth one specializing in senior care opening in the spring, according to a spokeswoman for the Lone Star Circle of Care.
The five clinics at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center College of Medicine expect to care for 31,000 patients a year, said Rebekah Haynes, spokeswoman for Lone Star, a network of 17 clinics in Williamson and Travis counties that serve uninsured and underinsured people.
The project is being announced Wednesday morning at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the health science center.
“We accept everyone no matter where you live or how much money you have … but the majority of our patients are underserved,” Haynes said. The clinics opened in December, with the exception of adolescent care, which was added in January, Haynes said. Some patients have been referred from other Lone Star clinics, but many are new, she said.
The health science center is on 50 acres at 3950 North A.W. Grimes Blvd., and is the first building constructed on the Texas A&M medical campus. Last month, when construction on the building was done, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to dedicate the building, which includes research space for the Texas A&M Health Science Center/Scott & White Diabetes Institute. Medical students also are being educated in the 134,000-square-foot building, and they will train in new Seton/Lone Star “clinical hub.”
A Seton official spokeswoman hailed the collaboration. The strength of the Seton-Lone Star partnership and the potential that it holds is directly related to our shared mission and values in serving the health care needs of the community,” Adrienne Leyva said.
The Seton money provides start-up costs, including equipment and staffing. The two health care organizations have teamed up on other projects, including a medical office in Round Rock, Haynes said.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, officials will announce that the clinics will be named to reflect Seton’s gift with names like the Seton Lone Star Family Medicine Clinic. When the senior clinic opens in the spring, a Lone Star pharmacy also will be added to the building and Texas A&M pharmacy students will be trained there, Haynes said.
Nursing students also will be added in the spring, and they will work in the clinics, too, according to Texas A&M.
Texas A&M officials estimated that the campus had a $38.3 million impact on the economy last year.
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October 13, 2009
Rehab clinic in Sun City opens, holding event tonight
Scott & White Healthcare’s newest clinic offering rehab and physical therapy in Sun City, a Georgetown community that attracts retirees and active adults, is hosting a ribbon cutting and open house today from 5 to 7 p.m.
The grand opening of the Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic at 5353 Williams Drive, Suite 100, in Georgetown, is free and open to the public.
The clinic serves “patients from high school athletes to an active Sun City population,” Scott & White spokeswoman Katherine Voss said. It opened last month.
The space encompasses 6,000 square feet and offers speech therapy, occupational therapy and a 3,500-square-foot gym for physical therapy.
“With the continued growth in our region, there’s an increased need for all health care services, particularly rehab services where we see patients two to three times a week on average,” Brian Carr, the clinic’s lead physical therapist said in a written statement.
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November 14, 2008
Healthcare district agrees to spend $2.1 million to take over urgent care center from Seton
The urgent care center next door to University Medical Center at Brackenridge quietly closed at the end of September while it makes the transition from a private to a public operation.
It is expected to reopen in December under a contract between the doctors who work there and the City of Austin. It will be named Red River Community Health Center.
The Seton Family of Hospitals opened the center in March 2007 to take care of patients who came to the ER but did not need the high cost and resources of an emergency room. Seton’s moving on because the center wasn’t as “successful as thought it would be,” Senior Vice President Greg Hartman said. So, now the city’s stepping in for a few months.
In March, the Travis County Healthcare District will assume the contract from thecCity, the board agreed Thursday night. That is when all of the city and county clinics make the transition to a district-sponsored non-profit.
The estimated cost of the 2-year contract: $2.1 million, or $89,000 a month.
“We see this as another access point for our patients to receive health care,” district spokeswoman Christie Garbe said.
Low-income patients who come through that clinic could be assigned a primary care provider and, thus, a “medical home” at one of the district’s clinics, she said. District officials see it as a way to provide more efficient health care to needy residents and reduce health care costs on the system.
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