The Doctor Comes to You

Nearly four months after it was first announced, a local health clinic planned by a coalition of energy companies has started to take shape.

The clinic will be called the Coalition Family Health Center, and is now set to open in September. Of its anticipated 15 positions, four have been filled: the practice administrator, who will help manage day-to-day operations and recruit other employees; the center’s medical director; its pharmacy manager; and a nurse practitioner. The coalition would not disclose the names of any of its hires, but said in a statement that the practice administrator and nurse practitioner were both Gillette residents.

Rio Tinto Energy America, Powder River Coal Co. and Foundation Coal West joined forces in February as the Wyoming Quality Health Coalition LLC. Bringing aboard CHD Meridian, a corporate health care management company, the group announced plans to open a clinic that would provide care to 5,200 energy workers, retirees and dependents. The initial start date was set for July.

Since then, the coalition has seen a few delays to its plans as it began to refurbish the site of the new clinic at 430 Medical Arts Court.

“One of the structural units necessary for completion of the pharmacy was delayed in manufacture and shipping,” coalition spokesman Bob Green said in an e-mail.

“That unit is now in route from the manufacturer in California. Upon arrival it will be incorporated into the work flow, facilitating the anticipated opening of the center in September.”

Since buying the building from Antelope Medical Properties LLC in March, the coalition has worked with Gillette’s S&S Builders in preparing the building for its new occupants. Previously, the site had been home to cardiologist Laurence DeBoer’s practice.

“We’re just about finished with renovations to the existing building,” said Wes Armstead, a project manager for S&S.

Among the features that S&S has integrated into the center: a new foundation, x-ray machines, furniture, equipment for an occupational health training room and an overall “facelift,” Armstead said. Up next for construction workers is laying a new floor on the foundation, which should happen by the end of the week.

While the physical building continues to come together, the composition of its staff remains in question. In a region where the hospital and private practices have been locked in a stiff competition for medical talent, bringing aboard a core group of physicians could be the center’s biggest challenge.

Throughout the center’s development, executives at Campbell County Memorial Hospital have remained cautiously optimistic that their facility can productively coexist with its new neighbor. One example that the hospital could look to comes from Elko, Nev., where CHD Meridian opened up the Golden Health Family Medical Center in cooperation with a consortium of area gold mines.

The situation was fairly similar to Gillette’s, with a group of energy companies that wanted to provide primary care to its employees.

David Henson, CEO of Elko’s Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, came into his position a few years after the clinic opened. He said that the hospital and the clinic have managed to work as partners, with the hospital even helping the clinic to recruit physicians by covering incidental fees.

“Things are working very well,” Henson said. “We’ve had nothing but good relations with CHD Meridian and the clinic.”

Source: Gillette News-Record
Original Publication Date: August 11, 2008