Facility off Tates Creek Road Looks to Offer Medical Home Model for Patient-Centered Care
KentuckyOne Health has opened a new outpatient care center, providing medical care to both adults and children. The center is located at 1099 Duval Street off Tates Creek Road, just south of Man O’ War Blvd.
This represents the company’s first outpatient care center in Lexington. The health-care organization’s first such facility in central Kentucky is located in Jessamine County.
The St. Joseph Outpatient Care Center offers full-service diagnostic imaging. Just like imaging departments in hospitals, the center can provide CT (cat scan), general X-ray, ultrasound, mammography and bone density scans. Images are read by one of St. Joseph’s board-certified radiologists.
The facility is the second new diagnostic imaging center that has been set up as an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facilities (IDTF) within KentuckyOne Health, ensuring costs of services remain affordable to patients or their payers. The first was set up in Richmond, Ky.
Greg Giles, KentuckyOne Health’s system director of ambulatory operations and development, said that by offering imaging services formerly available mainly in hospitals now in a smaller, freestanding medical facility, St.Joseph can charge less than hospital rates for the same services.
“It’s the right thing to do, to offer accessible care for the community and to offer it in a more cost-effective way,” he said.
In addition to the Saint Joseph Outpatient Care Center, the facility also includes examining rooms and offices for four physicians. The new building measures about 16,000 square feet.
Saint Joseph Primary Care Associates practice includes Drs. Ben Rambicure, Karla Groves, Michelle Wrightson and Mauverine Hall. Each doctor is board-certified in either family practice or internal medicine.
“I like the location — it’s fantastic, a very residential neighborhood,” said Rambicure. “It’s easy for patients to get to us.”
He added, “St. Joseph is working on making us a one-stop location for patient care.”
The new medical facility has also drawn praise from patients.
“They love the location, and they appreciate the aesthetics of a newer clinic, [with] everything built in,” Rambicure said.
Giles concurred.
“It’s really easy to access,” he said. “It’s a brand-new building. Everything is shiny and bright. It’s just an attractive location as well as an accessible location.”
He added, “Of course, we want to be where people are, but it’s also good for the community to have things close by — schools, stores, medical care. They can stop on the way to or from work.”
St. Joseph’s Outpatient Care Center offers “specialized health-care screenings and preventive medicine,” Rambicure said. “We do a lot of physical exams for school, camps, sports. We also handle acute-care needs.”
“We’re in the process of creating a patient-centered medical home model,” Rambicure said. “We make sure we have same-day openings, should a patient desire it. We have access to all of their medical records and lab results.”
This medical home model is also a national trend. It is one that many hospitals are trying to implement as they add primary-care facilities or buy existing practices.
Rambicure said that the ultimate goal is “to improve the overall patient experience.”
Additional space within the facility has been reserved for future expansion. That usage may include outpatient rehab services and specialty clinics.
“We’re seeing a shift — health care is moving from a reactive to a proactive model,” Giles said. “This will reduce utilization of emergency services and keep patients [who don’t need it] out of those high-cost venues of care.”
What all those changes in health care mean for its leaders is that “we’re learning how to make ourselves more efficient [even as models still evolve],” Giles added. “You have to stay nimble and be flexible in how you deliver care and keep costs reasonable.”
“It is our mission to provide highly quality care and convenient access to health-care services for our patients,” said Shelley Neal, vice president, KentuckyOne Health ambulatory services.
Of the new facility, she said, “The primary care and diagnostic services available at the Tates Creek location provide an opportunity for patients to seek quality diagnostic and primary care closer to home.”
KentuckyOne Health was formed in early 2012 with the merging of Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare and Saint Joseph Health System. In late 2012, the organization formed a partnership with the University of Louisville Medical Center. The new entity is the largest health system in Kentucky, with more than 2,700 licensed beds and 16,000 employees, and more than 200 locations, including hospitals, physician groups, clinics, primary care centers, specialty institutes and home health agencies.
Recently Acquired Richmond Open MRI Makes Smooth Transition
Dr. Timothy Dineen, a board-certified radiologist, opened Richmond Open MRI in 2001. His practice served patients primarily from Richmond, Ky., and Madison County, but also from other areas.
“I have been in the community almost my entire career,” said Dineen, who has treated patients at Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center, Berea Hospital and various other area medical facilities.
Dineen had always planned to sell his practice someday.
“This was my exit strategy from the beginning of being a business owner,” he said.
Still, he was cautious when KentuckyOne Health expressed interest in buying his radiology practice. Like many physicians, he would be glad to be free of the stress of running a business, but he wasn’t ready to retire from practicing medicine. And what about his dedicated and loyal staff?
It turned out that KentuckyOne Health wanted to keep things just the way they were. Dineen accepted the health-care organization’s offer, and the imaging center’s name was changed to Saint Joseph Outpatient Care Center.
“I felt like we were a good fit with St. Joseph. We already have an ongoing relationship. This has worked out well for me and for my staff,” Dineen said. “St. Joseph is interested in me and in my staff.”
“It’s the same team in the same place providing the services they’ve provided for decades. The same faces, the same relationships, now part of our team,” said Greg Giles, KentuckyOne Health’s director of ambulatory operations and development.
Dineen is still practicing medicine, but now “I get to spend more time with my family. I can spend time in the community doing things, too,” he said.
Dineen said that his patients who come for radiology services benefit as well.
“We can do a lot more things than we could do as an independent center,” he acknowledged.
One of Dineen’s major concerns with selling his practice was that the new owner organization would raise prices. He knew that both incomes and cost of living were lower in Richmond than in Lexington. If prices were raised, some members of his community would forego medical service they needed.
“St. Joseph has kept the same charges for [radiology] studies we had before. They wanted to do this, so we’re still less expensive than hospital-based imaging charges,” Dineen explained.
Giles said that the lower overhead costs of a freestanding medical facility compared to those of a hospital make it possible to keep the price structure lower for patients and their payers.
Convenient to Richmond and Madison County residents, the center is located off of the Eastern By-Pass on Alycia Drive. It includes surface level parking and ground level access to patients.
The Saint Joseph Outpatient Care Center will provide the same level of services as the former Richmond Open MRI. They include open MRI, CT, PET, general X-Ray, ultrasound and bone density.
“The open MRI is an option for patients who have anxiety about going inside [of a regular, closed MRI machine], for people with mobility issues and the physically challenged,” said Giles.
In the last year KentuckyOne Health has aligned with several primary care and specialty physicians in the Richmond community. They include Drs. Jessica Pennington (Family Practice), Asad Jadoon (Cardio-logy), Anil Harrison(Family Practice), and Tony Smith (OB/GYN).
These primary care, cardiovascular and specialty clinic offices are located nearby. Their patients will have easy access to diagnostic imaging services at St. Joseph Outpatient Care Center, and the coordination of care is expected to be easier for all doctors involved.
KentuckyOne historically has had a limited presence in the Richmond market, despite having health-care services south of the city in Berea, Ky., and north of the city in Lexington. Dineen expects to be able to serve more patients.
One logical area for expanding services would be in women’s imaging. Since his practice already provides ultrasounds and bone density scans, adding mammography would be a good fit, he said.
“There’s room for growth in Richmond,” Giles said. “It may be by other existing providers joining us.”
“It is our mission to provide high quality care and convenient access to health-care services close to home for our patients,” said Shelley Neal, vice president, KentuckyOne Health Ambulatory Services. “This new center will complement the health-care services currently available in Richmond and accommodate the needs of the community’s growing population.”
KentuckyOne Health was formed when two major Kentucky health-care organizations came together in 2012. KentuckyOne Health combines the Jewish and Catholic heritages of the two former systems — Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare and Saint Joseph Health System.
The nonprofit system is committed to improving the health of Kentuckians by integrating medical research, education, technology and health-care services wherever patients receive care. KentuckyOne Health has nearly 200 locations including hospitals, physician groups, clinics, primary care centers, specialty institutes and home health agencies, with more than 13,600 employees across the state of Kentucky and southern Indiana.