PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center will buy the former Virginia Mason Eighth Street clinic and make it the cornerstone of a community health care system.
Hospital commissioners unanimously approved the purchase Monday night but warned that OMC eventually may need additional taxes to make the system work.
The action comes as close as practically possible to continuing “business as usual” at the clinic that was leased to OMC last spring by the Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center.
It is now being used as the Olympic Medical Physicians Primary Care Clinic
OMC hopes to continue contracting with the nine primary care providers who staff it.
The Eighth Street facility will become a “provider-based” clinic, meaning — after the building is brought up to “hospital standards” — it can bill both Medicare Part A and Part B and recover much more of the cost of treating a patient.
The Clallam County assessor values the building at $1.2 million, and Virginia Mason-Seattle earlier listed it for sale at $1.7 million.
Olympic Medical Center CEO Mike Glenn declined to speculate on how much the hospital would pay to purchase and improve the clinic but said, “There are delicate discussions going on now with Virginia Mason.”
