PORT ANGELES — Doctors as well as patients fear a possible implosion of the Virginia Mason clinic, Olympic Medical Center commissioners learned Wednesday.
Longtime family physician Stan Garlick said he was apprehensive about the possible loss of the clinic’s almost 20 general practitioners, but also that Olympic Medical Center might take over the clinic and put private doctors at a financial disadvantage.
“To date we haven’t struggled with such a large economic force in our community,” said Garlick, a family doctor in Port Angeles since 1979 and one of five partners in Family Medicine of Port Angeles.
“We feel threatened,” he said.
But it’s premature to draw that conclusion, said medical center CEO Mike Glenn, backed by several commissioners.
“Nobody wants to see these good doctors leave our community,” Glenn said of the general practitioners at Virginia Mason.
Those doctors provide about a third of family care in Port Angeles, he said.
However, “We have lots of thoughtful consideration and lots of listening to do,” Glenn added.
“We are just beginning to get our arms around the problem.”