PORT ANGELES — Virginia Mason clinic doctors unanimously said Thursday night they’d have no part in Olympic Medical Center’s two-clinic replacement for their Eighth Street facility.
“There is absolutely no interest on the part of any physician to participate in that plan,” said Dr. Paul Pederson after the physicians met into the evening.
“It’s felt to be a lousy plan.”
The doctors’ Seattle-based employer, however, will support Olympic Medical Center’s plan to open two primary care offices in Port Angeles on May 1 after the North Olympic Peninsula’s only remaining Virginia Mason clinic closes.
Patti Crome, vice president of Virginia Mason-Seattle, on Thursday called closing its satellite at 433 E. Eighth St. on April 30 “an ending and a new beginning.”
“We think this is a good option for the patients,” Crome said of Olympic Medical Center’s plans.
“We will support the transition.”
The two-clinic plan was announced late Wednesday by Olympic Medical Center CEO Mike Glenn. Many of the clinic doctors knew nothing of it until they read it in Thursday’s Clallam County edition of the PDN.
Virginia Mason-Seattle officials said they are closing the clinic to stem losses they say have totaled $10 million in 10 years.
