Healthy Growth Rate

The Jackson Clinic keeps expanding

It was just a short four years ago that The Jackson Clinic had 10 providers. That number had grown to 32 when an aggressive marketing campaign was launched to promote The Jackson Clinic.

Well, providers are still being added, causing brochures to be slightly out of date. In late September the campaign boasted 34 providers, but even that total had climbed to 35 providers. By the time this article is published the number could be 36 or 37 or …

Joe Riley is presidentand CEO of Jackson Hospital.

The Jackson Clinic has grown in the past four years to include a satellite office in Prattville and one in Pike Road on Chantilly Parkway. Each of those facilities has two physicians. The primary site is on the Jackson Hospital campus at 1801 Pine St.

“There will be a fourth satellite office in the summer,” said Joe Riley, president & CEO of Jackson Hospital. He said that site will be staffed by two family care providers. He is not sure if Jackson will lease space or build an office. “There could be other satellite offices over the next two to three years,” Riley said as Jackson staff recruit physicians to the region. They have recruited 44 physicians to the River Region the past four years.

“When physicians are looking to relocate or to locate, it’s very attractive to join a group of peers and have a support system and infrastructure that’s established,” Riley said. Some of the recruited physicians are employed by Jackson; some become independent providers; and some join other existing practices.

“We offer that smorgasbord when a fellow or resident comes out of their training or someone who has some experience and wants to relocate to Alabama,” Riley said. Jackson actually helps a provider set up an independent practice and assists existing practices recruit physicians. “We have done a very good job of having options (for physicians),” he said. “When physicians come to a new area, it’s very helpful to them to know that they have peers and support and that’s not just with the multispecialty clinic, but what the whole Jackson team has to offer.”

A brochure touting The Jackson Clinic states: “We’re the River Region’s largest multispecialty clinic and your health partners for primary, urgent and specialty care.”

The specialties offered are: cardiology, endocrinology, general surgery, infectious disease, neurology, OB/GYN, occupational medicine, urology, vascular surgery and primary care, which has 15 of the clinic’s 35 physicians.

The brochure also informs patients about having a doctor to manage their care or providing a specialist or offering urgent care.

Two of the locations – Montgomery and Pike Road – also serve as urgent care centers, which means walk-ins are accepted – no appointments necessary. The urgent care clinic “could be your primary care base or it’s a place where you can just drop in,” Riley said.

The campaign features: “35 providers, 11 specialties, 1 medical record.” The one electronic medical record means “better communication, more efficient for the continuum of care,” Riley said.

Any physician with The Jackson Clinic and Jackson Hospital can access a patient’s medical record. “That’s the joy of one medical record,” Riley said.

The strategy behind The Jackson Clinic, which is celebrating 30 years, “is to provide the communities with easy access to providers and primary care as well as specialists,” he said.