Legacy Health officials say their new primary care clinic is designed to improve access, expand services and provide more comprehensive care for Ridgefield-area residents by introducing a team-based care model.
The Ridgefield clinic opened on July 14 at 536 S. Royle Road, Suite 1, and is now accepting patients. The new facility is intended to help meet the area’s increasing need for primary care providers as Clark County continues to experience rapid population growth, a news release by Legacy Health stated.
Dr. Tad Lowder, Southwest Washington regional medical director for Legacy Medical Group, said Legacy identified Ridgefield as a priority after evaluating the area's rapid population growth and increasing demand for primary care.
"We know that the Ridgefield area is a rapidly growing community, and so we felt like we definitely needed a presence up there to be able to provide services to the community," Lowder said. "One of the guiding principles that we had was, you know, how do we do primary care better than what we're doing currently?"
Rather than relying on the traditional model of one provider caring for a patient, Legacy's Ridgefield clinic is organized into care teams consisting of one physician and two advanced practice clinicians, such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants. Patients will have access to the entire care team, allowing appointments with another provider if their regular clinician is unavailable.
"So instead of the traditional one provider, one patient kind of model, if a patient shows up in Ridgefield you can expect to have this team of providers," Lowder said. "A provider may not always be there, and having the team of providers makes it so that there's at least some other people within the clinic that may be familiar with you and your care and can kind of step in when the provider's out. So, it just provides greater access for our patients."
The care model also extends beyond physicians and advanced practice clinicians. Medical assistants, registered nurses, pharmacists, behavioral health clinicians, nurse case managers and social workers all work together to address patients' medical and non-medical needs. Lowder said the goal is to improve the overall patient experience while addressing factors that influence long-term health.
One feature Lowder highlighted is the inclusion of an on-site clinical pharmacist, which Legacy has expanded across nearly all of its primary care clinics.
"They help us manage our chronic patients with high blood pressure and diabetes and chronic kidney disease and lots of different things," he said. "It's definitely taken a little bit of burden off of the primary care providers to be able to help give patients just another pathway and touch point to be able to follow up and see a different type of provider that has a little bit different focus."
Lowder said pharmacists help patients better manage medications and chronic diseases while allowing physicians to focus on other aspects of care.
Behavioral health services are another key component of the clinic. Lowder said demand for mental health care continues to grow across Southwest Washington, making integrated behavioral health an important addition.
"The behavioral health clinicians not only can help in the acute scenario but change management — people that want to make changes to quitting tobacco, motivation for weight loss or disease management change," Lowder said. "They help in all of those different areas to be able to again kind of focus on people's overall health and ways to help improve their goals of care."
The clinic also offers extended hours to better serve patients beyond typical working hours. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon.
Looking ahead, Legacy plans to continue expanding the Ridgefield clinic over the next several years by adding additional provider teams and eventually bringing specialty care to the community. While no specialties have been finalized, Lowder said the long-term vision includes services that could reduce the need for residents to travel to Salmon Creek, Vancouver or Portland for routine specialty appointments.
"We've really appreciated the welcome," Lowder said. "We definitely have felt that the community is grateful for us to be there, and that gives us a lot of support and hope that we can work with the community to make this a good venture for ourselves, and hopefully we can be a good steward of the place up there as well that we can provide the services that you guys need and become a long-term member of that community."
For more information, visit legacyhealth.org/ridgefield.
