Samaritan's Patton clinic to be expanded

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare officials are looking to expand the clinic on Patton Boulevard in 2021.

Chief administrative officer Alex Town said more space is needed because hospital officials are adding services and hiring more doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The Samaritan Clinic on Patton Family Medicine was part of a larger discussion of planned capital expenditures in 2021 during the regular Samaritan commission meeting Tuesday.

The hospital district’s 2021 capital budget includes $4 million for remodeling clinic space. Samaritan has two clinics, one on Pioneer Way and the second on Patton Boulevard.

The Samaritan Clinic on Patton Family Medicine is located at 8420 Aspi Blvd., but currently it only occupies a portion of the building. Town said hospital administrators could return with an expansion plan as early as the December commission meeting.

Commissioners voted in 2019 to build a new hospital, with construction scheduled for 2020. But the COVID-19 outbreak scrambled the schedule, and the hospital’s application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for financing was turned down.

Town said hospital officials included $5 million in the 2021 capital budget for the facility project, at the recommendation of consultants working on the project. Hospital officials remain committed to the project: Chief executive officer Theresa Sullivan said Samaritan is starting to run out of room for additional doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

Now, Town said hospital officials don’t know what kind of loan the hospital district will be able to get for the project. By the end of 2021, hospital officials will have a loan and a design, know the parameters of the project and have a better idea of the capital costs to the district, Town said, which will make it easier to forecast capital expenses.

Because construction of the new hospital was supposed to be underway this year, the 2020 capital budget was about $40.1 million. The delay of the hospital project means actual capital expenditures for the year through October have been about $9.9 million.

The new hospital project has involved some expenditures, such as the architectural fees and hiring consultants, Town said. Some of those expenses will be recouped when the district is granted a loan, but there’s no loan yet, Sullivan said.

Capital projects that were completed in 2020 included remodeling at Samaritan’s Pioneer clinic, and the purchase of a new electronic medical records system.