Marin Community Clinics will purchase its existing building in the Canal neighborhood of San Rafael from Marin County for $1 million.
The building, at 3110 Kerner Blvd., is one of five clinics operated by the federally qualified health center and has been operated as a clinic since 2007, when it replaced trailers in the parking lot of Marin General Hospital that had long reached capacity, according to Interim Executive Director Linda Tavasvis.
The county had purchased the approximately 10,000-square-foot building for $3 million, and gave the clinics a $2 million purchase option along with its lease. The site was previously rented to the non-profit clinics for $355,000 annually.
The clinics successfully raised the additional $1 million, according to Ms. Tavasvis.
“We never figured we’d have the money to purchase it,” Mr. Tavasvis said. But a successful capital campaign made the purchase possible, and it should provide long-term savings of about $3 million in saved interest, Ms. Tavasvis said.
“It’s a huge savings over the course of the lease,” she said. “We’re very lucky and very grateful.”
Echoing a national trend, Marin Community Clinics, part of the Redwood Community Health Coalition, has experienced rapid growth - in the last three years, the five clinics went from seeing some 14,000 patients a year to just shy of 95,000, Ms. Tavasvis said.
Marin Community Clinics provides a range services, mostly primary care, to the uninsured and underinsured throughout Marin. It has two clinics in San Rafael, two in Novato and one in Greenbrae.
In related news, Marin Community Clinics former Executive Director John Shen was appointed chief of the Long Term Care Division at the Department of Health Care Services by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Mr. Shen retired from the clinics in April after having overseen operations since 2007. Previously, he worked as a consultant from 2003 to 2007, working with Marin County Health and Human Services, Southwest Community Health Center in Santa Rosa (part of the Santa Rosa Community Health Centers) and the Contra Costa County Health Plan.
Mr. Shen's successor, Ms. Tavasvis, stepped in as interim executive director in April. Most recently, Ms. Tavasvis was senior vice president and executive director of physician services at Marin General Hospital. A search is ongoing for a permanent ED, which Ms. Tavasvis said she would happily fill if asked to do so by the board of directors.
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The Bay Area Inpatient Group, a physician’s group associated with NorthBay Healthcare, has been acquired by Sound Physicians, a Tacoma, Wash.-based practice with more than 500 physicians across the country.
The Bay Area Inpatient Group will continue to serve NorthBay Healthcare’s two Solano County hospitals, NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield and VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville. The combined organization will be able to double its patient visits at the two hospitals, according to an announcement by Sound Physicians CEO Robert Bessler.
The doctors serving NorthBay’s two hospitals will be able to utilize Sound Physician’s performance management engine and will benefit from the group’s experience in hospital management, in areas such as informatics, billing, compliance and HR, the Washington group said.
With the acquisition, four Bay Area Inpatient Group hospitalists - a term used for physicians who practice inpatient care - are now added to Sound Physicians’ existing team of 12 hospitalists and one hospitalist RN.
Sound Physicians says it provides inpatient services to more than 50 hospitals and post-acute care centers around the U.S.
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The North Bay Psychiatric Associates relocated its Santa Rosa practice from 3410 Mendocino Ave. to an approximately 2,800-square-foot office at 1335 North Dutton. The new office opened on Aug. 8. The group, which also has a San Rafael location, was represented by PCS-7 Real Estate; the landlord was represented by Keegan & Coppin.
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Petaluma-based Oculus Innovative Sciences announced a multi-year licensing agreement with Michigan-based Eloquest Healthcare, a subsidiary of Ferndale Pharma Group, to market multiple Microcyn based products in the United States under the Eloquest Healthcare brand. The agreement includes Oculus’ negative-pressure wound therapy solution and prescription wound care line.
According to the agreement, Eloquest Healthcare has been granted an exclusive U.S. license for Microcyn-based negative-pressure wound therapy solution, and will promote Microcyn-based wound care products under Eloquest Healthcare Brand to U.S. hospitals, ambulatory surgical and acute care centers. Eloquest Healthcare plans to begin marketing both product lines beginning in January 2012.
