UC Health opening ‘prototype’ primary care offices

Trenton, Liberty Twp. are sites of new family medicine practices.

The UC Health network is making new investments in primary care across Butler County.

The Cincinnati-based health system opened a new family medicine practice in Trenton last month, and is currently constructing a second office in Liberty Twp., said Peter Iacobell, vice president of strategic planning and business ventures at UC Health.

“It’s part of a horizontal branding strategy; basically we’re using the same materials and prototype design to emphasis our brand visually throughout the community,” Iacobell said.

UC Health also opened a new primary care office in Milford with this prototype model.

Construction started last month in Liberty Twp. for the medical office at 6645 Princeton-Glendale Road, next to an existing shopping center. Construction will be complete by April 2015.

The Liberty Twp. office will house primary care provider Dr. Bharati Narasimhan, whose office in Fairfield will relocate once construction is complete. The office will have space for three to four physicians.

“It will be anchored by primary care, family medicine,” Iacobell said. “We will selectively timeshare specialists in the office.”

UC Health is relocating its Fairfield primary care office because “Liberty Twp. is an area growing and growing quickly.”

“We wanted (Dr. Narasimhan’s) practice more closely aligned to West Chester Hospital and UC Physicians,” Iacobell said. “Primary care is very important in support of West Chester Hospital and our system as part of the continuum of care.”

Each primary care office will be 5,000 square feet, with eight exam rooms, one procedure room and space for patient education. Iacobell said the primary care offices have been designed “specifically around the patient and physician.”

The offices are open concept with natural lighting and have extra large corridors and large exam rooms. There’s also an open area outside the exam rooms to allow physicians across disciplines to collaborate and discuss patients.

“We see our primary care doctors moving to chronic disease management,” Iacobell said of patients with conditions like diabetes, asthma and hypertension. “We want to be known as a provider of complex care.”

Iacobell said UC Health will plan to build three to five additional primary care offices in the next few years, but said it was too early to disclose potential locations for the remaining offices.

About the Author