UAB Medicine’s new $7 million, 17,000-square-foot UAB Medicine-Leeds clinic, located off Rex Lake Road at Interstate 20’s Exit 140, will open Wednesday, Oct. 21.
The internal medicine and pediatric facility also will feature a UAB Hospital outpatient diagnostic center complete with MRI, CT, ultrasound, digital X-ray, bone-density scanning and mammography. Full ambulatory lab services also will be provided on-site.
“This facility offers a glimpse of the future of outpatient medicine, allowing patients to have one central location, to effectively provide primary care,” said Stephen Russell, M.D., lead physician for the clinic and one of two double-board-certified doctors from the departments of Medicine and Pediatrics who will staff the clinic, along with physicians and staff from the Department of Radiology. “The investment of UAB into a modern facility that brings the expertise of The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital to the outskirts of Birmingham is significant. We are bringing world-class care to patients rather than always having patients drive to one central location far from home.”
Two nurse practitioners will also help staff in the internal medicine and pediatric clinic upon opening with plans to add an additional nurse practitioner and as many as three new physicians in 2016.
The site’s imaging facility, which features cutting-edge capability including computed tomography and a 1.5 Tesla GE MRI that enables patients to be scanned in greater comfort without sacrificing image quality, represents a significant investment in Leeds, Moody, Trussville, Pell City, Talladega, Oxford, Anniston, and other communities near and along Interstate 20, says Mason Frazier, M.D., director of Inpatient Radiology for UAB Hospital.
“From the outset, we have designed the facility and selected staff and equipment to ensure a superlative patient experience,” Frazier said. “The exams performed at the clinic will be interpreted by highly skilled radiologists with subspecialty expertise, including many nationally recognized leaders in their fields. And patients will be able to take advantage of UAB’s high-quality imaging services without having to travel downtown.”
Russell, who has practiced primary care in the Birmingham area for the past eight years, says some of his patients have often had to make at least one additional stop — and sometimes two — to complete the work-up needed for their visits. That is not going to be the case anymore.
“UAB Medicine-Leeds gives a chance to truly offer full-service, evidence-based primary and preventive care at one location,” Russell said. “We have a full-service lab. We have a high-tech diagnostic facility. And all of these things will be available to patients at the same time as their annual appointments. It’s a tremendous convenience.”
A suite offering nationally recognized personalized care in OB/GYN and neurology subspecialties also is planned for the UAB Medicine-Leeds facility. Other subspecialty disciplines from both internal medicine and pediatrics also are being explored.
Brasfield & Gorrie directed the construction of the clinic, and Birmingham-based Johnson Development — consistently ranked by Modern Healthcare as one of the leading medical office building developers in the United States — led the planning, financing, development and management of the project.