Matrix Development Completes The New U of L Family Medical Center

University of Louisville closes downtown clinic as larger facility opens

By Laura Ungar -lungar@courier-journal.com

University of Louisville Family Medicine will close a downtown clinic on Jackson Street at the end of the year, shortly after closing a clinic on Newburg Road.

The two will be consolidated into a larger facility on 1941 Bishop Lane that’s able to handle more patients.

The 9,300-square-foot Bishop Lane clinic opened Nov. 22, the same day the former Newburg Road clinic closed, and will hold an open house on Wednesday from 5-7 p.m.

“We are here. We are open and available,” said Chad Vaughn, executive director of the family and geriatric medicine practice. “It’s a very warm and welcoming environment.”

The Bishop Lane facility, and an existing Cardinal Station clinic at 215 Central Ave., have the combined capacity to accommodate 3,600 patients a month. Both locations have in-house laboratory facilities, are on the TARC bus route, and have ample, free parking, Vaughn said.

“Our new facility on Bishop Lane is updated, more spacious and gives us the ability to provide service to more patients,” said Dr. James O’Brien, chairman of the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine. “At the same time, we will continue to have all the same physicians and staff practicing at the clinics so patients will continue to see the same providers of care. There will be no change for any patients in the high quality of care they receive.”

The downtown clinic, located in the Ambulatory Care Building, will close Dec. 31. That clinic, combined with the former Newburg Road location, had a total of 7,000 square feet of space and the capacity for about 1,300 patients a month.

Following the closing of the downtown clinic, a physician and nurse practitioner will move to Cardinal Station, while another doctor will move to Bishop Lane. There will be a total of 10 faculty physicians, two more than before, plus one nurse practitioner and 24 residents providing care at the Bishop Lane and Cardinal Station clinics.

Vaughn said staff members began notifying patients about the change in October, talking to them and sending letters. Signs also have been placed at the old locations to direct patients to the Bishop Lane and Cardinal Station locations, he said.

Vaughn said he hasn’t heard any complaints from patients. But concern has been expressed to the newspaper about where indigent patients in the downtown area will go.

Vaughn acknowledged, “we have quite a few who come to our downtown location because of convenience and location.”

But he said the number of patients has dwindled in recent years since the Clarksdale Homes housing complex was torn down starting in 2004. Before that, he said the downtown clinic saw 800 patients a month, compared to about 500 a month now.

He said he wants to keep all those patients and is committed to serving the city’s most vulnerable residents. About 30 percent of the organization’s patient mix is uninsured or underinsured, he said.

“We want the community to know we’re not abandoning anyone,” Vaughn said.