UI Health Care providing more convenient access to family medicine services this December
Convenient, community-based care at the heart of new home for UI Health Care’s Department of Family and Community Medicine
Community members will have access to University of Iowa Health Care’s family medicine services at a new location later this year. Patients will begin receiving care starting Monday, Dec. 15, at the 33,000-square-foot facility at 2751 Northgate Drive on the east side of Iowa City.
Located just minutes north of Interstate 80, the facility will house a large primary care clinic with 41 clinical exam rooms and a lab, as well as the Department of Family and Community Medicine’s research, and administrative staff, and the Family Medicine Residency Program.
“Family medicine physicians are often the first point of contact for patients, including those who may go on to need complex, critical care from our academic health system.” says Jeffery Quinlan, MD, FAAFP, chair and department executive officer of Family and Community Medicine. “This new clinic makes it easier for our patients who rely on us to get the care they need, and our trainees will have more space to learn and grow their skills, which will benefit the communities where they go to practice family medicine throughout Iowa and beyond.”
The Department of Family and Community Medicine is currently located in Pomerantz Family Pavilion on the university campus at 200 Hawkins Drive and will still retain some presence there. Patients who are currently seen at the university campus clinic will receive more information about the move soon.
“This move will benefit patients in family medicine with its convenience and, because it frees up space within the university campus medical center, it supports our ability to provide specialty care for patients,” says Quinlan. “Opening this new clinic will allow us to grow with the increasing demand for family medicine services by meeting patients in the community and attracting more future physicians to practice medicine Iowa.”
A leading source of primary care providers
Primary care generally refers to the specialties of family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology. But increasingly in Iowa and across the nation, the balance of providers in primary care specialties leans toward family medicine, according to Quinlan.
“Nationwide, around 25% of all primary care is provided by family physicians,” he says.
Quinlan cites a few figures outlining family medicine physicians’ statewide impact:
- Family medicine physicians in Iowa provide approximately 70% of all primary care services, followed by general internal medicine providers and general pediatrics providers.
- Almost 60% of obstetric deliveries with patients in rural Iowa are performed by family medicine physicians. For micropolitan areas (communities with populations greater than 10,000 but less than 50,000) the figure is around 41%.
- Approximately 80% of general pediatric care across Iowa is provided by family medicine physicians.
“Given these numbers, we know it is more important than ever to meet patients where they are at, out in the community,” says Quinlan.
