Lakeshore Clinic and EvergreenHealth announced today that Lakeshore Clinic will join the health system’s employed medical group. The acquisition plan includes employment of Lakeshore’s 18 primary care physicians and one podiatrist, as well as the transition of their clinical and office staff to employment by EvergreenHealth. Lakeshore Clinic’s providers will continue their current relationship with their patients at the existing locations in Kirkland and Bothell.
EvergreenHealth and Lakeshore Clinic have deep- rooted legacies in the Eastside community as trusted, compassionate and expert health care partners. Aligning their complementary missions under the EvergreenHealth system further signifies their collective, continued commitment to serving the community with access to comprehensive, coordinated care, as the premiere primary care providers on the Eastside.
Lakeshore Clinic’s two locations will increase EvergreenHealth’s total primary care practice locations to 12, spanning King and Snohomish counties, from Sammamish to Sultan. EvergreenHealth’s total number of primary care providers will increase to nearly 80 practitioners with the employment of Lakeshore’s 18 primary care physicians.
“Lakeshore Clinic has been a trusted health partner to our patients and their families for more than 70 years,” said Lakeshore Clinic CEO Linda Jeppesen. “Joining EvergreenHealth affords us the opportunity to continue our history of success providing patients with innovative models of care, while ensuring we have access to resources as part of a larger health system.”
Lakeshore Clinic has been an integral part of EvergreenHealth’s accountable care organization, EvergreenHealth Partners (EHP), since 2012. Through this partnership, both organizations cultivated new referral relationships and strengthened existing ones, and established a mutual trust in each other’s clinical capacity and commitment to the community.
“Through active participation in our clinically integrated network, EvergreenHealth Partners – the first of its kind in the Puget Sound – our partnership with Lakeshore Clinic has continuously grown stronger over the years,” said EvergreenHealth CEO Bob Malte. “We are honored to have the opportunity to welcome Lakeshore’s 19 physicians to EvergreenHealth as more than partners; now, as colleagues uniting our shared interests to provide our patients with the best care at the best value.”
As demands on independent physician practices increase in this challenging time in the health care industry, alignment with larger health systems provides needed resources, while simultaneously benefitting patients by ensuring greater access to a breadth of comprehensive services and a heightened level of coordinated care. The Lakeshore Clinic acquisition allows both organizations to achieve economies of scale for managing risk, infrastructure expenses, and developing population health competencies as the Eastside community continues to grow and diversify.
Lakeshore Clinic’s transition to EvergreenHealth ownership is underway, with the full acquisition slated for completion by January 30, 2017. The current Lakeshore Clinic practices will be renamed to Evergreen Health Primary Care, Lakeshore Totem Lake and EvergreenHealth Primary Care, Lakeshore Bothell.
All 19 physicians and members of Lakeshore’s executive and clinical leadership team will integrate into the EvergreenHealth organization, along with their employees; all of whom will be offered jobs with EvergreenHealth at their current locations.
Lakeshore Clinic’s physicians include from the Bothell location: Georgiana Boboc, MD, Buckley Eckert, MD, Sally Esser, MD, David Higginbotham, DO, Lilaine Leonardo, MD, Ann Lu, MD, Theresa Platz, MD, Jean Reid, MD, Peter Sefton, MD, Thomas Wilson, MD; and from the Totem Lake location: Kurt Billett, MD, Paul Buehrens, MD, Debra Chaput, MD, Alexis David, MD, Christopher Gerard, MD, James Lee, MD, Paul Mayeda, MD,Chao-Ching Wu, MD, and Brendon Moodley, DPM.
