Kaiser Adds 11 Neighborhood Medical Offices in Atlanta

Being in California I always think of the company’s presence here since this is where they began but they also have been expanding into several other regions of the country and Georgia is one where they are expanding to serve more of the community.  BD

In an effort to provide lower cost, seamless health care closer to where patients live, Kaiser Permanente of Georgia is undergoing a major expansion – adding 11 new neighborhood medical offices in metro Atlanta over the past 16 months.

Medicare is beginning to bundle payments, so hospitals may get paid less if a pneumonia patient is re-admitted within 30 days for example, said Ken Thorpe, a health policy expert at Emory University. “That means you really have to integrate what’s going on between inpatient and outpatient care.”

The facilities are a one-stop shop for basic care with multiple services such as primary care, pediatrics and a pharmacy under one roof, said Dr. Rob Schreiner, executive medical director for Kaiser in Georgia. The nonprofit health plan’s latest addition, a 6,400-square-foot, $2.3 million facility in Fayetteville, opened Tuesday, and another in downtown Atlanta is slated to open in the spring.

The marketplace is “demanding lower health care costs, or at least flat health care costs, and more value for the dollar that is spent,” Schreiner said.