Murfreesboro Post
MURFREESBORO WEATHER

MMC expands services with satellite location




mcc exterior

mcc exterior

A field on the southern edge of Murfreesboro will sprout a multi-practice medical clinic soon.

Murfreesboro Medical Clinic expects to break ground this week on a satellite campus expecting to cost $8 million to $10 million, CEO Joey Peay said. The site is on Shelbyville Pike by Volunteer Road, just south of Walmart Supercenter but on the opposite side of the road. The projected opening date is summer 2019.

The 30,000 square-foot building will have multiple practices, with a focus on family care and pediatricians, Peay said. Additional services will include lab facilities, X-rays and ultrasounds. There will be some specialty departments including gastroenterology, dermatology and spine/joint/pain. Those specialty services likely will be available five days a week; other specialty services may be available periodically.

There will be an adult walk-in clinic open Monday-Friday, he said. The building will have 4,000 to 5,000 square feet for expansion.

Targeting demand

“The way we’re growing it won’t be undeveloped long,” Peay said. “Murfreesboro and Rutherford County have emerged as a regional medical destination.”

The location on Shelbyville Pike (U.S. Highway 231) is strategic as more than 40 percent of MMC’s primary care patients drive from Bedford County and areas to the south, as well as Coffee County, from a total of 10 or 12 ZIP codes, Peay said.

“That’s not inconsequential,” he said.

Highway 231 is a direct connector to Bedford County, while Joe B. Jackson Parkway gives easy access to Interstate 24 for Coffee County patients. Shelbyville Pike will serve those patients faster because they will bypass traffic, Peay said.

Help wanted

As demand for medical services grows, so does MMC’s need for doctors, Peay said.

At least three physicians will relocate from the main building on Garrison Drive to Shelbyville Pike – two pediatricians and one family practice physician. Peay declined to name the doctors.

MMC is competing more often with hospitals to hire new doctors, Peay said. Government regulations, rising insurance costs, and capital investments are making it harder for physicians to own their own practice. So, 40 percent of new doctors go to work for hospitals.

To counter that trend, MMC offers its doctors the opportunity to own shares in the company, Peay said. While doctors work for MMC, most are shareholders.

MMC will sign nine physicians before the end of 2018, he said. Next year, the clinic likely will sign six to 10 more doctors.

Second satellite clinic coming

The Shelbyville Pike building is not MMC’s only capital project on the horizon.

“We are very much trying to match the growth of the county,” Peay said.

MMC plans to open a satellite facility at a building under construction at The Fountains at Gateway on Medical Center Parkway, he said. They will take “a big portion” of the building to relocate Dr. Brad Medling, a plastic surgeon, and Dr. Albert Kattine, a dermatologist. U MediSpa also will relocate there.

Peay said he anticipates taking possession of the space in October so MMC can finish it, a process that likely will take 16-18 weeks. The investment is about $1.5 million.

Over the next 10 years, Peay said he expects to open additional satellite locations.

MMC will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year.

“We want to grow to continue to meet the needs of our community,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the next 70.”

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