During the legislative session, Peninsula Community Health Services secured state funding to continue moving ahead with plans for a new primary care clinic on Bainbridge Island.

The new clinic, expected to open early next year, will be on Winslow Way in downtown Bainbridge and was paid for with just over $1 million in reserve funding, Jennifer Kreidler-Moss, PCHS CEO, said.

State funding will include $556,000 to retrofit the clinic, with additional costs including $250,000 for IT infrastructure and $100,000 for office supplies, Kreidler-Moss said.

“We know that everybody is looking to get into their primary care providers quicker and more readily. A lot of the bigger projects that have been happening in healthcare have been connected to the hospital system, making more urgent care available or emergency rooms available,” she said.

Kreidler-Moss said PHCS focuses on primary care rather than urgent care or emergency rooms.

The clinic will have capacity to serve 2,500 patients per year or 8,250 patient visits per year. The practice will include two primary care providers, two behavioral health providers and eight support staff, Kreidler-Moss said.

“So there’s more specialists, there’s more urgent care specialists, there’s more ER kind of providers. There are a lot less just providers in general, who are coming out of school to work in primary care. It tends to be seen as not as visible,” she said.

Kreidler-Moss described primary care as the baseline foundational tier of healthcare, which she said has been under-resourced in recent years.

“It’s important for our community that we continue to invest in the bottom tier as much as we do in the urgent access tier,” she said.

Swedish Medical Center had a clinic on the island, which closed in July of 2021. Kreidler-Moss said the space was too large for their needs and exceeded their budget.

Rep. Greg Nance (D-Kitsap) shared his perspective on the need for additional primary care clinics.

“Neighbors have voiced ongoing frustration with the lack of affordable primary care options. Providers face obstacles to stay in practice due to an ongoing workforce shortage and reimbursement rates that don’t cover true operating costs,” Nance wrote. “The PCHS clinic is a big step forward. I’m proud of our community coming together to demand affordable healthcare access so we can better take care of every neighbor.”