PORT ANGELES — The present Virginia Mason clinic may close for one to two weeks as it makes the transition to an Olympic Medical Center affiliate.
Clinic doctors and OMC remain apart on several substantial points.
The closure could come even if the clinic’s family physicians and the hospital agree on at least four issues that separate them, Dr. Bill Kintner, the clinic’s chief physician, said Wednesday.
And it could happen despite the doctors’ continuing to practice in the clinic at 433 E. Eighth St., at least through 2006.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re definitely getting closer.”
Olympic Medical Center CEO Mike Glenn agreed that the parties remain apart.
“We don’t have an agreement between the hospital and the Virginia Mason doctors,” he said, “but we’re trying like heck to get there.”
Kintner spoke with the PDN shortly before a meeting of medical center commissioners that attracted an audience of about 150 to the hospital’s Linkletter Hall on Wednesday evening.
“There’s a very real possibility that the clinic could be closed for a week or two,” he said.
The clinic’s Seattle-based corporate parent says it will quit the clinic April 30.
Kintner explained that the remaining 25 days would be too little time to change over clinic systems ranging from billing to bottled water.
