Sanford clinics here adjusting to merger

Following a merger, Jamestown’s Medcenter One was renamed, prompting a bit of confusion between the newly-christened Sanford Health Jamestown Second Avenue Clinic and its sister clinic, Sanford Health Jamestown.

Few changes in care are expected in Jamestown, but both clinics’ officials said the move could result in more services in the future.

“This merger will allow communities to possibly enhance the services they have locally,” said Jon Lillejord, clinic administrator at Second Avenue Clinic.

Sanford will supply specialists to both clinics, and with the patients from both facilities put together, there may be enough demand to bring more specialists to Jamestown more often.

The clinics may also be able to share some of their more portable equipment, too.

Not everything is going to be unified immediately, however.

For one thing, people who have listed “Sanford Health” as their preferred care provider on insurance forms should check with their insurance companies to make sure the Second Avenue Clinic is included in their networks. Otherwise, they may be charged extra money for going out of network for care.

“They’re working (changing) it, it’s just a question of when,” Lillejord said.

The two clinics use different computer systems, said Jo Heisler, director of clinic operations at Sanford Health Jamestown — the clinic near Jamestown College.

Sanford Health facilities are moving to a new computer system in October, and eventually, Second Avenue Clinic will transition to that system too, Lillejord said.

“It’s just going to take time,” Heisler said.

It will take a while for the Second Avenue Clinic to change internal and external signs, stationery and identification badges, and the nurses have a year before their black Medcenter One scrubs have to be Sanford blue.

No one is going to be laid off, though. Second Avenue Clinic currently has 55 employees, and Sanford Health Jamestown employs about 80 people.

Patients seeking care at either clinic will be able to be referred to either Fargo or Bismarck in the future, allowing them to choose which location would be more convenient.

Heisler has experience with name changes. Her clinic was once Jamestown Meritcare, and spent a bit of time under a hybrid Sanford-Meritcare banner before it took its present name of Sanford Health Jamestown.

Initially, Heisler and Lillejord thought that clinic, too, would change its name, for a better distinction between the two facilities, but it was later decided to leave Sanford Health Jamestown as it is.

Since Aug. 29, people at the Second Avenue Clinic have been answering the phone with a slightly abbreviated version of the facility’s new name, usually adding “formerly known as Medcenter One.”

“(We’d answer) ‘Sanford Health Second Avenue Clinic.’ If we didn’t add anything else, they’d say ‘Who?’” Lillejord said.

Sun reporter Kari Lucin can be reached at 701-952-8453

or by email at klucin@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local business, business