The Three Rivers Health Authority Board has authorized negotiation of a lease agreement to relocate its Family Care clinic in Centreville to the new St. Joseph County Community Mental Health (CMH) building that’s nearing completion on the east side of the village.

Three Rivers Health Family Care in Centreville

In action during their May meeting Thursday morning (May 28th), board members voted unanimously to authorize Matt Chambers, president and CEO of Three Rivers Health, to move forward with the offer from CMH to utilize space in the new facility.  The building includes space designed for primary care use and is located across the street from the current Family Care clinic location adjacent to Village Market.

In reporting the CMH offer, Chambers said, “We have been – for quite some time – bottle-necked in Centreville with what we are able to do in terms of the number of patients and numbers of rooms.”  And, he said, “We, for some time, have been trying to figure out how to expand the capacity of that space.”

New Community Mental Health building nearing completion in Centreville

Regarding the move to the new CMH building, Chambers said, “It would expand the amount of space that we do have so we can provide more services, which, again, in turn, generates more ancillary revenue because you see more patients in a primary care setting.”

According to Chambers, the new setting would provide 1,669 square feet for the clinic – compared to “about 1,200” square feet in the current location – for a modest increase in the monthly rental fee from the $1,725 paid now to $1,856.

Chambers said, “I would strongly recommend that we actually do take advantage of that new space,” but said he was “not suggesting buying new furniture.”

During a post-meeting interview about the relocation, Chambers said, “It would allow us to get more patients into the system, actually driving more revenue into the hospital for ancillary laboratories, or ancillary radiology, those kinds of things, because we’d be able to see more patients.”  And he said that, if Three Rivers Health didn’t make the move, CMH “would be seeking those medical services from someone else, which would bring competition into that small geographic area” and draw revenue away from the hospital.

Regarding negotiation of a contract with CMH, Chambers said, “We would just be a tenant in the building.  No ownership.  We didn’t put the building up.  We didn’t have anything to do with financing the building or anything, so this is just a rental arrangement.”

Chambers indicated the new space is expected to be ready by mid-July or early August.

Three Rivers Health also has clinic operations in Three Rivers – across from the high school – and in White Pigeon.

You can learn more about this subject through an interview with Matt Chambers, conducted by Bruce Snook of the River Country Journal.  To access the interview (4:46), click here.