PORT ANGELES – Olympic Medical Center took another step Thursday in creating a self-sustaining replacement to the former Virginia Mason clinic.
In a special meeting, hospital commissioners authorized administrators to seek bids to remodel the facility, now called the Olympic Medical Physicians Primary Care Clinic.
The work, which OMC officials say will cost no more than $780,000, is a keystone in the hospital’s plan to make the clinic profitable.
Once it has upgraded the building at 433 E. Eighth St. to “hospital standards” set by the state, OMC can in essence double-bill Medicare – one charge for its facility under Part A, another for doctors’ services under Part B.
Currently, the clinic bills only under Part B and is reimbursed about 26 percent of the physician’s bill.
Under Part A, the clinic can recover roughly another 70 percent of its charges.
The practice, called “provider-based” or “hospital-based billing,” already is in place at other OMC facilities, and the hospital is remodeling the Klahhane Clinic at 923 Georgiana St. for the same purpose.
Hoch Construction Inc. of Port Angeles will earn $253,579 to remodel the Klahhane interior and another $53,515 to replace its roof.
