Kitsap is getting some new additions to its medical facilities. Notably a new hospital, a new specialty care clinic, and two new primary care clinics are in various stages of development around Kitsap County and Gig Harbor.

The Doctor’s Clinic, which celebrates its 60-year anniversary this year, is one provider that is engaged in a fairly aggressive expansion. The new, three-story, 55,000 square foot Silverdale clinic is rapidly nearing completion. The clinic will open to patients on April 12, and on May 14, once all the departments to be housed there complete their moves, the Doctor’s Clinic will host an open house for the public.

The new facility is named in honor of the only surviving founding member of the Doctor’s Clinic, Dr. Charles L. Salmon. Treatment focus at the Charles L. Salmon MD Medical Center will be on specialty care. The doctors who will be practicing there include orthopedic surgeons, ophthalmologists, gastroenterologists, dermatologists, ear, nose, and throat specialists, audiologists, a radiologist, a urologist, and two physicians assistants. The new center will also include a full-service physical therapy suite, advanced imaging capabilities, and three operating rooms for ambulatory, day surgery procedures.

Most of the doctors who will be working at the new center will be coming from existing Doctor’s Clinic facilities, but the new facility is not intended to replace any of the medical facilities the organization currently owns.

“This is absolutely a business expansion,” said Linda Brown, CEO of the Doctor’s Clinic. “It’s probably the largest expansion we’ve had in our 60-year history.”

The current expansion also includes the addition of four new doctors. Dr. David Mourning, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in spinal surgery, and urologist Dr. Randall Moeller will be joining the Salmon Medical Center practice. Dr. Brian Kim, who specializes in hematology and oncology, and cardiologist Dr. John Banzer will be joining the practice in East Bremerton.

“We usually hire four to five physicians a year,” said Brown. “This has been a good year.”

More expansions are ahead for the Doctor’s Clinic in the next few years. “We have an ongoing strategy for expansion,” said Brown.

These future expansion plans include renovating and adding on to the existing Silverdale clinic, located on the corner of Ridgetop and Mickelberry, as well as developing the adjacent property — which the Doctor’s Clinic currently owns — by adding a second building. The organization has similar plans for the property it owns next to its PromptCare facility in Bremerton.

“It’s a really exciting time for health care in Kitsap County,” said Brown. “There’s now a sufficient population here to support all medical specialties, instead of having to go to Seattle or Tacoma for care.”

Another health care provider busy implementing its expansion plans is a new player in Kitsap County: Tacoma-based Franciscan Health System. This not-for-profit organization runs St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way, St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood, Franciscan Care Center at Tacoma (a skilled nursing facility), as well as a number of primary care clinics in Pierce and South King counties.

Franciscan Health System plans to build new, 197,000 plus square foot St. Anthony Hospital, licensed for 80 beds, in Gig Harbor. Currently in the design phase for the hospital, the organization estimates that construction will begin in early 2006 and the hospital is slated to open its doors in late 2007 or early 2008.

Key services at St. Anthony will include a 24-hour emergency department; medical, surgical and critical care units; inpatient and outpatient surgery; a heart catheterization laboratory; diagnostic imaging services; and outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapies. A medical office building for physicians and other health services will be built adjacent to the hospital.

Franciscan Health System is also making inroads directly into Kitsap with its planned Port Orchard Medical Clinic. This new primary-care clinic will be part of the Franciscan Medical Pavilion that will start going up this summer in Port Orchard. The Franciscan Medical Pavilion will be approximately 17,000 square feet, according to Gale Robinette, media relations manager for Franciscan Health System, and the Port Orchard Medical Clinic will occupy about 12,000 square feet of that space.

“The Port Orchard Medical Clinic will be part of Franciscan Health System’s network of primary-care and specialty-care clinics,” said Robinette. “These clinics comprise a division of Franciscan called the Franciscan Medical Group.”

Other services to be offered at the Medical Pavilion have not yet been determined, said Robinette.

Franciscan Health System’s new hospital and primary care clinic have got to be putting some heat on Harrison Hospital, which currently holds the hospital monopoly in Kitsap County. The addition of the Gig Harbor hospital could have a serious impact on the numbers of patients Harrison serves in South Kitsap County. Add to that the fact the Franciscan Health Care’s new primary care facility will be in direct competition with Harrison Hospital’s newly revamped South Kitsap Primary Care – previously Urgent Care-South Kitsap.

Still, Harrison isn’t making any rash decisions. The hospital is in the middle of major strategic planning, according to David Olson, vice president of business development for the hospital, including establishing the hospital’s five-year mission and one-year goals. Part of that planning includes a master facilities planning process.

“We are looking at several facilities options,” said Olson.

But until plans meet with final board approval, he continued, it would be premature to discuss them.

Scott Bosch, CEO of Harrison Hospital agreed. “I can truly say that we don’t know the specifics of what our plans will be at this point and it would be unwise to speculate publicly until we have a better sense of direction,” said Bosch. “What I can tell you is that our current resources are stretched and that due to an aging population and a growing one, Harrison needs to seriously evaluate its current capacity limitations and make informed and collaborative decisions regarding future growth.”.