The SIU Family Medicine Clinic is undergoing expansions to its Springfield facility.

Janet Albers, chairwoman of the school’s department of family and community medicine, said the $16 million expansion will double the 30,000 square foot clinic’s size while adding 48 exam and four procedure rooms. The older part of the building will also be renovated.

Albers said the Springfield clinic is one of four SIU-affiliated sites for family and community medicine in the state. The others are in Decatur, Quincy and Carbondale. 

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The project is being funded by Memorial Medical Center, Albers said. The university is not paying for renovations and does not own the building.

“The purpose primarily in expanding is to provide more access for patients,” she said. “We’ve outgrown the space that we have.”

Albers said the Affordable Care Act caused the number of patients with insurance coverage to increase. The clinic’s patient base has grown by 40 percent since becoming a federally qualified health center in 2012, she said. The office now has more than 18,000 registered patients.

For university medical and physician’s assistant students, the first year of classes take place on the Carbondale campus and the following years are at various off-campus locations.

The university’s medical school has a residency training program in family and community medicine for students, Albers said. There are 30 medical school students in the family residency program in addition to physician assistant, nurse practitioner and pharmacy students.

Albers said she hopes the training program will help more students practice in under-served areas.

“It’s really a good inter-professional learning environment,” Albers said.

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Construction, which began over the summer, should be completed by May.

Albers said there is discussion of also expanding the family medical clinic in Carbondale. She said the possibility of constructing a new site in the area is being discussed with Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. 

“We’re excited because of the training opportunities that will then help serve central and southern Illinois,” Albers said. 

Anna Spoerre can be reached at [email protected] or 618-536-3325