BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The North Florida Regional Chamber of Commerce joined Palms Medical Group at HCA Starke ER for a ribbon-cutting within HCA’s building at the corner of Starke’s Colley Road and Call Street.
CEO Anita Rembert said the hospital’s administrator brought up the new location.
“We were actually meeting with the CEO at the time at North Florida Regional, Eric Lawson, and he said, ‘Hey, I’ve got some space in the hospital in Starke if y’all are interested,’” recalled Rembert. “So, we came and toured the space, and it was really already kind of set up and ready to go for us.”
The nonprofit healthcare provider, which had been co-located behind the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office with Meridian Behavioral Healthcare since 2010, had been searching for room to grow and expand for several years. The hospital space provided the answer.
The new clinic features 12 exam rooms, a lab for in-house testing and blood draws, provider offices, a front desk area, and space for a future pharmacy.
Serving the entire community
Palms Medical Group has operated in North Florida since 1971 as a federally qualified health center, receiving grant funding to serve patients regardless of their ability to pay.
“Our mission is to take care of the entire community,” Rembert said. “We take care of everybody, whether you’re insured or uninsured, Medicaid, Medicare. We want to take care of everyone.”
The organization operates 14 offices across seven counties, spanning from Williston to Lake City, Live Oak, Fleming Island, and throughout the Gainesville area. Last year, Palms saw approximately 70,000 patients.
While primary care remains the organization’s main focus, it also offers dental services at several locations, operates pharmacies at 10 offices, provides behavioral healthcare, and offers chiropractic care.
Focusing on rural healthcare
Rembert said Palms Medical Group has found success serving rural communities throughout North Florida.
“That’s our niche,” she said. “We feel like we’ve done a good job in our rural areas. We really try to target that entire community. We don’t want to have a subset of the population.”
The organization takes a whole-family approach to healthcare.
“We want you to come see us, and we want the person that’s uninsured to come see us as well,” she added. “We really try to focus in on the whole family too, not just grandma or grandpa. We really want to get the kids in here as well as the elderly.”
The Starke clinic currently employs two nurse practitioners and a physician assistant, with plans to recruit additional providers.
“We’ve got space for about five is what we’ll get up to,” Berg said. “And then when we get to a certain point, we’ll add a pharmacy.”
The pharmacy expansion will come once the clinic reaches a specific patient threshold, taking advantage of the space already built into the facility’s design.
Navigating funding challenges
When asked about challenges facing rural healthcare, Rembert acknowledged the increasing financial pressures.
“Every year it feels like the funding is getting tighter and tighter,” she said. “There are changes coming with Medicaid, there are changes coming with Medicare.”
Palms also relies heavily on 340B funding, a federal program that provides discounted pharmaceuticals to safety-net healthcare providers.
“We always have to look for ways to be more efficient,” Rembert said. “I’ll say that’s one thing I think Palms prides itself on—we do operate very efficiently. When you compare us to anyone else in our state and our nation, we’ve got some of the most efficient numbers.”
Despite the financial pressures, Rembert said the organization remains focused on its core mission.
“We really focus on—our whole mission is the patient,” she said.
