Medical Associates of Albany moving to Lee County

ALBANY — Doctors with Medical Associates of Albany will soon be leaving their Palmyra Road location in Albany and moving into a new facility that will be built on U.S. Highway 82 in Lee County.

The practice took the first step toward the move recently with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site where the new facility will be located.

According to Charles Gebhardt, one of the doctors who founded the practice in 1996, the move will allow the practice to occupy a larger space. It also will allow the doctors to offer expanded services and give the practice the ability to further expand in the future.

Of chief concern is the need for the practice to move into a space to allow all of the doctors to practice under one roof. Currently doctors Gebhardt, Devell Young and Bruce Houston practice out of the Palmyra Road facility while a fourth doctor, Michael Satchell is operating out of a building on 14th Avenue.

“The main thing is we’ve outgrown the space we’re in,” Gebhardt said. “There’s not a lot of built up space in central Albany, so we decided to move out to 82 in Lee County, which we feel has a lot of potential.”

When the new facility is constructed — estimated to take 10 months — all four physicians and their support staff can serve patients under the same roof.

“We currently have two different offices and that’s inefficient,” Gebhardt said. “The level of services will improve. There will be lower facility costs and we can offer better care to our patients if we’re more efficient. We’re independent physicians and we don’t income from anyone other than patients and their insurance providers, so for us its all about providing the best care for our patients.”

One way the practice will be able to improve care, other than being more inefficient, is that they will be able to improve technology and offer additional services such as radiology.

“We want to offer our patients anything they need,” said Gebhardt. “As doctors we don’t ever want to have to send our patients to other places to get things they need.”

Gebhardt said he, along with his partners feel the space in Lee County is large enough to not only build a new 18,000 square foot facility, but also grow in a medical campus that might feature other practices and medical-related businesses.

Gebhardt said the doctors currently own two acres in the area, are part owners in another seven acres and have options on an additional 15 acres, all located adjacent to where the practice’s new office will be located.

“That’s part of the reason for moving out there,” Gebhardt said. “A lot of our patients are in Lee County and the new location will allow us to better serve those patients and those in Albany as well. It will be central for a lot of them. It’s also good for Lee County. It’s further development and medical services for the county. Lee County is committed. It should be very good.”

All four physicians will continue to see patients in their current locations while the building is being built and will invite those patients to join them at the new location, while also looking to grow their patient base in the future.

Gebhardt said he hopes the practice will continue to evolve much as its done since he and Young started it.

“I think when doctor Young and I came together it was a matter of survival,” Gebhardt said. “Costs were high back then and we needed a larger group of doctors to do things well. Now it’s about better care. You can provide better services as a larger group than you can individually.”