Walk into the lobby of the new WellMed Senior Clinic at Ben White, and you’re likely to feel right at home. The fresh scent of new furniture permeates the spacious room filled with comfortable chairs and loveseats. The glow from a large flat-screen LCD television accents the relaxing mix of electric and natural light that bathes soothing color tones on the walls and the smooth, faux-wood floors.
WellMed is bringing the future of senior healthcare to South Austin with the relocation of its WellMed Senior Clinic at Ben White. The new clinic, at 706 W. Ben White, opened Jan. 4 and has been designed with senior healthcare needs in mind. For example, extra-wide hallways can accommodate two wheelchairs passing side-by-side. Free exercise classes for seniors are also offered twice a week.
It has nine patient examination rooms, an X-ray lab, convenient parking, a bilingual staff, easy wheelchair access and 24-hour, on-call, urgent-care services.
“WellMed has designed this Senior Clinic at Ben White to be geriatric-focused,” said Dr. Josef Holme, lead physician at WellMed at Ben White. “We’re very proud of this facility because it’s patient-friendly and senior-friendly.”
WellMed clinics are designed with older adults in mind, with a focus on preventive care and wellness. WellMed Senior Clinics – run by physicians dedicated to senior care – serve Medicare-eligible patients in the Austin area.
WellMed entered the Austin market in 2008 with the opening of the original WellMed at Ben White and two other Senior Clinics: WellMed at Midtown (3708 Jefferson, Ste. A) and WellMed at St. John’s (6938 N. IH-35, Ste. 120). The Midtown clinic also relocated to a bigger location last year. The new Ben White clinic employs a staff of 17, including three healthcare providers.
The clinic is a major tenant in a building that also houses sister health plan company Physicians Health Choice and Comfort Care Transportation, the WellMed company that shuttles many patients to and from medical appointments conveniently and reliably.
WellMed has partnered with Physicians Health Choice to expand healthcare services to Medicare-eligible seniors in Central Texas. Through Physicians Health Choice, WellMed patients qualify for unique services designed to remove barriers to receiving quality preventive healthcare.
These services include:
- No co-pay for primary-care physician appointments
- Complimentary transportation to and from (curb-to-curb) regular medical appointments, including prescription pick-up and specialist referrals
- The award-winning Disease Management program that serves patients with Diabetes, Ischemic Heart Disease, Congestive Heart Failure or COPD/Asthma
- No-cost prescriptions for Disease Management enrollees
- Prescription gap coverage
- Same-day, urgent-care appointments
- Shorter wait times and longer visits with your primary-care physician
- Dental, vision and hearing services
