BIMA acquired by Complete Health, expands office space

Just seven months before celebrating their 20th anniversary as a practice, Birmingham Internal Medicine Associates has joined Florida-based Complete Health and its growing group of primary care practices.

Founded in 2000 by Dr. John Farley, BIMA was the first practice to move into St.Vincent’s One Nineteen when it opened in 2005. (BIMA is not affiliated with St.Vincent’s, but just lease space in the building).

Dr. Farley, along with Drs. Tammy Leong, M.D., Neil Meadows, M.D. and Jason Smith, M.D have led the physician-owned practice since the beginning. BIMA will be leading Complete Health's primary care group expansion across Alabama. Complete Health plans to acquire additional practices in the region and has appointed Dr. Farley as its Alabama Markets president.

“We are proud to become a Complete Health practice,” said Dr. Farley. “We will always provide great care and service excellence for our patients. We look forward to market growth for BIMA and leading the way in the evolving value-based, patient-centric, healthcare landscape.”

Not much will change at the practice besides the fact it will no longer be physician-owned. None of the staff, which includes nine physicians and eight CRNPs, will be leaving. Complete Health only owns primary care practices and BIMA was their largest acquisition yet, doubling their number of healthcare providers in their network.

Clay Barnett, Corporate Communication/MSR Success Manager for the practice, said when BIMA was approached by Complete Health, they found that the company aligned with what they want to do for their patients. The move was made on Aug. 30 in order to make the next step to growth and meet more needs of their patients.

“To push forward and continuing to grow, we partnered with Complete Health to help us do that,” Barnett said. “BIMA has been a leader of this market with nominations from patients and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and we felt like we had achieved what we could do as a physician-owned practice.”

BIMA is one of the largest practices in the market, averaging just under 1,000 patients per week. At any given time, there are 15 providers there to see patients. 

An office expansion was already underway at BIMA at the time of the acquisition. The project began in May and was completed in about 12 weeks. BIMA moved into the new space on Oct. 11. The build out added an additional 2,800 square feet, giving them a total of over 11,000 square feet of clinic space. The only other office on the third floor is a two-physician ENT group.

“The space was an empty shell, which allowed us to customize it to our exact specifications. It was a great opportunity,” Barnett said.

Already in the new space is BIMA’s new in-house diagnostic ultrasound, and coming after the first of the year will be laboratory services and clinical research. Previously,patients were referred to the Quest Diagnostic lab on the first floor of the building, but can now have all their services done in BIMA’s new space.

“We are bringing in our own equipment and new personnel to run the lab and do blood draws,” he said. “It will be a much more streamlined process, as patients can just go across the hall where the lab employees will have their order.”

BIMA Wellness also moved up to the third floor, and includes fundamentals of patient care, including conveniences like flu-shots and weight-loss visits with no wait. Now in its former location on the first floor is a patient resource center where BIMA Member Support Representative Cari Heiberger works to help BIMA’s patients make the most of the benefits available to them.

“I help educate them on their insurance plans and other things like help with transportation, dental coverage, and get them in front of an agent we know and trust to get the most out of their visits with doctors and specialists,” Heiberger said. “We are the conduit between patients and resources. We are their liaison.”

A new conference room with an 80-inch television/smart board and video camera will provide video conferencing capabilities, teleconferences, educational activities and more. Barnett said this is the first time they’ve had a conference room all the physicians can fit in.

Part of BIMA’s patient-centric practice includes walk-in availability weekdays from 7:30-9 a.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., online scheduling and same day appointments.

For more information about the practice, visit bimapc.com.