New Shoreline clinic will serve seniors only

A medical clinic with a unique format will be opening soon in Shoreline.

Iora Primary Care serves clients who are 65 and older, and uses a unique team care approach to health.

Patients have access to a doctor or nurse practitioner, nurse, and behavioral health specialist, but are also assigned to a patient advocate, who serves as their health coach.

The health coach lends an ear if patients want to talk and follows up to make sure they are getting and taking their medications. If the patient misses an appointment, the health coach calls to find out if something is wrong.

Iora's financial model is to partner each of its clinics with an insurer. In Las Vegas, for example, their partner is the Culinary Union, whose workers fill most of the non-skilled jobs in the city. In Shoreline, the partner is Humana Insurance and clients will be 65 and older.

Opening soon, the Shoreline clinic will be located at 15214 Aurora, in the three storefronts south of JoAnn Fabric.

"We're very pleased about the location," said local manager Josh Levine. "It has access to transportation on Aurora as well as plenty of on-site free parking. The site itself is one level and handicapped accessible. Most of all, all the windows give it a lot of light."

Iora, he explained, strives for a home-like setting, rather than a sterile, clinical setting.

The Iora Primary Care team plans outreach to the general community, providing wellness classes and groups like yoga, bingo, knitting and diabetes.

Shoreline will be Iora's second Puget Sound clinic. They recently opened a clinic in the Central District, on 23rd and Jackson. Other clinics are in Maine, New Hampshire, Nevada, and New York.

They find that their model is very successful. Patients are healthier and costs are lower for the insuring companies.

Our investment in primary care includes what we do for our patients as well as taking the time to coordinate care that happens outside of our practices. This results in healthier people. And healthier people leads to lower costs thanks to lower rates of specialty care, diagnostic use, ER visits and hospital admissions.

Updated logo and link to website 09-23-2014 10:08am