Harvey Goal: Centralized Pediatric Care

Dr. Bryan Harvey, owner of Harvey Pediatrics, is planning to build a 15,700-SF medical/office building in Rogers and relocate his practice from Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville.

When you look at an architect’s rendering of the two-story building, you can tell instantly there is
something aesthetically different about it.

And that seems to mesh well with Harvey’s plan — to provide something different in inpatient pediatric care for infants, children and adolescents in Northwest Arkansas.

Harvey’s goal is to bring several practices together under one roof, sort of a one-stop shop for pediatric care. His practice will occupy the second floor, about 8,500 SF, leaving 7,200 SF on the ground floor for other pediatric practices — ophthalmology, dentistry, breastfeeding education and developmental services to name a few examples.

The business model, he said, ensures that all pediatric patients receiving treatment will benefit from the efficiency, immediacy and continuity of care from a centralized location.

“As we’ve grown,” Harvey explained, “what we have found is that when providers are communicating better, more quickly and more easily, it seems like the outcomes get better. Proximity makes that easier. It’s a simple thing. It’s not real complex, but it does seem to make a difference.”

The building is a $4 million project, with groundbreaking scheduled for Feb. 1. Harvey said an aggressive construction schedule is aiming for completion of the building by next October.

 

Practice Proximity

Harvey, the only pediatrician with nursery privileges at NMC-Bentonville, said his desire to make child care his occupation is simple: He likes kids.

“Children have been really easy for me to understand,” the father of three said. “It’s the adults who are more complex.”

Harvey grew up in Texas and was educated there, but completed his residency at Arkansas Children’s Hospital 20 years ago.

He remained in Arkansas, joining a practice in Jonesboro before eventually launching his own practice there in 2006.

Three years later, he relocated to Northwest Arkansas, in part because his two oldest children made the University of Arkansas their college choice.

The practice in NWA began with two employees: Harvey and a nurse. The practice today consists of roughly 30 employees, including a child psychologist, a licensed social worker and two lactations specialists.

“We’re close to peak staff,” Harvey said.

The growth, which included the addition of psychologist Dr. Billy Jones to the staff earlier this year, was the impetus for Harvey’s plan to develop his current business model. But rather than bring all those services in-house and hire all the pieces to his pediatric puzzle, Harvey thought it best to work collegially and form partnerships with other independent practices.

“They will have their own space, their own business structure, but we will all have the proximity to each other,” he said. “There are a lot of wonderful therapists here. Northwest Arkansas has a lot of fantastic providers for the size area we have.”

Harvey said there are three pediatric practices that have expressed interest in leasing space in the building, including All Aboard Pediatric Therapy.

AAPT, which leases space in a building on Willow Creek Drive in Johnson, opened in May 2009 and is owned by a group of its practitioners — Alison Miller, Leah Murphy, Chere’ Skinner, Jacklyn Fratesi and Ashley Miller.

AAPT has 17 employees and provides occupational, physical and speech therapy for children, ranging in age from newborns to 21 years old. The majority of staff are certified in a number of therapy strategies including Handwriting Without Tears, Interactive Metronome, Food Chaining and Therapeutic Listening.

Alison Miller said AAPT will continue to see most of its patients at the Johnson location, but adding a second location in the Harvey building will help alleviate the travel strain for some of its patients.

AAPT logs about 1,000 treatment hours each month, and many of the patients come from Benton County, Miller said.

“We have a very strong working relationship with Dr. Harvey and Dr. Jones, so when they approached us about having an office there, we knew we had to jump on the opportunity,” she said, adding that the second location will mean hiring as many as five new staff members.

Harvey declined to be more specific on other potential tenants.

“They are all trying to determine if it fits their business model,” he said.

 

Distinctive Building Design

Harvey closed on the land for the building in October, acquiring a 1.62-acre lot at the southwest corner of South 52nd and West Redbud streets for $929,396. The location is due south of the 56,758-SF Highlands Oncology Group building, an $8 million, two-story comprehensive cancer care clinic completed in the summer of 2011.

First Security Bank of Searcy is financing the project, SSI Inc. in Springdale is the general contractor and Marlon Blackwell Architects of Fayetteville is handling the design work.

Blackwell’s design is distinctive, looking more like a figure than a building.

“It’s more like a road sign in some ways,” Blackwell explained. “An icon. We want people to see that building and say, ‘Ah, that’s Dr. Harvey’s clinic.’”

Blackwell said he relished the opportunity to collaborate with Harvey. His award-winning firm is renowned for its works, but its lengthy portfolio of projects includes just one other medical/office building — the Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center, located on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences campus in Fayetteville. 

Blackwell said while running through some initial ideas with Harvey, it became apparent the doctor didn’t want the status quo of medical/office buildings.

“He didn’t know exactly what he wanted, but he didn’t want what everybody else had,” Blackwell explained.

Blackwell also noted that health care buildings can be rather utilitarian, so his design team worked to try and bring a different sensibility to how patrons consider going to the doctor’s office.

An important part of that was to utilize natural light — rather than fluorescent light — as much as possible, providing a better environment for sensory-sensitive children.

“What we are hoping is this will be a great place for people to come and visit, and in some ways contribute to their sense of well-being, mentally and physically,” he said. “And also be a great place for Dr. Harvey and his staff to work and spend their day.

“We think it will certainly change their culture within the clinic.”