Mercy opens 65 Prime+ clinic in Fort Smith

Mercy has opened a 65 Prime+ clinic in Fort Smith that is focused on providing care to Medicare patients age 65 and older. The hospital system says it’s the first clinic of its type in Arkansas.

The clinic, located in part of the first floor of Mercy-Tower West at 6801 Rogers Ave., will provide expanded primary care with longer and more frequent appointment times, according to Mercy.

Drs. Allen Beachy and Becky Yarborough will be at the clinic with Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Tessa Tran. Mercy said the clinic will begin with nine total employees.

According to Mercy, the new clinic providers have a registered nurse and a “care navigator” to coordinate patient care “that could include referrals to specialists, therapists or other providers, setting up tests or procedures, obtaining prescriptions and medical equipment and making sure that all preventive care like immunizations, lab tests and cancer screenings are obtained.

Other unique clinic aspects include exam chairs that recline, reserved parking and a covered drop-off area to make appointments easier for patients. The clinic also has close access to imaging, lab services, ultrasound, and MRI.

“When we started this planning process about 18 months ago, at that time we felt it was very important to make sure we had a central location on this campus to make it as convenient as possible for these patients,” Steve Gebhart, Mercy’s vice president of operations, said in a statement. “It’s kind of like a one-stop shop for these patients, and we felt like that was important.”

Examples of treatments the new clinic will offer include flu shots and other immunizations, Medicare annual wellness visits; general medical evaluations and wellness exams, minor illnesses and injuries, monitoring of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, incontinence, osteoporosis, and high cholesterol, care for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and early memory loss, and care for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.