Highland Family Medicine currently has 17,000 patients in its practice. With the new expansion, doctors say they will be able to treat an additional 3,000 patients which is critical to the area.

"This will really allow us to provide more access for primary care, particularly for our residents of the city," said Dr. Thomas Campbell, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine.

The new clinical suite has six exam rooms. Four Family Medicine residents will train with the clinical team.

The project is part of a larger plan to address a primary care physician shortage.

"There's a real need for primary care physicians. We have a shortage now, particularly in the city, and that's going to increase as health care reform takes place and more people will have access to health insurance and are looking for primary care physicians," said Campbell.

The practice also expanded its teaching space into a building next door earlier this year. Doctor Campbell says the goal is to place more primary care doctors in Rochester.

"We have expanded our residency program so we will be training more family physicians who will be graduating. Over half of them stay in the Rochester area, so we are actually the largest producer of primary care physicians in the area for this community," said Campbell.

With this new expansion, there are now seven clinical suites at Highland Family Medicine.

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Highland Family Medicine Expands