Jefferson City Medical Group doctors have performed more than 600 procedures at the group's new surgical center since it opened April 5.
On Friday, they performed 24 endoscopies.
The first knee replacement to be done at the center is scheduled for next week.
Management gave local health workers and media members a (sneak peek) tour of the newly completed facility Friday afternoon.
A public grand opening for the facility, located at 3520 W. Edgewood Drive, is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. It will feature snacks and beverages.
Natasha Gladbach, manager of the surgery center, said patients love the new facility. Physicians are getting used to the new, bigger space.
"We're all going to be healthy this year," said Jonathan Craighead, an orthopedic surgeon in the group and its secretary. "Because we're all getting more steps in. It's almost tripled the size of the old one."
JCMG announced the new facility early in December 2020. The health care provider had already maintained an outpatient facility for about 20 years but had outgrown it. The group wondered whether to expand its existing structure -- from about 10,000 square feet to 16,000 -- or to bite the bullet and build a 28,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility, JCMG President Jeffrey Patrick said.
So, JCMG approached the city to ask for a tax incentive. The group would like a 75 percent tax abatement for the first five years and 25 percent for the next five years.
The benefit for the city is the group will have to recruit more physicians and staff at average salaries approaching $60,000 annually.
The group broke ground on the $17 million facility late that winter. Despite a couple of supply chain issues, construction came in under budget, Patrick said Friday.
One of the biggest improvements for the group is the sterilization center, Gladbach said.
"We have three large sterilizers to keep up with all the instruments that it's going to take to do total joints," she said. "It takes several (instrument) trays to do some of those bigger cases."
There has been a lot of preparation completed before the new facility takes on its first knee replacement next week, Craighead said.
"You just want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row," he continued. "It's about making sure you have good communication with the entire team. And that everyone knows what the entire plan is."
Staff members are excited to take on the opportunity, he said.
Rain poured down as staff members described their new experiences with the facility.
A few minutes earlier, Craighead said, a nurse wheeled a patient out the patient exit covered pickup area. Despite pouring rain, the patient remained dry and experienced little discomfort.
The scene demonstrated a significant improvement to the patient experience, he pointed out. Although the exit door at the previous facility was not far from parking, it was not covered. The scene would have been much different there.