Lone Star Circle of Care

Thanks to the efforts of Georgetown Health Foundation, the former Lake Aire shopping center at 2423 Williams Drive in Georgetown is undergoing a major renovation. The new Lake Aire Medical Center is a clinical hub facility for Lone Star Circle of Care, housing separate clinics for senior care, adult primary care, pediatrics and behavioral health, as well as a Class A pharmacy for LSCC patients. Phase I of the renovation was completed in fall 2009 and included the senior clinic space, pharmacy, behavioral health and administrative areas. Phase II was finished in June 2010 and included the adult and pediatric primary care clinic space.

The 40,000-square-foot Lake Aire Medical Center provides one convenient location where the uninsured and medically underserved in Georgetown and the surrounding area can access all the primary health care services needed for their entire family. The clinics at Lake Aire Medical Center have the combined capacity to serve over 23,000 patients each year.

Lone Star Circle of Care is proud to be a partner of the Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC) College of Medicine in Round Rock. LSCC operates a 30,000-square-foot clinical hub on the Health Science Center campus, which opened in December 2009 and features six clinics, including adult, adolescent and pediatric primary care, senior care, OB/GYN, integrated behavioral health services and a Class A pharmacy. This facility provides our patients with access to many of LSCC’s service lines all in one convenient location. The Seton Family of Hospitals provided a generous donation to fund start-up costs for the clinical hub facility.

Through LSCC’s role as an affiliate of the HSC College of Medicine, our doctors act as clinical faculty for medical students, who rotate through our clinics and learn about the science and art of medicine in a community health center setting. This partnership allows LSCC to play an integral role in training the next generation of Texas doctors, and it also has helped LSCC recruit highly skilled and sought-after medical providers who are excited about the combination of community health care and teaching opportunities afforded at Lone Star Circle of Care.

Truly a study in the power of collaboration, the clinical hub facility at Texas A&M Health Science Center demonstrates how organizations from all spheres of the health care industry can come together for the benefit of the community. Together, Lone Star Circle of Care, the Seton Family of Hospitals, and Texas A&M Health Science Center are blazing a new trail for the future of community health care and medical education.

LSCC opened A.W. Grimes Medical Offices in December 2008 with the support of Seton Medical Center Williamson. The clinic’s schedule has been completely full since the first day it opened; it serves thousands of patients in a spacious, beautiful setting and is truly a key resource for the Round Rock community.

The success of A.W. Grimes Medical Offices has opened the door for larger strategic partnership opportunities between Seton Family of Hospitals and Lone Star Circle of Care, including the hospital system’s generous support of our clinical hub at Texas A&M Health Science Center in Round Rock and many other initiatives that will expand access to care for thousands of medically disenfranchised Central Texans.

In late 2006, Lone Star Circle of Care and St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center embarked upon a groundbreaking partnership that would bring desperately needed services to medically underserved women in Williamson County and help to increase the health of the area’s newborn babies. When it opened, LSCC OB/GYN in Round Rock was the first clinic in Williamson County dedicated to providing OB/GYN services for underserved women. Before the clinic opened, many uninsured and underinsured pregnant women in the area went largely without prenatal care and then presented in the emergency room when they were in labor. Such situations dramatically increased the risks for both mother and baby.

Seeing the need in the community, LSCC added OB/GYN providers to its staff, but had limited clinical space to serve the need. St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center offered LSCC office space for a dedicated OB/GYN practice in the Round Rock Professional Building next to the hospital, and LSCC’s obstetricians were credentialed to deliver at the hospital. The Medical Center also donated operating room time for our patients’ deliveries and surgeries.

This initiative marked the first time that LSCC opened a clinic in partnership with a specific hospital, and it has been a great success. Since the clinic opened, the underserved women of Williamson County have access to a true medical home for their OB/GYN services as well as primary health care, and LSCC’s providers account for 40% of the hospital’s deliveries. LSCC’s expansion into comprehensive women’s health services would not have been possible without the support of St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center.

In 2008, Lone Star Circle of Care led a consortium of Central Texas safety net providers to secure $1.9 million in grant funding from St. David’s Community Health Foundation (now known as St. David’s Foundation) and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to implement an electronic health records system at LSCC and other safety net clinics in the area. The consortium created an independent nonprofit organization, Centex System Support Services, to oversee the setup, implementation, training and maintenance of NextGen, the selected EHR system.

Lone Star Circle of Care’s clinics completed the implementation process in one third the typical timeframe projected by the software manufacturer. Under the leadership of LSCC’s staff, CSSS has assisted El Buen Samaritano and People’s Community Clinic with implementation of the same EHR system.

Thanks to the implementation of electronic health records in safety net clinics throughout the region, uninsured and underinsured Central Texans in need of primary care services will experience improved continuity and quality of care.