Joe Kline / The Bulletin Mary Brown, one of the founders of Central Oregon Pediatric Associates, talks about some of her history with the practice on Wednesday morning in Bend.

The region’s largest pediatric medical practice is spending more than $4 million to expand its west-side presence.

Central Oregon Pediatric Associates will open a new “Pediatric Center of Excellence” on Jan. 4 in NorthWest Crossing in a building formerly occupied by Steele Associates Architects. The more-spacious quarters will host visiting specialists, who currently see patients at COPA’s east-side clinic, as well as classes for the community.

COPA intends to close and sell its current west-side location. The busy east-side clinic, which is COPA’s current center of operations, will become a satellite office, but it will keep its extended hours, and wait times for appointments won’t be affected, COPA Chief Executive Officer Wade Miller said. All of the practice’s 16 doctors will be based at the new west-side office at 760 NW York Drive.

Miller said it became clear about a year ago that the practice needed more space. COPA had already modified the east-side building to accommodate a growing compliment of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, care coordinators and psychologists, who are employed by St. Charles Health System but work on-site. Meanwhile the west-side office on Monterey Pines Drive, which opened in 2006, had only enough space for two doctors. Miller said he took note of new school construction around NorthWest Crossing. “This looks to be where families are, so let’s center it here,” he said.

The decision to build a new hub in one of the region’s more upscale new developments doesn’t mean COPA will change its policy of accepting patients on the Oregon Health Plan, which is the state’s version of Medicaid, Miller said. Many patients will probably use the new location, regardless of where they live, because they tend to prioritize seeing their own doctors, he said. “We weren’t looking at going after a particular demographic.”

COPA is not the first medical practice to recognize the growth on Bend’s west side and beef up its operations accordingly. BMC added a new, larger clinic and urgent-care center last fall in the Old Mill District, and High Lakes Health Care anchored a new medical office building on Northwest Shevlin Park Road.

COPA treats about 70 percent of the pediatric population in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties, or about 24,000 children from birth to the age of 18, Miller said. The practice, founded by Dr. Mary Brown, has grown along with Bend. When Brown moved to Bend in 1975, there were three stoplights on Third Street and 17,000 people here, she said.

COPA’s east-side clinic is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. The practice has an office in Redmond. The NorthWest Crossing location will have longer hours than the current west-side clinic, opening from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and possibly expand to weekends in the future.

Dr. Jennifer Lachman, one of nine practice partners, said it was important that the building itself contribute to patients’ wellbeing. Currently visiting specialists use the east-side clinic, which Lachman said can be “chaotic” in the afternoons. “Sometimes the families who need to see a specialist are under increased stress,” she said. “It would be nice from them to have a calmer and quieter environment.”

The former architect’s building, which COPA purchased over the summer for about $3.5 million, is bathed in natural light. It meets the U.S. Green Building Council’s second-highest standard for energy efficiency and environmentally friendly design, Miller said. COPA gutted the former office interior and is spending another $780,000 to outfit the medical space and third-floor conference center.

The first floor will house health-related tenants, including a pediatric dentist, Miller said. Doctors will occupy the second floor, which is about twice the size of the current west-side office, he said. A third-floor conference room will host doctors’ training and community educational events.

COPA doctors said the new headquarters reflects their constant striving to meet the needs of an entire family.

COPA hosts 15 visiting specialists from Portland hospitals so that children with complex or rare cases don’t have to make as many trips across the mountains. Those doctors, who usually bring their own nurses, will have more space in the new building, and Lachman said the hope is that they’ll begin to spend more time in Bend. There’s strong demand for pediatric gastroenterology and ear, nose and throat specialists, said Dr. John Peoples, also a partner in the practice. COPA would like to add genetics and oncology to the list of specialties, he said.

The majority of COPA’s patients don’t need specialty care, however, and the practice hopes to become the go-to place for community education on topics including nutrition and child development.

COPA recently hosted a class on puberty at Central Oregon Community College, but that kind of seminar will take place at the center of excellence in the future, Miller said.

“The practice of medicine is moving this way in general,” Peoples said. “A lot of things driving our health problems really start way before people get to the office.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com