Geisinger’s $15.5M medical clinic in the Bellefonte area is now open. Here’s a look inside

Following a year of construction, Geisinger’s new $15.5 million medical clinic serving the Bellefonte area has officially opened its doors.

Located directly behind Weis Markets at 226 Buckaroo Lane, Geisinger’s 23,000-square-foot clinic opened on Monday, with members of the media invited to a ribbon cutting and tour of the facility.

Dr. Amit Mehta, a longtime Geisinger physician, called the opening a “great and emotional moment.”

“I’m so grateful that our senior leadership has given us this opportunity, and has put this huge investment in our community,” Mehta said.

The new clinic will replace the health care provider’s former Bellefonte location at 819 E. Bishop St.

“Don’t get me wrong, the old location wasn’t bad at all, but this new spot is just fantastic,” Michelle Holt, Geisinger’s associate vice president of community medicine, told the CDT. “We were just outgrowing the old building — more and more patients were being seen there, which is awesome, but sometimes the parking lot didn’t have enough space to hold all of their vehicles. Here, we’ve got ample parking and much more room to accept new patients too.”

While the clinic does have a larger parking lot, it has lots of new features as well.

Upon entering the clinic through the main entrance, patients are met with a host of individual check-in kiosks. If a patient chooses to, they don’t have to interact with someone at the check-in desk, though they still have that option.

After checking in, patients will then be called back by a nurse to one of the clinic’s 28 examination rooms.

When walking back, patients may notice photos of Bellefonte Borough’s historic buildings and other local landmarks adorning the walls — a decision made intentionally by Geisinger to help make the clinic feel more comfortable for staff and patients alike.

“Almost everyone working here or visiting the clinic for treatment comes from Bellefonte or the surrounding areas, so it was important that we incorporated some local scenes as artwork up on our walls,” Holt said. “We want people to see those scenes and feel comfortable in the hands of our professionals, as many of them are from right here in Bellefonte too.”

The 28 examination rooms create a loop around the nurses’ station, which was designed to save time for both staff members and patients, and to encourage co-working among medical professionals in various departments, according to Holt.

“We want to keep things flowing as smoothly and efficiently as we can, which is a big reason why the nurses’ station is where it is,” Holt said. “For example, if a patient has a question about a prescription, the nurse can just walk right over to the pharmacist’s door, ask the question, and bring that information back to the patient before they even think about taking the time to look it up or ask someone else later.”

In addition to its primary care services, Geisinger’s new clinic also offers dermatology, laboratory, ultrasound and X-ray services.

The clinic will also offer an urgent care service called Convenient Care, which will replace the former Geisinger Convenient Care location at 174 Buckaroo Lane that closed last October. The new urgent care section of the clinic is not open yet, and is expected to open sometime in February.

Once the Convenient Care is open, the clinic will add five more examination rooms to its tally, and will staff around 60 total employees.

In addition to the new Bellefonte clinic, Geisinger is also working on a $12 million expansion of its clinic at Gray’s Woods in Patton Township, although Geisinger isn’t the only health system making big investments in Centre County.

In May, Mount Nittany Health opened is first ExpressCare facility, meant for treating patients suffering from minor ailments and injuries, and in August, the health system opened a new Toftrees location. Mount Nittany is also constructing a 10-floor, $350 million patient tower at the health center.

Penn Highlands also finished construction on its $90 million hospital in June.

Geisinger’s new medical clinic will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays. The clinic will be closed on the weekends.

The Convenient Care’s hours, once it opens, will be from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.