MU Health Care opens new medical building on S. Providence

The doors are officially open at the South Providence Medical Park building in Columbia.

It’s a $32 million project that was approved by the University of Missouri Board of Curators in 2010 and broke ground in June of 2013.

The new building will house 250 healthcare professionals.

The new location provides all the necessary basic healthcare services for families.

“One place to come to take care of your family, your child, your mind, radiology for diagnoses and all things you need are going to be right here for you,” said Chancellor of the University of Missouri Bowen Loftin. “None of this trotting around town to three or four places to get things done.”

The new patient exam rooms are bigger than what some patients may be used to at other facilities where they’ve been going.

There are also more exam rooms to accommodate more patients.

“In 2015, we’re expecting 100,000 patient visits at this facility,” said Dr. Harold Williamson with MU health Affairs.

And Loftin said it’s about more than just that.

This is a healthcare center to serve people in Columbia and Boone County and it will be more than that,” he said at Tuesday’s ribbon cutting event. “It’s going to be an example of how we’re going to shape the face of healthcare going forward.”

Doctors started seeing patients at the new facility Tuesday morning.

MU health officials said the 25 acres of land the building sits on will allow them to expand in the future.

The project was mostly funded by $30 million in bonds issued by the University of Missouri in February of 2012.