By LOIS KINDLE
In 2013, Dr. Kushi Dhaliwal started Tampa Bay Family Physicians in Sun City Center as a sole, general practitioner. Now, 10 short years later, with two more doctors, a nurse practitioner and 15 employees, her primary care practice has outgrown its space, will be moving soon to a new, 8,400-square-foot facility and rebranding to Sunstate Doctors Medical Group.
The move affords the practice an opportunity to offer both existing and prospective patients new, modern amenities to address the needs of the area’s senior population. The new office, which is currently being built by Tom Pavel, of Evolution Contracting, will be at 5109 State Road 674, Suite 103, Wimauma, in front of the Southshore Bay Metro Lagoon community. It’s less than a mile from the current Kings Crossing Shopping Center location.
“We’re very excited about this expansion,” Dhaliwal said. “With four providers, we’ve seriously outgrown our current space and moving gives us the opportunity to better serve our patients. We anticipate being fully operational in our new facility on April 3.
Sunstate Doctors Medical Group will remain independently owned and operated, offer senior-focused primary care and include the entire medical team of Dhaliwal, Dr. Shemushi Nasreen, Dr. Amy Kwok. nurse practitioner Jami Martinez and staff.
The new facility will continue to offer in-house lab testing and have seven examination rooms for patients being seen for annual wellness checkups and routine office visits. Three exam rooms will be dedicated for same-day, urgent-care appointments and three more will be available to a variety of specialists who will rotate visits throughout the week to offer Sunstate Doctors patients a one-stop location for all their healthcare needs.
The new location will have an in-house call center at the rear of the building for four employees to respond to inbound calls, leaving the two to three employees at the front desk in an enlarged reception lobby free to assist anyone visiting the office. There will also be a convenient check-in kiosk.
At capacity, the practice will have four doctors, two ARNPs and two medical assistants for each provider.
“We’re dedicated to addressing not just the physical conditions that present but also the mental and emotional side of healthcare, which we know helps our patients lead to better health outcomes,” said Paul Dhaliwal, practice administrator. “Value-based healthcare [concentrating on prevention] delivers because physicians focus on keeping patients healthy with screenings to avoid unnecessary hospital stays that can lead to enormous medical bills.”
Another amenity in the facility will be a training room with large-screen TVs to enable patients to attend educational seminars for addressing specific conditions using diet, activity, medication or available devices. The practice plans to hire a nutritionist as a resource for patients with diabetes or gastrointestinal issues, an additional referral specialist and four to five more staff members.
Sunstate Doctors accepts Medicare and Medicare supplements, plus the following healthcare plans: Aetna, AvMed, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CarePlus, Freedom Health, Optimum HealthCare, Simply Healthcare, Wellcare, Tricare, United Healthcare and Cigna- Healthspring.
For more information about the upcoming move or the practice, call patient advocate Emma Dauphin at 813-633-2000.