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MEDICAL ASSOCIATES CLINIC PC (THE)

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The Medical Associates clinic at Main and 12th in the 1970s

MEDICAL ASSOCIATES CLINIC PC (THE). Iowa's largest and oldest fully accredited multi-specialty clinic. Medical Associates was founded in 1924 by Drs. John B. HELES, Clarence LYNN, and Wayne A. JOHNSTON. The site of the first clinic was a house at 1200 Main. This building was renovated and expanded to eventually house twenty-eight physicians.

By 1974 a new clinic with 66,000 square feet of space was built at 1000 Langworthy next to St. Joseph's Unit of Mercy Health Center. The size of the staff was nearly doubled. This building was expanded in 1978 by 22,000 square feet.

In 1978 Medical Associates Foundation was established to encourage health research, wellness, and health education activities.

In 1989 Medical Associates employed 75 physicians and over 525 nurses and health care professionals. Through 1984 the clinic annually added from five to seven doctors and one new medical specialty. Satellite offices were opened throughout the tri-state region.

The 1993 Dubuque City Directory listed 1940 Elm, 1000 Langworthy, and Sports Medicine (Medical Associates at 2255 John F. Kennedy Road.

In early January 1997 Finley, MEDICAL ASSOCIATES CLINIC PC (THE), and the Tri-States Physicians Association submitted an application to the Iowa Department of Public Health to bring a permanent hospital-based magnetic resonance imaging center (MRI) to Dubuque. The application suggested that the center would be the fourth busiest in Iowa and would lower the cost of each MRI by 23%. Finley and MERCY MEDICAL CENTER were at the time using a mobile MRI on a part-time basis as a contracted service. The proposed Finley MRI was to be housed in an attached hospital addition and could provide MRI services 24-hours daily. The cost of purchasing the equipment, construction, and installation was estimated at $2.3 million. (1)

Medical Associates claimed many of the area's "firsts" in health care. The area's first HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION (HMO) was opened by the clinic in 1982. The first walk-in emergency room, Acute Care Facility, was added in 1983. The same year the Midwest's first low-dosage radiation mammography equipment, used in the detection of breast cancer, was purchased by the clinic.

In April 2011 Medical Associates introduced Patient Station, an online patient portal and personal health record. Using the program, a patient could link to all of their Medical Associates' physician and provider offices, request appointments and prescription refills, and communicate securely and directly with the physician and office staff through secure messaging. (2)

Medical Associates West Campus in 2010

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Source:

1. Gwiasda, Susan B. "Prognosis: Finley's MRI Busy, Fee Lower," Telegraph Herald, January 22, 1997, p. 1. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19970122&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

2. Medical Associates Clinic: Embracing the Brave New World of Healthcare Information Exchange," Julien's Journal, May 2013, p 49