{"id":828561,"date":"2026-08-28T10:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/828561\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T10:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:46:08","slug":"family-care-network-to-acquire-optum-clinic-in-bellingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/828561\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Care Network to acquire Optum clinic in Bellingham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Family Care Network, the Bellingham-based provider of primary and urgent care throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties, is acquiring Optum\u2019s Bellingham clinic.<\/p>\n

The acquisition and transition are expected to be finalized this November, Optum representatives told Cascadia Daily News. The clinic is located on Ellis Street across from PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur intention is to try to preserve as much continuity in that practice as possible through the transition,\u201d including continuity of clinician staff and continuing to provide a medical home for existing patients, Family Care Network (FCN) Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Rodney Anderson, said. <\/p>\n

Optum, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group, has operated dozens of clinics in the Puget Sound region under its previous name, The Everett Clinic. The Everett Clinic was acquired by DaVita Inc. in 2016 only to be sold to Optum nearly a year later. Optum has operated the Bellingham clinic for the last seven years. Before The Everett Clinic, it was previously operated by a group of clinicians under the name Associated in Family Medicine through 2019. <\/p>\n

With about 30 staff, including nearly seven core clinicians, Optum has run the Bellingham clinic mostly as a family medicine and primary care clinic, Optum Care Washington Executive Medical Director Dr. Steve English said. The clinic served about 8,000 patients and has also offered walk-in urgent care, he added.<\/p>\n

When asked whether the sale could be one of many for the chain of clinics, Dr. English indicated this acquisition was isolated because the clinic was uniquely distant geographically from Optum\u2019s other locations. The clinic is about 50 miles from Optum\u2019s closest surgical services, which was a notable factor in the decision to sell, he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"Family Care Network recently relocated its administration office to Guide Meridian Road in Bellingham. (Santiago Ochoa<\/a>\/Cascadia Daily News)<\/p>\n

To provide proper care, clinics need integrated services and local partnerships, Dr. English said, adding that Optum didn\u2019t necessarily have that network in Bellingham.<\/p>\n

Dr. English declined to disclose terms of the sale or say what other organizations were considered but added that FCN was selected, in part, because it\u2019s clinician-owned, has infrastructure in the community and because of overlap in insurers accepted by both companies. (FCN does not accept United Healthcare insurance.)<\/p>\n

The acquisition comes amid great uncertainty for healthcare providers staring down notable federal changes<\/a> this fall and in 2027 as a result of legislation passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. The federal legislation and its looming impact were not significant factors in the sale, Dr. English said.<\/p>\n

As one of the largest single-specialty group practices with nearly 120 clinicians and 560 total staff, FCN operates more than a dozen clinics throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties focused on whole family medicine and primary care. The organization also offers lab services, urgent care and sports medicine, and has been operating in Whatcom County since 1998.<\/p>\n

The clinic will be FCN\u2019s tenth in Whatcom County, Dr. Anderson said, adding that the company does not anticipate any impact to other FCN clinics. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrowth is not our target at FCN, but when opportunities present themselves, and we feel like we can bring our care model to more patients or sometimes new communities, we view that as a positive, and we evaluate each of those carefully,\u201d Dr. Anderson said.<\/p>\n

For commercially insured patients, FCN accepts Aetna, Blue Cross\/Blue Shield, Cigna, First Choice, First Health, Healthcare Management Administrators, Kaiser Permanente, Premera, Regence and Regence Uniform Medical Plan (with the exception of UMP Plus).<\/p>\n

For Medicaid (Apple Health) patients, FCN accepts those covered by Molina Healthcare. The company accepts three Medicare Advantage plans: Kaiser Permanente, Molina (D-SNP only) and Wellcare. For patients with TRICARE, FCN accepts US Family Health Plan.<\/p>\n

Owen Racer<\/a> is a Report for America<\/a> corps member who covers healthcare and public health in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Reach him at owenracer@cascadiadaily.com<\/a>; 360-922-3090 ext. 101. Learn more and donate at cascadiadaily.com\/rfa<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Family Care Network, the Bellingham-based provider of primary and urgent care throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties, is acquiring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":["post-828561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}