ProCare Medical Group, an independent Milwaukee-based physician group, is nearing completion on an expansion project at its West Wisconsin Avenue campus. ProCare is converting a former warehouse building, located adjacent to its clinic at 3727 W. Wisconsin Ave., into a roughly 20,000-square-foot medical office building that will house specialists, physical therapy services, a Hyatt Pharmacy
ProCare Medical Group, an independent Milwaukee-based physician group, is nearing completion on an expansion project at its West Wisconsin Avenue campus.
ProCare is converting a former warehouse building, located adjacent to its clinic at 3727 W. Wisconsin Ave., into a roughly 20,000-square-foot medical office building that will house specialists, physical therapy services, a Hyatt Pharmacy and a LabCorp lab. The medical group purchased the property at 603-629 N. 36th St. in 2017 for $725,000 from Coakley Brothers-affiliated C.M.K. Inc., according to city records.
Dr. Shakaib Razzaq, an owner of ProCare, said the new facility is a response to the needs of its patients, some of whom can’t easily access specialty and physical therapy services in other areas of the city. Having those services under the same roof as primary care, and in an accessible location, will increase patients’ ability to follow through on their appointments, he said.
“The majority of patients we serve, they don’t have much time or much money or transportation to go to different parts of the city,” he said. “We’re trying to establish care here so patients can come here and not have to go to other offices for ancillary services.”
He said renovations are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The medical group has three other clinic locations, including one on Milwaukee’s north side (5434 W Capitol Drive), its south side (1502 S. Layton Blvd.) and West Allis (5631 W. Lincoln Ave.). The system has 19 health care providers, including physicians, nurses and midwives.
Its West Wisconsin location sees about 3,000 per month, Shakaib Razzaq said.
[caption id="attachment_495619" align="alignright" width="500"] ProCare Medical Group is converting a former warehouse building, located adjacent to its clinic at 3727 W. Wisconsin Ave., to a medical office building.[/caption]
ProCare serves primarily low-income patients who rely on Medicaid and Medicare, which reimburses health care systems at below cost.
Dr. Anjum Razzaq, co-owner of ProCare Medical Group, said it faces challenges operating as an independent physician group amid an increasingly consolidated health care environment.
“It is difficult to survive in this day and age,” he said. “There are big (health care) groups. It is hard to compete with them. They have big resources. So we are trying to maintain our independence and trying to survive but it is very difficult, especially with the changing health care environment, changing rules and regulations all the time.”
Shakaib Razzaq said ProCare has won patient loyalty by offering more personalized care than large systems can offer.
“We’ve seen that if you provide good quality care, the patients, they usually still come to you even though they know there are big groups to go to,” he said. “They said, 'We are treated as an individual here.' There is a bonding between the health care provider and the patient.”
