Prima Plans ’16 Opening for Beaver Township Campus

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Prima Health Care’s new campus in Beaver Township will accommodate continued growth by the company, its president, Nick DeMaiolo, says.

Prima Health Care is targeting “early 2016” to complete construction of the two-story building, which DeMaiolo acknowledges is a “moving target” given northeastern Ohio weather.

The 35,000-square-foot building, under construction at 9471 Market St., is estimated to cost $4.25 million, according to the construction permit filed with the township zoning office. The contractor on the project is DeCerbo Construction, Canfield.

About 30 medical and administrative staff will work out of the new building, DeMaiolo says. The company also has operations in Columbiana and Salem and has about 100 employees overall. The opening of the new building would take employment to around 115 or 120, he projects.

The first story of the building will house its medical operations while the business office will be on the second floor, along with other leasable space available for other health-care or medical entities, DeMaiolo says. The existing medical office, 7629 Market St. in Boardman Township, just north of the new building, was “maxed out” shortly after Prima occupied the space, he reports.

“We just needed a more functional space for us” as well as room to expand, he says.

Prima’s growth is driven in part by activity in its Express Care, an open-access, no-appointment-necessary service for treatment of acute, nonlife-threatening emergencies. Patients are charged the co-pay for an office visit rather than the more expensive rate for an emergency room or urgent care visit.

“The public has really embraced that,” DeMaiolo says. Last year, Prima had more than 45,000 visits through the service, he reports.

Growth also is coming from new physicians and providers joining Prima, he says, and he expects more to join this year and next. As one- and two-member physician practices increasingly become obsolescent, Prima is positioning itself to doctors as a viable alternative to joining a hospital staff. “You come take care of your patients, we take care of everything else,” DeMaiolo remarks.

Pictured: Snow freezes construction at the Beaver Township site where Prima Health Care is building a new campus.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.