The Baylor Scott & White Austin Oak Hill Clinic, located within the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Austin complex, opened Oct. 28. Primary care practitioners and several specialists have begun seeing patients.

In addition to general internal medicine, the clinic offers 14 areas of specialty care, including orthopedics, podiatry, OB-GYN, general surgery, gastroenterology, dermatology, pain management, neurology, cardiology, urology, endocrinology, rheumatology, breast surgery and physical therapy. According to Ashley Short, Baylor Scott & White regional director of operations for specialty, the clinic has room to expand to include more specialities based on community need.

“Our biggest goal is providing access to the community that previously didn’t exist,” Short said.

That includes specialties that, according to Short, have limited offerings in the area, such as physical therapy. The clinic’s physical therapy center is not yet operational but will be within a few weeks.

Rather than being siphoned off, physicians of all specialties have “pod”-style offices in a shared wing, for which Short said the goal was to foster collaboration in a modern layout. Another of the clinic’s modern features is smart TVs in each treatment room, which allows physicians to display medical records, vital statistics and test results to patients.

“It’s something that we’re really trying to do to drive innovation in the clinics, and really drive technological advancement in what we’re doing to engage the patient,” Short said.

As the clinic continues to roll out the full range of its specialty care services in coming weeks and months, the entire Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Austin facility is preparing for an early 2020 opening. According to the hospital’s website, “select services” could be available as early as Jan. 15, 2020.

Baylor Scott & White Oak Hill Clinic is located at 5251 W. Hwy. 290, Austin, and can be contacted at 512-654-3000. www.bswhealth.com/locations/austin-oak-hill-clinic