MultiCare Primary Care in Kent features new model for patients

Published 1:10 pm Tuesday, March 31, 2026

The opening of a second MultiCare Primary Care clinic on Kent’s East Hill provides some relief from Valley Medical Center’s closure last June of its East Hill clinic.

The Feb. 2 opening of MultiCare Primary Care Lake Meridian, 12924 SE Kent-Kangley Road, also debuts a new “Share-the-Care” model for patients with coordinated care and services beyond their primary needs with help from specialists.

The initial outside appearance of the clinic, which sits in the Marketplace at Lake Meridian shopping center next door to LA Fitness, looks small. Step inside, however, and a large reception area greets patients. The clinic has a deep layout in the building with 10 patient rooms.

And while the look of the facility is one new thing, how it addresses patient care also is a new approach.

“We have a little bit different concept,” said Maria Cook, clinic manager, during a March 25 tour. “It’s kind of a pilot program.”

Cook, who previously worked at Valley Medical’s Kent Primary Care clinic along 104th Avenue SE before it shut down for financial reasons, explained that patients receive a minimum 30-minute visit with potential access to specialists in addition to their doctor.

The service team includes:

• A pharmacist to help explain and answer any questions about prescriptions that might be needed and how they might interact with current drugs the patient might be on.

• A registered nurse to help explain possible lifestyle changes.

• A health care worker used by the provider for community resources, assistance with finding services and learning what insurance covers.

• On-site behavioral health specialist, which MultiCare is looking to fill.

The clinic also has three medical assistants who assist with each of the two doctors and the physician assistant rather than one medical assistant assigned to just one doctor, which is the typical case, Cook said.

“They all help each other,” Cook said. “The patient care goes faster, it’s a little bit more efficient.”

If the new staff arrangement and “Share-the-Care” program goes well in Kent, it could expand to other MultiCare primary care facilities.

“We hope it will expand, be successful and take care of patients in a better way,” Cook said.

The Lake Meridian location includes Dr. Shawn Michael Meyers, Dr. Mojgan Mohandesi and Dejie Lu, a physician assistant. Meyers is accepting new patients and previously worked at the Valley Medical Center Kent Primary Care that closed last year. Mohandesi moved up the hill from the MultiCare Kent Clinic at 219 State Ave. N., with many of her patients transferring as well. Lu doesn’t have her own patient list but can see up to eight patients per day.

“We’re still ramping up,” Cook said. “We see up to 25 to 30 patients a day and more slots will open up.”

Eventually, as many as six doctors are expected to work in the new facility, Cook said. It has 12 employees in addition to the doctors.

MultiCare started renovation on the building in September 2025 and finished the work in October 2025, said MultiCare spokesperson Scott Thompson. The site previously housed an urgent care facility that had been closed for a few years.

The new Lake Meridian clinic continues to expand Tacoma-based MultiCare’s footprint in South King County. MultiCare acquried the Auburn Medical Center in 2012, opened an emergency department only in Covington in 2012 and then added a four-story tower in 2018 for the Covington Medical Center with 58 beds. MultiCare has 13 hospitals and about 54 primary care clinics, Thompson said.

So far, MultiCare is only in Washington state but it is looking at potential expansion to Oregon, Thompson said.

MultiCare also has its Indigo Urgent Care facility at the Kent Station shopping center, 321 Ramsay Way, Suite 104, which handles minor illnesses and injuries.

• MultiCare Primary Care – Lake Meridian is open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 12924 SE Kent-Kangley Road. Phone: 253-372-6950.