Cahaba Medical has expanded its clinic in Birmingham, a move they say will “dramatically increase” the number of patients they can care for.

The community health center in the West End neighborhood opened four new exam rooms, allowing doctors and nurses to see 30 more patients a day, or 600 more a month.

“Cahaba Medical Care’s West End health center has operated at capacity for several years, providing a full spectrum of services to patients, such as adult and pediatric care, psychiatric and behavioral care, prenatal care, obstetrics, pharmacy services and more,” said Cahaba Medical CEO Dr. John Waits.

“This expansion allows us to continue that work of investing in the health and future of this community. We’re growing so families can receive high quality, accessible, affordable and compassionate care they need close to home, from a team that knows them, listens to them and puts their well-being first.”

The center opened in 2017 and is a federally-funded nonprofit that provides primary and preventative care regardless of a patient’s insurance status. The center said it served 21% of Birmingham’s low-income population in 2023 — up from 13% in 2018.

While Cahaba is not adding new physicians with the expansion, they say access will still be improved because the clinic previously didn’t have enough rooms, creating a bottleneck.

“With the new space, we can run more providers at once, extend visit availability, and serve far more patients. In short, even without adding new humans, the expansion unlocks capacity we haven’t been able to use, and that means more access for West End families,” according to a press release from Cahaba.

Birmingham isn’t typically thought of as being short on medical providers, as its home to UAB, Baptist Health and other institutions.

“But access isn’t evenly distributed,” Cahaba leaders said in the press release. “Many neighborhoods, including West End, face longstanding barriers like transportation challenges, limited clinic capacity, lack of insurance, and the closing of nearby hospital services.”

Cahaba says the center will work on closing the gaps for the long term, including by training residents in UAB and Cahaba Family Medicine’s Residency Urban Track.

“By adding needed clinical space, we can…continue to grow a pipeline of mission-driven physicians uniquely trained to care for underserved communities.”

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