Arkadelphia health clinic set to close in late June

By LESLIE R. KENT | arkadelphian.com

The CHI St. Vincent Medical Group has begun notifying patients that the St. Vincent Primary Care Clinic in Arkadelphia will be closing on June 28, 2024.

Formal notification to patients was by way of a May 23letter from Kevin Carlisle, the Regional Director of Operations with the CHI St. Vincent Medical Group. Carlisle’s letter described the current health care environment as challenging. “We are forced to also consider providing care in the most efficient manner,” he wrote.

Dr. Benjamin Martin, who is a specialist in internal medicine, has been the primary care provider at the 3004 Pine St. clinic since July 18, 2023. Late in 2023 the clinic’s services were upgraded with the addition of on-site X-ray capabilities.

Prior to Martin’s arrival services were provided by Kristen Brown, APRN who moved her practice to another local clinic in June of 2023.

The clinic closing letter pointed out the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute Clinic, which operates in the same building, will not be closing and will continue seeing patients as normal. The letter also referenced St. Vincent Primary Care Clinics in Malvern and Glenwood, where current patients in Arkadelphia could continue their affiliation with the St. Vincent system.

In response to community comments that local primary care providers were not accepting new patients, arkadelphian.com contacted numerous local clinics and learned that all were accepting new patients.