The Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center says it has outgrown its outpatient clinic in Coeur d'Alene and plans to seek larger quarters there this year.

Chuck Marsden, a spokesman at the Spokane VAMC, says the hospital will look for a location with 13,000 square feet to 14,000 square feet of floor space for its Coeur d'Alene Community-based Outreach Clinic. It hopes to select a new location for the clinic this summer, but the timing of the move will depend on what tenant improvements are required in the new space, he says.

The clinic currently occupies 8,500 square feet of space at 2177 N. Ironwood Center, where it opened in 2007, Marsden says.

The planned move has received preliminary approval, and the Spokane VAMC is awaiting final approval from Eric Shinseki, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, to solicit bids for leasable space, Marsden says.

About 4,000 veterans have enrolled for services at the Coeur d'Alene clinic, he says, and he expects that number to grow.

"Quite a few veterans haven't come through yet," he says.

The larger clinic will offer some expanded programs, but not necessarily more providers, he says.

"Our mental health programs are expanding," he says.

The clinic also will expand its telemedicine services through which patients in Coeur d'Alene can be seen via video link by specialists in Spokane.

The clinic currently is served by four medical providers and a full-time support staff, he says.

The Spokane VAMC, located at 4815 N. Assembly in northwest Spokane, also operates outreach clinics in Wenatchee, Wash., and Libby, Mont. In all, the Spokane VAMC serves some 215,000 veterans in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, and western Montana.

Separately, the Spokane VAMC is constructing a $6.5 million outpatient mental health building on its hospital campus here. Burton Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the contractor on that 18,000-square-foot, two-story structure, and Integrus Architecture PS, also of Spokane, designed it.