Valley Medical Center is expanding its Highlands Clinic on Duvall Avenue Northeast to accommodate the growing demand for medical care.

The target date for opening the expanded clinic space is April 1. The project also will include improved parking.

“The purpose of expanding the Highlands Clinic is to meet the increasing patient access needs of the area,” said Valley spokesman Kelley Balcomb-Bartok.

“This is due both to a growing population and to a growing number of patients eligible for Medicaid who are now seeking primary-care services,” he said.

Valley Medical Center is anticipating that its service area will grow by about 21,000 residents within the next five years, Dr. Bob Thompson, Valley’s vice president of physician relations, told hospital trustees at a recent board meeting.

He told trustees that fewer primary-care doctors are setting up private practices, while hospital employment is increasing.

In fiscal years 2014 and 2015 Valley Medical added 32 physicians and 22 mid-level positions. Valley will need 77 new providers and approximately 90,000 to 125,000 additional square feet of medical office space into 2019.

Some of this space could be on or near the main hospital campus and some could be within Valley’s service area.