PORT ANGELES – Nearly a year after it took over Virginia Mason’s Eighth Street clinic, Olympic Medical Center approved three-year contracts Wednesday with its nine primary care doctors.

The agreement puts the final piece back into the clinic that was fractured when Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center quit the facility 353 days ago.

Since then, OMC has taken over clinic operations, bought the building, and made plans to upgrade it to hospital standards that will enable it to receive reasonable reimbursements from Medicare.

The clinic’s doctors, however, had worked without new contracts since Dec. 31, renewing fears among its nearly 19,000 patients that they might not be able to continue seeing their doctors.

The impasse officially ended Wednesday.

“We are pleased to have these agreements completed with these high-quality physicians,” said hospital CEO Eric Lewis.

Dr. Bill Kintner, who with Dr. Larry Gordon negotiated for the doctors, said, “It’s nice to have it done.

“I’m looking forward to concentrating on patient care from this point on.”

Besides Kintner and Gordon, the contracts cover Drs. Elizabeth Christian, Michael Epler, Daniel Hudgings, Roger Oakes, Jerome Oakes, Mark Redlin and Richard VanCalcar.