The more than 4,000 people in the Santa Fe area who use medical services provided by ABQ Health Partners, a physician-owned medical group with patients and medical providers in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and elsewhere, will need to seek new providers when the group closes its Santa Fe clinic on Wednesday.

ABQ Health Partners, with 1,100 employees, including 200 medical providers, almost three years ago took over Lovelace in Santa Fe and elsewhere.

The current changes came about after two physicians, Drs. Julie Martinez and Patrick Zamora, who are husband and wife, decided to leave ABQ Health Partners and join Anasazi Medical Associates in Santa Fe, said Valerie Leyder, director of public relations for ABQ Health Partners.

The Santa Fe patients of both Martinez and Zamora will have the option of using the services of Anasazi Medical Associates or turning to other medical providers.

As a result of those changes among its Santa Fe physicians, "we made the very difficult decision to close" Santa Fe operations, Leyder said. "It wasn't an easy decision for us to make. We have been providing services in Santa Fe for 20 years."

The decision to close was also because of the time and resources it would take to recruit new physicians in Santa Fe, Leyder said.

ABQ Health Partners has nine employees in the Santa Fe clinic, all of whom have been offered transfers to Albuquerque or severance packages, Leyder said.

"Many of them are looking for opportunities in the Santa Fe area," she said.

One patient, who asked not to be identified, said he was unhappy with the demise of ABQ Health Partners and Lovelace in Santa Fe.

"Why did this Albuquerque outfit take over Lovelace in Santa Fe and then shut it down? It can only be for economic reasons. It's going to inconvenience a lot of people," he said.

Leyder said she had not received any complaints about the changes being made by ABQ Health Partners.