BUFFALO, N.Y. – For more than 20 years, Angela Smith has been coming to Lifetime Medical Group for her health care needs.

"I need my medical assistance, because I've got diabetes, I got, you name it, I got it. I'm trying to get them to take care of what the problem is here," said Smith.

Now she's going have to find a new place for her health care. This week, Lifetime announced it is closing three Buffalo area health centers.

"Lifetime Health Medical Group did announce it will be closing its three Buffalo area Health Centers effective December 31st. That is our Amherst Health Center at 1185 Sweet Home Road, our Hamburg Health Center at 151 Elmview Avenue and our Moser Health Center here at 899 Main Street," said Stacy VanBlarcom, Lifetime Health Medical Group spokesperson.

Lifetime officials say a shortage of primary care physicians led to financial problems which prompted the decision to close the centers. This week, the Rochester-based company sent out notices to 43,000 patients who have used the centers over the past three years. VanBlarcom says patients were also sent a list of list of alternative doctors and information on how to transfer the medical records.

Erie County Health Commissioner Gale Burstein says the move is a blow to local health care, but there are a number of local providers that are expanding their services like Jericho Road and the Greater Buffalo United Accountability Network.

"We'll have to see what happens in our community, but getting good primary care is a challenge in our community and many communities. So, we're hoping that these other health care organizations that are expanding are able to absorb most of the capacity," said Burstein.

Lifetime says about 200 staff positions will also be eliminated with the closures. It's part of a larger plan by Lifetime to get out of the primary care business. Officials say the pharmacies will close on October 25th and the health centers at the end of the year.