ChristianaCare GoHealth Urgent Care Centers describe themselves as on-demand care.
ChristianaCare and GoHealth on Tuesday celebrated the opening of four urgent care centers, bringing the number they operate to 14 in Delaware and two in Maryland, one in Easton and one in Northeast.
Each of the four new sites is named for their locations: Kirkwood at 3926 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington; New Castle at 129 N. Dupont Highway, New Castle; Newark at 1 Chestnut Hill Plaza, Suite C, Newark; and Dover at 15 S. Dupont HIghway, Dover.
All are former MedExpress sites which were bought by GoHealth. One of those clinics on U.S. 202 will not reopen as a GoHealth center because it’s only a half mile from one.
The clinics are designed to help patients get immediate care, especially when they can’t get into their own doctors, while keeping more minor problems out of overburdened hospital emergency rooms.
“We are committed to increasing access to quality care in New Castle County, expanding access and removing barriers to on demand care for our neighbors,” said Chris Disanto, operations manager for the clinics. “Anybody who has attempted to go in and see their physicians, they know there are access issues. This is where we come in.”
The center can treat non-life-threatening injuries and conditions, including minor burns and cuts, sprains, urinary tract infections, viral and bacterial illnesses, earaches, headaches, asthma and sore throats.
The urgent care visits can be three times quick than visiting a hospital emergency room, offer X-ray facilities and on-site lab facilities for rapid diagnostic tests.
GoHealth partnerships
GoHealth partners with healthcare organizations such as ChristianaCare to provide a continuum of care. If urgent care patients need additional attention, they can be seamlessly referred to ChristianaCare’s expert primary specialty and emergency care, Disanto said.
“We are honored to be a physical and digital front door in the patient care journey here,” he said.
Many of the clinic employees moved over to GoHealth after it bought MedExpress.
The clinics will be staffed mostly by advanced practice specialists such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners who will always have access to a doctor, said Dr. Horatio Jones, medical director of ChristianaCare GoHealth Urgent Cares.
A primary care physician, he gave up his private practice to work for the hospital system to help cope with the avalanche of demands on his office.
IN THE NEWS: Delaware schools will increase security measures this fall
The urgent cares can see about 48 patients per day per attending specialist, said Amir Garcia, the onsite manager for four of the clinics, including Kirkwood.
The typical patient load at one of them is 35 patients, he said. The clinics operate four patient rooms.
All of the clinics have been open since July and they are in-network with most insurance plans.
Their office hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The business times of day tend to be first thing in the morning and around 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. when people are getting off work, or realize that they’re getting sicker and won’t be able to see their own doctor quickly.
Walk-in patients are welcome, but patients also may go online to reserve a slot.
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience.
Related Posts:
Share this Post