JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three new hybrid emergency rooms and urgent care centers are coming to UF Health Jacksonville next year.
The centers are scheduled to open in late summer and early fall of 2022, according to the hospital. All three are being developed in partnership with Dallas-based Intuitive Health.
Jacksonville will be the third location in the state that will host the hybrid model and the first in Northeast Florida.
“This new hybrid concept will bring breakthrough, specialized care to residents in Jacksonville because it will give patients one place to go when they’re not sure just how serious their illness or injuries are,” said Russ Armistead, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville. “Right now, people have to make a decision on whether to go to an emergency room or to an urgent care center. This will give the option of both under one roof.”
UF Health Emergency and Urgent Care Centers will have a full-service ER open 24 hours a day, and an urgent care open in the same building seven days a week, health officials said.
Each facility will have on-site lab equipment and a radiology suite with X-ray and multi-slice CT scanners and will be staffed with board-certified, ER-licensed physicians.
An ER physician will examine each patient and determine if the appropriate care is emergent or urgent care. Patients will be billed accordingly, only paying for the level of care they need, which eliminates unnecessary emergency room visits, the hospital said.
The centers will be located on New Kings Road near Dunn Avenue on the Northside, on Lane Avenue south of Interstate 10 on the Westside, and near Baymeadows Road East just off Interstate 295.
“Our goal is to make sure patients get the care they really need in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible,” said Steven Godwin, M.D., chair of the department of emergency medicine in the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville. “Our emergency physicians will be able to quickly diagnose how serious a patient’s condition is and then get them to the right place as quickly as possible. We think this will change how emergency care is delivered moving forward.”
