Standing outside 2594 Loganville Hwy, Suite 101, one would hardly notice anything out of the ordinary about the care center. There’s the navy blue logo that tells visitors the center is under the umbrella of Eastside Medical Center. But what’s unique is what goes on inside. With a new x-ray room and an extended lab, the Center treats a distinct set of conditions and has adopted a speedy process for attending patients.
During the open house, Samir Bhatia, President of Eastside Urgent Care, explained that Urgent Care Centers are unlike Primary or Emergency Room medical care. Patients can expect rapid care without having to wait for an appointment, so Urgent Care is often referred to as “On Demand Care” or “Retail Clinic” care.
Web check-ins are among the perks of the Eastside Urgent Care system. Just hours or even minutes before they plan to visit, patients can reserve an appointment on the website, and the system will let them know their wait time and send a notification shortly before the appointment.
“So, you can hang out in the lobby or you can wait at home,” Bhatia said. “And you get a text 15 minutes before your appointment. So, you could be running your errands and get a text and come here, almost like the buzzer system that restaurants use.”
Some of the first unique installations patients will notice when visiting the new center are a number of flat screens mounted on the walls. They display approximate wait times and names to let visitors know when they will be seen.
Photos by Emmett ClowerBut patients shouldn’t have to wait long at any of Eastside’s four Urgent Care Centers. One metric Eastside takes pride in is the door-to-door — the time it takes a patient to check in the door and check out. For Eastside, the door-to-door is less than an hour, at an average of only 56 minutes.
“It is a newer concept, “CEO Trent Lind said of the Urgent Care system. “We’re seeing more Urgent Care Centers, because well, there’s this joke that it’s the Burger King model, because people nowadays want it their way, right away.”
Following the model of major retail chains, Eastside Urgent Care Centers emphasize customer satisfaction. All four locations received a 90% with the National Promoter Score. NPS is a customer feedback system, and it levels Eastside with major retail chains like Costco, The Ritz Carlton and USAA for customer satisfaction rates.
Another installation that contributes to the “On Demand Care” system is the extended lab. It allows patients to have body fluid samples tested on-site, so they don’t have to wait for results to be sent and returned from an off-site lab group, a process which could take more than 24 hours.
The newly installed x-ray room also allows the patient to get faster results. Rather than waiting hours at an emergency room, patients can be imaged in the Urgent Care Center where professional can quickly as-sess bone damage and refer patients to the appropriate specialist.
In some cases, patients may need to be transported to the emergency room for more intensive treatment. In these situations, patients will be transferred to an ambulance by community first responders.
Patients with life-threatening conditions are recommended to visit the Main Campus hospital to receive intensive treatment. Everyday illnesses that are not life-threatening such as cuts, fractures, colds, and asthma are treated at the Urgent Care Centers. A full list of injuries along with the appropriate care centers is listed on Eastside’s website.
With its Urgent Care network, Eastside Medical aims to fill in the gap between emergency and Primary Care facilities. As CEO Trent Lind says, Eastside is “expanding [its] footprint” so that more patients can be cared for with a more convenient and cost-efficient process.
According to Bhatia, Eastside has plans to continue expanding. With Urgent Care Centers located in Snellville, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, as well as the Grayson location which opened on July 27, Eastside Medical has access points across Gwinnett’s Eastern corridor. They now plan to expand Westward to fill Urgent Care needs for the growing population.
“With this being our fourth Urgent Care Center in the Gwinnett market, I am happy to say we are the biggest urgent care network in Gwinnett, “Bhatia said. “We’ve covered the Eastern side and plan to expand to the West and beyond to serve the citizens of Gwinnett and the surrounding areas.”
All locations are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Fri-day, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Eastside Urgent Care accepts most major insurances and offers multiple payment plans. For more details, visit www.eastsideuc.com.
