Sick? In a hurry? Woodbury and its walk-in clinics await

Attention, Woodbury shoppers: Doctors are now offering a special on health care. No appointments necessary.

The east metro suburb has become a magnet for newer types of medical clinics that focus on patients who can walk in for care, but don't want to wait for it.

This week, a physicians group announced final plans for opening in October a new type of urgent care facility in Woodbury that will compete for many of the patients traditionally treated in hospital emergency rooms. Going by the name The Urgency Room, the clinic will be staffed by emergency medicine doctors but won't be a full ER because it can't accept patients by way of ambulances and helicopters.

The development has raised eyebrows at competing centers, where officials question the need for an additional clinic. It also means Woodbury will be home not only to the new facility — one of the first of its kind in the state — but also a half dozen other walk-in providers, including a hospital ER, an urgent care center, two retail health clinics and at least two other medical groups that prominently feature after-hours care.

"From a walk-in medicine point of view, every possible model for a patient is available in Woodbury," said Tom Charland of Merchant Medicine LLC, a Shoreview consulting group that works with hospitals to set up retail-style and urgent care clinics. "Most often these would be located in upper-middle to upper-class suburbs, because that's where people with fairly decent insurance live."

In 2008, the median household income for Woodbury was $92,276, a full $40,000 ahead of the national median that year. The suburb's wealth and other demographic factors make it attractive for companies that are developing walk-in clinics, particularly those like the newest facility in Woodbury.

"A lot of it has to do with (locating near) homes where both parents are working — they have kids and they need convenience because their schedules are so tight,"

Charland said. "Woodbury fits perfectly with the concept."

A large group of emergency medicine physicians based in Minnetonka called Emergency Physicians PA will operate The Urgency Room. The clinic will treat patients with acute and urgent

medical needs ranging from severe abdominal pain, kidney stones and migraines to asthma attacks, broken bones and severe lacerations.

The center will arrange for direct admission to hospitals when needed. It also will offer amenities that its owners think will create a superior experience for patients, such as an LCD screen in the lobby listing wait times.

Clinic patients will be able to register for care online, and then stop over and find their room waiting, said Dr. Gary Gosewisch, chief executive officer of Emergency Physicians PA. If the wait time is longer than expected, patients can leave the clinic to run errands or entertain kids and then receive a phone call or text message when doctors are available.

"The ER is probably one of the last sections of medicine to move outside of the hospital so we can make it faster and friendlier and certainly more affordable," said Gosewisch, whose group staffs the emergency rooms at six hospitals in the metro area. "You'll think you're at an upscale hotel."

Gosewisch's group previously was in talks to staff the emergency room at Woodwinds Health Campus in Woodbury, but the medical center uses doctors employed by its parent company, the St. Paul-based HealthEast system. The number of patients treated each year in the hospital's emergency room has been growing at a rate of about 6 percent per year, said Dr. Anthony Nardi, the medical director of the emergency department.

"Whether there's a need for this or not, the community is going to decide," Nardi said of the new center. "We feel that we're meeting the community needs very sufficiently — and we're not bursting at the seams."

In 1998, the Bloomington-based HealthPartners system opened an urgent care center in Woodbury, offering patients prompt access to primary care without the appointment book and limited hours that are a feature of many doctor offices. Over the years, families with children have been big users of walk-in services at the center, which offers care after 5 p.m. during the week and on Saturdays, said Vince Rivard, a HealthPartners spokesman.

Last year, HealthPartners added a service called "Quick Care," which is similar to the sort of care offered by two retailers in Woodbury — MinuteClinic at a local CVS pharmacy and Target Clinic, which is located inside a Target store. Retail clinics typically offer care for a much more limited set of conditions than those treated in urgent care clinics.

"Woodbury has been one of Minnesota's fastest growing cities for several years," Rivard said. "So it's clear that need for health care services also will continue to grow."

In 2002, the Allina health system started offering walk-in care to patients during extended hours at its outpatient medical clinic in Woodbury. The Urgency Room is not a threat, but healthy competition, said Dr. Alison Peterson, the clinic's medical director.

"Strictly speaking, the Woodbury area may be overserved with this kind of care," Peterson said. "But the economy (and) fewer people with insurance or a regular physician ... are causing more people to turn to this kind of care."

In 2008, a medical practice located next to Woodwinds called Summit Orthopedics started offering walk-in care through a service called OrthoQuick. Currently, the service is open evenings Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, but those hours will soon be expanded to include weekdays and Sunday, said Brett Osgood, a physician assistant with the medical practice.

Osgood said he wonders whether The Urgency Room will simply pull patients from existing providers rather than tapping an unmet need in Woodbury, but the new competition isn't what's driving OrthoQuick to expand its hours. Rather, Summit Orthopedics finds itself competing for walk-in business with other orthopedic medicine practices across the metro area.

"We get a ton of people who call during the day who want to be seen today," Osgood said. "Woodbury is more on the cutting edge of realizing there is that patient demand for the walk-in, urgent type of appointments."

Source: Pioneer press