The new free-standing emergency hospitals are designed to increase access to efficient emergency medical care. The hospital plans to have patients seen by a physician within 15 minutes of registration and triage. Baptist Health System and Emerus expect most patients to spend less than one hour in the facility, including time spent completing paperwork, being seen by a physician and undergoing diagnostic tests.
In contrast to urgent care centers, which typically treat simple, non-life-threatening medical issues during regular or extended business hours, the emergency hospitals will be largely the same as hospital-based emergency departments, including on-site imaging services and laboratories. They will be open 24 hours a day year-round and will be staffed with board-certified emergency medicine physicians, registered nurses, radiation technologists and other clinical specialists.
Baptist Health System and Emerus expect the new emergency hospitals to create approximately 160 new jobs in the San Antonio area.
The first facility is planned to open this fall, followed by the other three facilities over the next 12 months.
Read the system release on emergency hospitals.
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