Hillsboro, Ore.-based Tuality Healthcare will transition its emergency department at Tuality Forest Grove (Ore.) Hospital to an urgent care clinic as part of an improvement strategy.
Effective July 1, the new clinic will operate out of the existing ED. It will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The transition emerged from discussions about how to improve healthcare services in the region. The Tuality Healthcare Board of Directors approved $3 million in funding for the improvement effort. As a result of the funding and discussions, Tuality leaders determined the ED in Forest Grove often is utilized as an urgent care clinic and that emergency patients would be better served at the ED at Tuality Community Hospital in Hillsboro.
"This new urgent care facility will allow us to serve our patients more effectively with shorter wait times and easier access, while still allowing patients in need of higher levels of care to be fast-tracked to Tuality Community Hospital," according to a hospital statement emailed to Becker's Hospital Review. "The move to an urgent care structure also offers the additional benefit of more cost-effective care and improved insurance coverage for many patients."