Residents who see the emergency room as their only option when seeking treatment after regular business options now have a new alternative in Baytown.

The Baytown Urgent Care center aims to save patients a time consuming and sometimes costly trip to the emergency room when faced with a non-life threatening medical condition after normal business hours.

Services are available on a first come, first-served basis with no appointment necessary.

“Right now everyone shows up at the ER and the waiting period is just not acceptable,” said Siraj Jiwani, CEO of Jacinto Medical Group, which will operate the urgent care center out of its location at 2800 Garth Road.

Non-emergency conditions include ear infections, insect bites, nausea, diarrhea, sprains, minor burns and cuts, pink eye, sore throat, skin infections, colds, flu, fever and non-deforming broken bones.

Jiwani hopes the urgent care center will provide convenience for patients with less serious conditions and help alleviate traffic at San Jacinto Methodist Hospital, which runs the only full-service ER in Baytown.

“Emergency rooms in general are overcrowded, not just in Baytown,” Jiwani said.

San Jacinto Methodist Hospital spokeswoman Laurie Terry would not say whether the hospital views the urgent care center as competition, instead emphasizing the around the clock availability of the hospital’s emergency room.

“Multi-specialty groups around the county have done similar things and the hospital is always available to serve our community 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” Terry said.

While the urgent care center opened Tuesday, it could be up to six weeks before it begins accepting insurance from non-established patients. The center is in the process of filing paperwork with major insurance providers.

“This is not just limited to patients already established,” Jiwani said. “This is open to everybody in the community.”

Jiwani stressed that new patients can still file for reimbursement with their insurance company and that a majority of insurance companies provide higher reimbursement and coverage rates for visits to urgent care centers as opposed to emergency rooms because of lower costs.

An easier to stomach bill for services is another benefit of the urgent care center, officials say. Because the center will not admit patients and does not operate as much equipment, overhead is lower.

“Those are cost savings that can be passed along to the patient,” said Caroline Johnston, a physician with the Jacinto Medical Group.

At least one physician will staff the urgent care center at all times, and records of a patient’s visit will be forwarded nightly to the patient’s primary care physician.

Plans for the Jacinto Medical Group to eventually open its own full-service hospital, which have been discussed since 2002, are still in the works, with Jiwani saying announcements about specific plans will be forthcoming in the first quarter of 2006.

Working plans in 2004 included a 54-bed hospital with six intensive care beds and a level four emergency room at the group’s current location near the intersection of Garth Road and Highway 146.

Formed in 1996, the Jacinto Medical Group operates a multi-specialty physician owned facility that provides general family practice and services including neurology and psychology.

“Baytown Urgent Care is a good first step forward and we think this will fulfill a real need in the community,” Jiwani said.

The urgent care center’s hours of operation are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Weekend hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Johnston said available hours may increase if demand exists.

“We don’t yet have a feel for how busy it’s going to be,” she said.

For more information call 281-425-3835.


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