Baptist Health to Open Urgent Care Centers in Central Arkansas

As Baptist Health’s new CEO, Troy Wells envisions Baptist Health and its partners becoming part of the “solution” to healthcare in Arkansas, creating a different way of managing hospitals alongside physicians. Wells is shown here on the Baptist Health Little Rock campus.

Baptist Health plans to open “urgent care” centers across central Arkansas beginning this fall in North Little Rock, officials announced Tuesday. 

In partnership with Urgent Team, an independent operator of urgent and family-care centers in the Southeast, Baptist Health Urgent Care will offer unscheduled access to care for patients and support Baptist Health physicians who seek to provide an after-hours option to their patients, according to a news release.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for Baptist Health to expand services to residents of Central Arkansas,” said Troy Wells, president and CEO of Baptist Health, in the release. “It is anticipated that these new urgent care centers will open this fall. Our goal is to provide expanded access to health care services for urgent, not emergent patient needs.”

No information was released on possible locations for the North Little Rock center or any future centers. Arkansas Business will update this story.

“We are honored to partner with such a highly respected healthcare organization,” said Tom Dent, chairman and CEO of Urgent Team. “Our goal is to meet the growing patient expectation for quality care delivered in a convenient location at an affordable price.”

Arkansas Business has reported how doctors, retailers and hospitals have been opening urgent care facilities or walk-in clinics to lure patients with non-life-threatening injuries away from hospital emergency rooms.

The centers are promoted as providing treatment that is both less expensive and faster than ERs.

In January, Arkansas Business reported that there were about 9,000 urgent care centers in the United States, with about 500 opening annually over the past several years.