In Wake Of Hospital’s Closure An Urgent Care Clinic Is Born
The new clinic aims to fill a niche for patients with medical insurance between county-operated clinics that take Medi-Cal patients and offer free services, and full-service emergency rooms that charge facilities fees on top of professional fees for seeing a physician.
East Bay Times:
El Cerrito Clinic Offers Urgent Care Services In Wake Of Hospital Closure
A former emergency room physician at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo has a new business idea that aims to fill some of the void in urgent medical care left by the hospital’s 2015 closing. New MD & Urgent Care’s El Cerrito location opened at the Moeser Lane Shopping Center in December. Under founder Dr. Ian Ahwah, who was with Doctors for about 20 years, New MD provides treatment for the most common complaints for which patients seek treatment at emergency rooms, including sprains, strains, flu, asthma and bronchitis, as well as providing vaccinations, sports physicals and occupational medicine. (Radin, 2/7)
In other news —
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
UC San Diego Health Officially Named Padres' Provider
The Padres on Tuesday announced a multi-year partnership with their new healthcare provider, UC San Diego Health. The team’s contract with longtime provider Scripps Clinic had expired at the end of last year. New head team physician Catherine M. Robertson, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, will “coordinate a multidisciplinary team of UC San Diego Health clinicians and staff members caring for the Padres at UC San Diego Health hospitals and clinics, as well as throughout spring training and during the season at Petco Park,” according to a release. Robertson previously was a team physician for the Chargers and a lead physician in a partnership between UC San Diego Health and the U.S. Olympic Committee. (Lin, 2/7)