More convenience-based urgent care centers dot LI landscape

Daniel Roussis woke up recently with a painful sore throat, swollen tonsils, trouble swallowing -- the works. With no time to make a doctor's appointment, he dropped by Syosset's North Shore-LIJ/GoHealth urgent care center on his lunch break.

Almost immediately, he was shepherded to an examination room, where he was given a strep test. The results were negative, and after about 20 minutes, Roussis, 27, was prescribed steroids, given a detailed list of instructions and sent on his way.

"They're more convenient, all over the place, and accept almost every insurance," the Westbury resident said. "I'm not going for a yearly physical or something like that."

The branded centers are the result of a partnership between the North Shore-LIJ Health System and Atlanta-based GoHealth Urgent Care. They have been popping up across Long Island over the past year, now totaling nearly a dozen. The latest one opened last week in Roslyn, and a Levittown location is slated to open next month. There are five in Suffolk County.

"It's a true partnership, on both the business side and the clinical side," said Adam Boll, vice president of strategic ventures at North Shore-LIJ.

The health system oversees all clinical operations for quality. GoHealth's medical director, Dr. Robert Korn, an emergency room doctor and North Shore-LIJ employee, is responsible for staff hiring.

The network is staffed with physicians and physician assistants with family practice or pediatric backgrounds, equipping them to treat medical scenarios that require urgent care but not an ambulance, Korn said. From treatment for colds, sports injuries and lacerations, to X-rays and blood tests, GoHealth is an intermediary between the emergency room and primary care.

Critics say the centers may make primary care redundant and confuse patients about where to go. But the appeal is largely in the convenience. The centers are open 365 days a year, most insurance plans are accepted, and appointments aren't needed. Boll said there is a demand for the urgent care model and the partnership is responding. "They want care that's easier to access," he said. "They want care that's not confusing, and they want care that's affordable."

At GoHealth, patients can fill out online registration forms in advance. During the examination, a provider works on a tablet, which is shown on a monitor for the patient to see. GoHealth will draw on the North Shore-LIJ system to coordinate appointments with specialists or primary care physicians, and will fax visit summaries to out-of-network doctors.

Korn said GoHealth doesn't view itself as competing with primary care or emergency room services, but as an adjunct. However, he said urgent care's values -- transparency in care, convenience and intimacy -- are already having a ripple effect in the industry. "Patients are now demanding, and I think rightly so after so many years, to be involved in every aspect of their health care," he said.