NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln Officially Opens Its ExpressCare Clinic
ExpressCare will provide patients with fast access to high-quality, urgent care and reduce emergency department wait times
Nov 20, 2018
NYC Health + Hospitals today officially marked the opening of the public health system’s first ExpressCare Clinic in the Bronx, at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. Providing faster access to medical care for patients who face non-life-threatening conditions, the new clinic will be open at the busiest hours seven days a week and will ease overcrowding in the hospital’s emergency room. It will also reduce health care costs by giving patients a faster and more appropriate alternative to expensive and often avoidable emergency room visits.
The ExpressCare Clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln is among the latest changes in the public health system’s vision to transform care for New Yorkers.
The clinic offers walk-in services for non-emergent conditions—like colds, flu, sprains, skin rashes, minor cuts and lacerations, and certain types of infections. Shifting patients with non-life-threatening conditions into the ExpressCare clinic will shorten their wait times. The clinic will also differ from stand-alone urgent care centers by offering a better connection to primary care providers. The emergency-trained physicians at the ExpressCare clinic will help ensure patients receive the appropriate follow-up care by connecting them with primary care doctors in the Health + Hospitals system.
Located on the first floor of the hospital in room 1C2A, the ExpressCare Clinic will be open year-round, 7 days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends and holidays. These are among the busiest times for the hospital’s emergency department and offer a new option when patients may not be able to access a primary care provider.
Patients visiting ExpressCare who are assessed as having serious medical conditions that cannot be treated in an urgent care setting or who may require hospital admission will be fast-tracked to the Emergency Department for further treatment.
The ExpressCare Clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln began treating patients under a soft launch starting in August, and patient volume has quickly grown, even before today’s official opening. From August 15 to 31, the clinic saw 121 patients, followed by 359 in September and 638 in October. There were 202 patients treated from November 1 to 8.
NYC Health + Hospitals worked with OneCity Health, the State’s largest Performing Provider System, part of the Medicaid Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program, to create the clinical model for the ExpressCare clinics, which are designed to support the DSRIP goal to reduce avoidable hospital use by 25 percent by 2020.
“We are delighted to have the ExpressCare service, a high-quality, walk-in, urgent care clinic, for our community,” said Milton Nuñez, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. “Because our hospital has the busiest single-site emergency department in the region, we fully expect that ExpressCare will help to reduce the wait time for many who come to us through the emergency department by providing immediate care for those with less emergent cases.”
“ExpressCare provides an important alternative to other options in the urgent care market, which are often stand-alone clinics,” said Israel Rocha, vice president of NYC Health + Hospitals for OneCity Health and chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, which has also opened an ExpressCare Clinic. “ExpressCare offers a fast convenient way for patients to access our full continuum of care, including follow-up and specialty care. ExpressCare can serve as an entry point to all that NYC Health + Hospitals has to offer patients.”
“New Yorkers deserve to receive quality health care in a timely and dignified manner,” said New York State Senator Jose Serrano. “The new ExpressCare Clinic will ease emergency room congestion, while increasing access to care for those with non-emergency conditions. I applaud NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln for providing this invaluable service to the people of the Bronx.”
“The ExpressCare Clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln will provide patients with faster access to expert medical care, and I am happy that my district was the first in the public health system to offer this service,” said Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. “This is a major step to guarantee that our residents continue to receive the medical care they deserve.”
“Making ExpressCare clinics accessible to communities in which emergency rooms are already overcrowded is a step in the right direction,” said Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo. “I commend NYC Health + Hospitals for being committed to providing prompt, flexible, and quality health services to the Bronx. This vision is one we need to replicate in the long run.”
“For many of our residents, accessible health care means going to the emergency room for non-life-threatening medical attention, forcing residents to not only pay a high cost for health services but also further taxing our emergency care resources,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “Making medical care accessible and affordable to all is very important to my office, which is why I am very supportive of ExpressCare expanding services in our borough, providing our residents with quality medical attention for non-emergency urgent care. I want to thank NYC Health + Hospitals for continuing to find ways of providing access to medical help to our communities that need it most.”
“The delivery of health care is being transformed in many ways during the 21st century,” said Luis R. Marcos, MD, chief executive officer of PAGNY. “Decompressing our busy emergency departments with programs such as Express Care will allow us to see patients much quicker and in the appropriate location for their presenting problems.”
“You are providing a great service with ExpressCare,” said Margaret Price, who experienced the clinic as a patient. “The doctor was attentive and thorough and caring. The service was fast, efficient, and friendly. Because of the care I received in ExpressCare, I was able to attend an important business conference that I was not sure I would be able to make.”
ExpressCare visits will be covered by most health insurance plans. Patients with insurance should bring photo identification and an insurance card to the clinic. Patients who are uninsured but eligible for insurance will be able to enroll.
NYC Health + Hospitals plans to expand the ExpressCare model to other public health system facilities in the coming months. In addition to the ExpressCare clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, one at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst officially opened in October, and another is slated to open at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in March 2019.
To get more information on ExpressCare or or to make an appointment with a primary care physician or other specialists at NYC Health + Hospitals, please call 1-844-NYC-4NYC (1-844-692-4692).