As nine of UMC's 11 satellite locations change their names from UMC Quick Care to UMC Care Centers in coming weeks, the biggest change for valley residents will come in the form of heightened awareness about the medical center's services and increased convenience.
Larry Trilops, associate administrator of ambulatory services for the county hospital, said the nine locations always have offered primary care services, but the company has traditionally been more well-known for its urgent care services.
"Primary care is something we have had all along ... but primary care services got lost under the Quick Care name," Trilops said. "People didn't realize we offered both of these different medical services under one roof."
Trilops said the medical center will now call its satellite locations UMC Care Centers rather than UMC Quick Care, although the company will continue to refer to the urgent care services as Quick Care services.
UMC's urgent care services are offered on a walk-in basis for minor injuries or ailments, while UMC's primary care services allow patients to schedule routine appointments.
Trilops also stressed that any and all services that were available at each center under the old name will remain the same under the new name. However, as the medical center strives to put more focus on its primary care services, those services will be enhanced.
"Doctors were scheduled sporadically for primary care before," he said. "Patients couldn't generally schedule something with a specific doctor. Now they will be able to do that because the primary care doctors will work a more normal five-day, Monday-through-Friday schedule."
Trilops said the change in form was necessary to help patients follow one doctor and to keep the hospital running smoothly.
"People can schedule an appointment for something like seasonal allergies or allergy tests, physicals or ongoing diabetes treatment at a care center as part of their primary care," Trilops said. "This way we're not clogging the hospital emergency room and we can get people the care they need."
Dr. Lisa Hohl, a physician at the Sunset UMC Care Center, 525 Marks St. in Henderson, agreed that increased awareness of UMC Care Centers' primary care options will help doctors and patients.
"Especially during the winter months, when patients are distributed to primary care doctors, they're seen more quickly," she said. "They're not sitting around for a long time. Quick Cares help the emergency room, and if primary care helps Quick Care, it helps the whole city."
In order to restructure the primary care offerings, UMC Quick Care doctors were given the option of applying to work mainly as primary care physicians.
"A lot of our doctors said they would love to work only as primary care physicians if that was possible," Trilops said. "Now we can put doctors specifically in the areas they are interested in."
Each UMC Care Center location will have a minimum of two primary care providers. In addition to scheduled appointments, Trilops said the increased number of primary care physicians at Care Center locations will open up slots for same-day appointments.
Trilops said the added doctors will work as a team to provide continued care, allowing patients uninterrupted access to physicians for scheduled appointments even if their usual physician is out of the office.
"People like the convenience of Quick Care, and primary care is just as convenient," Hohl said. "Patients can easily make an appointment at the Care Centers, often for the same day. I think people will be just as pleased with the primary care we offer as they were with Quick Care."
The nine locations will continue to offer Quick Care services for unexpected illnesses and injuries and are expanding the primary care services, including scheduled appointments, check-ups and follow-ups. Two locations, McCarran, at 1759 E. Russell Road, and Enterprise, at 1700 Wheeler Peak, will continue to offer only Quick Care services.
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