Like many systems, Englewood, Colo.-based Centura Health is turning to retail-oriented healthcare to offer more convenient, accessible care. Its newest offering, a free-standing hybrid urgent-care/emergency department, could help resolve uncertainty and cost concerns patients face when deciding whether to go to an ED or seek urgent care.
Over the next eight months, the 16-hospital system will open four free-standing centers that offer both emergency and urgent care 24/7, with an emphasis on providing the latter, lower-cost option when possible. Centura serves patients across Colorado and western Kansas, and is jointly sponsored by Englewood-based Catholic Health Initiatives and Adventist Health System, based in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
Centura is developing the centers in a joint venture with the Larkin Group, an operator of free-standing EDs based in Bellaire, Texas, that will manage the centers. This is the first nonhospital-based project to emerge from the joint venture, formed in June.
