ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Intuitive Health, a leading provider of combined emergency room and urgent care facilities, and Presbyterian Healthcare Services recently announced the opening of PRESNow 24/7 Urgent and Emergency Care – Menaul/Pennsylvania in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Menaul/Pennsylvania urgent and emergency care facility is located at 7400 Menaul Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110. The urgent care and ER are open 24/7. No appointments are needed and only walk-in patients are accepted.

Its 24/7 urgent and emergency care centers offer comprehensive services with an on-site lab and imaging suite, including CT scans, X-rays, ultrasounds and EKGs. This ensures patients’ medical needs are met swiftly, with billing only for the services they utilize.

PRESNow is Albuquerque’s only 24/7 Urgent Care and Emergency Care under one roof.

As a pioneer of the combined ER and urgent care model starting in 2008, Intuitive Health facilities eliminate the need for patients to self-diagnose before seeking care. Each location houses both emergency and urgent care services in the same location. Patients enter through the same door and are examined by ER-trained providers, who determine if ER or urgent care level treatment is needed. Approximately 70-80% of patients only need urgent care, resulting in significant convenience and cost savings.

The dual ER and urgent care model’s goal is to remove financial concerns in deciding where to go. PRESNow informs patients whether their condition requires urgent or ER-level care and ensures they are billed accordingly. Patients are updated on their billing status throughout their visit. If ER-level care is required, additional consent is needed to confirm understanding of additional tests and treatments. This novel approach guarantees no surprise bills and that patients only pay based on the care level delivered while eliminating patient guesswork trying to self-diagnose condition severity, whether urgent care or emergency care.

This innovative model simplifies access to immediate patient care and helps drive value. The new PRESNow 24/7 – Menaul/Pennsylvania clinic will expand access to Intuitive Health’s unique dual offering for New Mexico residents.

“We’re excited to expand our unique ER and urgent care model in Albuquerque, where our PRESNow clinics have already proven successful by driving impressive volumes and meeting unmet needs,” said Intuitive Health CEO Thom Herrmann. “We aim to continue to set a new standard for accessible value-based care with this new location.”

The Menaul/Pennsylvania location marks Intuitive Health’s 31st location nationwide and fourth facility in partnership with Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico. It expands Intuitive’s footprint across 13 states.

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The budget for the project is $107 million, with Laughlin Millea Hillman in Louisville as the architects on the project, and Messer Construction Co. in Louisville serving as the construction manager. Audubon had more than 145,000 patient encounters in 2014, which makes it one of the busiest Norton facilities, and is a large part of what influenced the idea for this expansion, according to statement by the hospital.

The expansion includes a two-story addition that will include 74 new private patient rooms, as well as the renovation of existing patient rooms. “When [patients are] sick or when they’re coming in after surgery, people want to be by themselves and with their family,” said Jon Cooper, chief administrative officer of Norton Audubon Hospital in a recent statement.

Upgrades and expansion of the emergency room, ICU and open-heart unit are underway, and there will be an addition of three new operating rooms. The main operation room is being renovated, as well as a newly renovated lobby. There will be a new entrance to the facility in addition to a pharmacy, gift shop and cafe, with overall aesthetic improvements being made across the entire campus.

“We will continue to meet the needs of the many patients we serve as we work to build upon Norton Audubon Hospital’s long-standing history of caring for our community in a new, state-of-the-art health care facility.”

A new underground parking lot will also be added, with the addition of close to 250 new spaces.

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The expansion includes a new design and layout for the hospital, with new equipment to promote better patient flow and access, as well as includes an open and spacious refurbished lobby. To appeal to children and families, a children’s play area was installed as well. Additionally, the triage and help desk were redesigned to increase visibility of staff for incoming patients and families.

Three rapid assessment zone bays – where ambulances drop patients off – were added in an effort to promote the quick and easy transfer of patients arriving by ambulance. In the short time these new zones have been in use, there has already been a significant reduction in ambulance waiting times, according to Hospital General Manager Shelley Hancock, who was also on site at the open ceremony.

In a similar effort, four new treatment chairs to service waiting room care and promote early assessment and care for walk-in patients and ambulance arrivals were added during the expansion. “The changes to the emergency department (ED) mean more patients will hopefully wait less time to be seen,” said Hancock in a recent statement.

The Shoalhaven region has experienced a growing demand for health services in recent years, according to South Coast Parliament Member Gareth Ward, who attended the hospital’s opening ceremony. “We have seen an increase on the number of sicker patients presenting to the hospital particularly over the past 12 months. That is why we pushed for this development to build up some capacity and improve performance,” Ward said. “The transformation of the ED and the revamp of a number of the hospital’s facilities will help to improve the flow of patients through this very busy area.”

The new hospital expansion is described as a “welcoming environment,” according to Hancock, and is part of a $5 million overall hospital improvement project, which included the addition of the Shoalhaven Cancer Care Centre in 2013 as well as plans for a new parking lot on campus.

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Baskerville & Son, PC in Richmond, Va., will be the architectural firm on the project. The $4 million expansion will increase the size of the Bedford Memorial Hospital by more than 30 percent, with the emergency department expanding by 1,800 square feet. The completed emergency department will be approximately 7,500 square feet in size and will grow from 10 beds to a 14-bed treatment facility.

The Bedford Memorial emergency department sees approximately 16,000 patients a year, and saw an 11 percent increase in patient traffic between 2014 and 2016, according to Patti Jurkus, CEO of Bedford Memorial Hospital. The renovations and expansion will create more space for physicians to practice in addition to more patient beds, and it will also implement cosmetic changes and infrastructural upgrades to the facility. For this, they will be hiring professional contractors to help with the renovation, for instance, they plan to find a company that specializes in roofing Roanoke based or more local to help with the roof repairs. Additionally, the installation of advanced medical equipment will enable the hospital to better serve its patients with a higher level of care.

The hospital is taking multiple measures to prevent the disruption of patient care during the renovations. The hospital will open a temporary emergency department on the second floor of the building starting on May 18. Additionally, the hospital is increasing its staff at both the temporary and the new facility for the duration of the construction process. Three more registered nurses and multiple physicians have been hired to meet patient needs during this transition time.

This upcoming renovation and expansion of the Bedford Memorial emergency department is just one part of a series of renovations made by the hospital in recent years. Before this project, the medical surgical unit and the ICU underwent renovations as well. “We love our hospital, love our community and want to provide best service possible,” said Jurkus in a recent statement.

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The proposed 6,561-square-foot emergency room has a budget of $27.6 million, with a goal for completion by the end of 2020. The hospital expansion will be paid for with $22.6 million in provincial funds, and the remaining $5 million is projected to be raised by the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation. A request for proposals for detailed design and construction is now underway, with construction expected to begin summer of 2018.

The goal of the expansion is to create more space for staff and patients, as conditions are currently cramped quarters. The expansion will double the number of patients beds from 19 to 39, which will reduce wait times for patients. The new emergency room will provide four new isolation rooms for patients with infectious diseases, and a new anteroom for health workers to change in. There will be two new trauma resuscitation bays, and more hand-washing bays for staff.

A separate entrance for walk-in patients and ambulance paramedics will be built to offer walk-in patients a more peaceful emergency room experience. A pediatric area for families will be included in the new emergency center to increase patient comfort. “These sorts of things make the staff more efficient and patients more comfortable,” said Mike Mostrenko, M.D., head of the Eagle Ridge emergency room, in a recent statement.

In order to accommodate the expansion of the emergency department, health records will be moved to the basement of the hospital, diagnostic cardiology will move to the health records area, and rehabilitation services will relocate to a partially-vacant part of the hospital.

Once complete, the expanded emergency room is projected to be able to handle 68,000 patients per year, an increase from the current 50,000. The province says more than 103 direct jobs and more than 66 jobs in supplier industries will be created from this project, with a total of more than 169 during construction.

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