New medical facility provides access to top board-certified emergency doctors at 1/3 the costs and ½ the time of an average ER visit.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.– The first GuideWell Emergency Doctors in St. Petersburg opens Thursday, December 2. at 2 p.m., located at 1425 4th Street N. The innovative new medical facility combines the technology and medical personnel associated with a hospital ER and the convenience and low-cost of an urgent care clinic. It will be staffed with board-certified emergency medicine doctors and bilingual health professionals.
During the pandemic, the facilities have been providing essential services to combat COVID-19, offering vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatment at all of its West Florida locations, serving more than 6,340 COVID patients and administering nearly 1,051 vaccines and more than 1,800 antibody treatments.
This will be the sixth facility in the Tampa Bay region.
GuideWell Emergency Doctors is equipped with on-site diagnostic equipment including CT scan, X-ray, ultrasound and certified labs, reducing the need to send patients to other medical locations for diagnostic services or waiting hours for results. Patients are treated by board-certified emergency medicine physicians, and the medical facility is operated and staffed by Crucial Care.
The growing medical practice has two other Pinellas County locations in Palm Harbor and Largo. GuideWell Emergency Doctors is open seven days a week to treat both emergency and urgent medical needs of patients of all ages with hours Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
An alternative to overcrowded, high-cost emergency rooms
“GuideWell Health is committed to providing high-quality and affordable care that helps our patients and communities achieve better health,” said Dr. Elana Schrader, GuideWell Health president and GuideWell senior vice president of Health Care Services. “This promise is why the average treatment at GuideWell Emergency Doctors costs patients one-third of the cost of an ER visit and results in 30% fewer hospital admissions than those seeking treatment at a hospital emergency room for their major medical issues.”
GuideWell Emergency Doctors treats a wide range of medical conditions ranging from upper respiratory issues and chest pain or cardiac related concerns—it’s two most prevalent medical emergencies.
“GuideWell Emergency Doctors’ greater Pinellas locations handled 16,000 patient visits, while averaging patient satisfaction scores over 90%,” said Dr. Nicholas Dodaro, chief medical officer of Crucial Care. “We are excited to bring this unique and patient-centered model of care to Pinellas County – delivering a better experience with half the wait time compared to a traditional ER.”
Reducing Surprise Bills
GuideWell Emergency Doctors helps patients understand health care costs and avoid surprise bills. The facilities provide transparent pricing to patients, who are made aware of how much their visits and treatments will cost before any services are started. Afterwards, patients receive only one bill for all diagnostic evaluations, procedures, lab work, physician examinations and other services provided while at the facility—unlike most traditional emergency room visits, which result in multiple invoices from different groups. GuideWell Emergency Doctors accepts most insurance plans and Medicare, or patients can pay on their own.
Upon discharge, GuideWell Emergency Doctors coordinates care directly with the patient’s primary care physician. They can facilitate same-day or next-day referrals to specialists or admissions directly into a hospital, when clinically appropriate, all while ensuring the patient remains within their insurance plan’s network to keep their out-of-pocket costs down.
About GuideWell Emergency Doctors
GuideWell Emergency Doctors was formed in 2014 by GuideWell Health, a business unit of GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation (GuideWell). The innovative medical facilities provide a high-quality, cost-effective alternative for unscheduled medical needs. The facilities are staffed by board-certified emergency medicine physicians and medical staff capable of treating both major medical conditions and minor urgent care needs for patients of all ages. The facilities are operated by Jacksonville-based Crucial Care.
About Crucial Care
Crucial Care is a medical practice founded in 2007 in Jacksonville, Fla with an innovative model that would transform the emergency care industry to be accessible, affordable, high quality and more patient-centered. Crucial Care facilities have combined high quality, compassionate care with the ability to treat high acuity cases that were previously only available in an emergency room. As board-certified emergency physicians with access to all of a patients’ in-network providers, Crucial Care goes beyond the medical services provided by an urgent care clinic. Each location features easy access to board-certified emergency medicine physicians with onsite CT scan, digital X-ray and laboratory. Each facility is open seven days a week and no appointment is needed.
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