University Hospital and Clinics is opening a new Urgent Care Clinic at 2390 W. Congress St., Entrance 1 (West Clinic) to serve Medicaid patients across Acadiana. The hospital group says in a press release that this appears to be the first and only after-hours urgent care clinic that accepts Medicaid.
The clinic will start seeing patients Thursday, July 13.
The new Urgent Care Clinic sees patients on a walk-in basis with no appointment needed. Patients are seen on a “first come, first serve” basis with minimal wait time.
The clinic is open Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn more about UHC’s Urgent Care Clinic here.
“We recognize illnesses don’t just happen during regular clinic hours; they happen later at night and on weekends too,” Katie Hebert, CEO of UHC says in the release. “This clinic provides anyone with Medicaid an option. They will no longer need to go to the Emergency Room with an extended wait.”
In announcing the new clinic, UHC pointed out the common misconception that an Emergency Room treats patients on a “first come, first serve” basis. The ER actually treats patients in order of the severity of their condition, which means patients facing life-threatening conditions are seen before those with non-life-threatening conditions.