Cardenas, Bernal: Urgent Care, Not Expensive Care

EDINBURG, Texas - There is a trend among hospital groups to introduce smaller facilities such as micro hospitals, stand alone emergency rooms, and urgent care centers. DHR Health is putting its emphasis on urgent care centers, making the case that they are more affordable. They have so far opened such centers in Edinburg and McAllen and are slated to open a new one in Mission in mid-February.In the attached podcast, Dr. Carlos Cardenas, chairman and co-founder of DHR Health, and Dr. Cruz Alberto Bernal, a family medicine physician at DHR, make the case for urgent care centers.“I don’t really want patients to come to my hospital for primary care,” Dr. Cardenas said. “If they can achieve their goal of maintaining health or preventing a health issue and we can make that happen at times when they cannot see their primary care physician, or if they don’t have a primary care physician, the access should be through an urgent care center.”Cardenas argued that urgent care facilities are more affordable and provide the services that are needed in an accessible way. Asked about free-sanding emergency departments, Cardenas said: “I call it expensive care, not urgent care. Urgent care is accessible and affordable, free standing emergency care is expensive care for the same heath care delivery.”Dr. Bernal said: “About two-thirds of the ER visits in the U.S. could be treated in an urgent care facility.”Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.