Baptist Health System to open four new emergency hospitals in Alamo City

Jun 20 2011

Baptist Health System, San Antonio's healthcare leader for more than a century, plans to open four new emergency hospitals in the Alamo City, bringing emergency medical care closer to home for many residents. The hospital system is partnering with emergency medicine pioneer Emerus to manage the facilities based on the company's successful model in other cities throughout Texas.

“Our mission at Baptist Health System is to be an innovative leader in providing quality and accessible health care to the people of San Antonio in a way that best meets our patients' needs”

"Our mission at Baptist Health System is to be an innovative leader in providing quality and accessible health care to the people of San Antonio in a way that best meets our patients' needs," said Graham Reeve, President and Chief Executive Officer of Baptist Health System. "Minutes matter in an emergency situation and improving access to emergency medical care is crucial to the health and wellbeing of our growing communities. We believe that these free-standing emergency facilities will make a difference in people's lives."

"Our strategy is to increase patient access to high-quality emergency medical care," said Toby Hamilton, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., and CEO of Emerus. "Our specialized team of emergency medicine physicians and experienced nursing and clinical staff at Emerus allow us to offer superior care in convenient locations, with little to no wait times. When you or a loved one has an emergency, you don't want a delay. You want to get treated efficiently and be on your way to recovery."

The Baptist Health System emergency hospitals will feature ERs that are efficient and accessible. Once patients are triaged and registered, they will be seen by a physician within 15 minutes. From filling out paperwork, to being seen by a physician, to having diagnostic tests such as CT scans or laboratory tests, most patients will spend less than one hour in the facility.

These emergency hospitals differ from urgent care centers in that most urgent care centers are designed to handle simple, non-life-threatening medical complaints, often during regular or extended business hours. Baptist Health's emergency hospitals, on the other hand, will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and staffed with board-certified emergency medicine physician specialists. The emergency rooms are equipped like conventional, large hospital-based emergency departments, offering on-site imaging services including X-ray, CT scan and ultrasound, as well as in-house laboratories. Because of this, these emergency hospitals can handle any medical emergency at any time of day or night. Baptist Health System and Emerus will open four locations that will reshape the emergency care landscape in San Antonio. Locations are planned in areas across San Antonio that have been identified based on access and need.

All locations will be staffed by board-certified emergency medicine physicians, registered nurses, radiation technologists, and other clinical specialists. The initiative will create approximately 160 new jobs in the San Antonio area.

Baptist Health System expects to open its first facility this fall at Highway 281 and Thousand Oaks, with the remaining three facilities to open over the course of the next 12 months.