The wait is over: New Cullman Regional urgent care center to alleviate crowded ER

Published 6:00 am Thursday, January 26, 2017

The long wait times at Cullman Regional’s emergency room may soon be over with the building of a new urgent care and outpatient imaging center aimed at relieving the congested triage facility.

Hospital CEO James Clements announced plans to break ground on the nearly 11,000-square-foot project in March during Wednesday’s State of the Hospital address. Between the new medical facility, ongoing fifth-floor inpatient expansion project and an influx of new patients, 175 new jobs will be created, he said.

“Cullman Regional’s Emergency Department continues to see a growing number of patients,” said Hospital Board Chair Judy Butler-Patterson. “We needed a solution that would reduce wait times for patients who need direct access to care. The new center will accomplish that task by being open during peak Emergency Department times so that non-emergency care can be taken care of more quickly. This combined with our 30-bed expansion should help solve those issues without having to expand the Emergency Department.”

The number of patients visiting the ER has ballooned over the past two decades, from 23,310 in 1998 to 30,757 people in 2008 and 45,000 this past year. Clements said it was built to accommodate 35,000-36,000.

A $6 million project expanded the ER’s size by 66 percent to 13,480 square feet and adding more beds.

Twenty percent of Cullman Regional’s ER patients could be better served at an urgent care center, Clements said.

“The new urgent care center will improve access to care for patients and increase the quality because all physicians will be credited and approved by Cullman Regional medical staff,” Clements said. “It will also be the only urgent care to provide care to patients regardless of their insurance or ability to pay.”

The new urgent care center will feature six team rooms, lab and pharmacy along with CT, ultrasound, MRI and general X-ray imaging. The news comes as the hospital is in midst of a fifth-floor expansion project that will add 30 beds.

Work on the 40,000-square-foot project is underway now at the east wing of the medical center, with completion set for fall 2018. The expansion is the hospital’s effort to provide more private rooms and decrease wait times for beds.

In his address Wednesday, Clements also touched on the hospital’s contributions to the community — as one of Cullman County’s largest employers and the $14.7 million it provided in 2016 to local schools, through the Good Samaritan Health Clinic, charity care and community service organizations.

Its free community screening program helped 2,000 residents, with a third of the participants being referred to primary care physicians for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and possible diabetes and 5 percent requiring immediate medical attention.

Clements also touted Cullman Regional’s tobacco-free campus which was implemented Jan. 1, the overwhelming response to its community Trunk-or-Treat in October and the six quality care awards it netted in 2016.

Tiffeny Owens can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 135.

7,498

Inpatient visits in 2016 — an 8 percent increase from 2015

96,883

Outpatient visits in 2016 — 3 percent increase from 2015

44,656

ER visits annually

175,000

Number of people served in six-county area

175

New jobs with fifth-floor expansion, new urgent care/imaging center and “organic growth” due to increased patient volume

$14.7M

Cullman Regional’s community benefit calculation based on federal government