Liberty Urgent Care Expands Hours to Address Critical Need
Our Emergency Departments and Urgent Care sites continue to experience unprecedented volumes this year. Families have experienced 10-plus hour waits and many patients leave without being seen. Our Urgent Care sites are often filled with appointments before opening, and once these appointments are capped, families are forced to go the ED.
We have mobilized several efforts to help meet the demand and mitigate long waits. One change that went into effect on December 5 was to expand Liberty Urgent Care hours from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day of the week (previously hours of operation on Monday through Friday were 6-11 p.m.).
This decision did not come lightly, as we recognize that primary care offices are open during this time. We stand steadfast and communicate regularly that patients should contact their PCP before visiting any urgent care. We will continue with this messaging and have decided not to advertise the expanded hours directly to families. Our pilot and data show the Urgent Care slots during the daytime hours are typically filled by patients who have already arrived in the ED but would be better served in an urgent care setting.
The Liberty ED saw 37,162 arrivals in FY22 and is on pace to have its highest volume year in FY23. Our current care model for the Liberty ED and Urgent Care is already at/over capacity with its current hours and footprint for 10 of the 12 months a year. In FY22 we had over 1600 patients leave without being seen between noon and 6 p.m. The wait time in the early part of the day causes long wait times into the evening hours.
Our hope is that expanding urgent care hours will allow us
to meet increased demand,
decrease costs to families who are being forced to go to the ED when urgent care is not available,
improve flow for both the less acute and more acute patients.
If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please contact your physician liaison who will put you in touch with ED or Liberty leadership.