Lynn DeRocher, Director of Business and Community Development, spoke to Westbrook-Gorham Rotary on January 30, 2018. ConvenientMD, a small chain of NH-based urgent care walk-in clinics recently opened its first Maine location in downtown Westbrook. They quickly opened a second location in Portland and plan further expansion to add four more Maine locations in the near future.
In the United States, emergency visits increased dramatically from 90 million in 1996 to 130 million in 2013. This has resulted in long wait times, with the average being 4 hours. In addition, the average cost of a non-emergency ER visit topped $1500. The average time to appointment with primary care provider (PCP) various across New England from 16 days to more than 60 days and the dominance of hospital networks has resulted in high cost care. The large majority of ER visits are during daylight hours, by insured patients, and are not emergencies. ConvenientMD was created to fill the gap between PCP and ER.
ConvenientMD has on-site x-ray, onsite lab, and can set bones. They are open every day of the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are an extension of primary care and share all information on treatment with a patient’s primary care physician. They provide a broad scope of care: sprains, broken bones, abrasions, burns, colds & coughs, flu, asthma attacks, bee stings, physicals, etc. However, they do not provide mental health or emergency care for immediate life or limb threatening conditions (like heart attacks). They partner with school nurses as a way to give back to the community. If a school nurse identifies a need for treatment, the student can come in at no charge (with parental permission). A signature part of their care is their follow-up protocols which include thank you note, texts, and check-in call 3 days after the visit.
It is currently a busy time of year due to the flu. However, even with this factor, traffic at the Westbrook location has exceeded projections. They are very pleased with the warm welcome and positive response from the community and expect to be adding staff sooner than expected to keep up with demand.
Lynn DeRocher signs a children's book for
the Baxter Libray