Walk-ins welcome: UAP meets goals for new after-hours clinic

Aug. 05--TERRE HAUTE -- UAP Clinic has begun providing same-day appointments and an after-hours, walk-in clinic for primary care services ranging from treating the flu, asthma or allergies to broken bones, sore throats and sports physicals.

The care clinic, at 221 S. Sixth St., is available to UAP patients and the general public. It is open 5 to 8 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Ed Carne, chief executive officer of UAP Clinic, said the number of visits to UAP Clinic declined from 2012 to 2013. Carne speculated the reason for the drop to be "high-deductible [insurance] plans pushing that. People are more selective, because you are having to pay a lot more out of pocket, so you are a lot more discriminatory when you go," he said.

"Our thought process was: OK, there is [Union] HealthCheck [on Terre Haute's northside], which is basically doing the same thing, but a downtown clinic is more central and gives patients the ability to be taken care of close to home," Carne said.

The after-hours clinic and same-day appointments have been up and running since July 28. Carne said the care clinic has met and exceeded goals in its first week.

"We had days that we felt very good about the numbers, and on Sunday we had 25 people," Carne said.

That is a lot of people for one doctor to see over a four-hour span, Carne added.

"That tells you that there is a pent-up need. That access is very important to people. Thursday through Sunday, there was significantly more activity than during the first of the week," he said.

The clinic hired one new nurse for day hours and one nurse for evening hours, using existing staff to fill in remaining slots for the clinic. If numbers continue to grow, the clinic will hire another physician, Carne said.

"Patients have the ability to go wherever they want, so it is important for us to be able to satisfy them," he said.

"If you really want to take care of the population, in my opinion, you have to be accessible to them at a time where they feel like they want to be seen," Carne said.

"I think what is really cool about what we are doing, which is different than some of the other places, is that we have your [medical] record. So if you have seen us and been in our system, we'll have your [medical] record, we'll have your allergies, your medications. There should not be duplication of services," Carne said.

The other aspect, he said, is not having to go to a hospital emergency room, which is costly and often requires a lot of time, as patients wait on treatment.

"We felt this would be more cost effective for the patient as well as quicker," he said.

Same-day appointments are an extension of a primary care physician's office.

"In a lot of very well-established [physician] practices, there tends to be more difficulty sometimes to get into those practices," Carne said.

If a UAP Clinic physician is busy, then the patient is invited to see another physician in the same office. If the patient cannot see another doctor, then the patient can see Dr. Melody Drake at the downtown UAP Clinic, he said.

For same-day appointments, UAP Clinic's call center is now open at 7:30 a.m. to schedule daily appointments from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The clinic can be reached at 812-232-0564 and can be found online at uapclinic.com.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

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