MedExpress Combines Convenience and Quality Health Care
By Earl Bugaile

Time was, when a person had a medical problem at night or on weekends, the options were to either wait until the family doctor was in the office, or run to the emergency room of the local hospital.

There’s another option these days, thanks to private clinics like MedExpress Urgent Care, which treat patients quickly and without an appointment, serving as a link between a primary care physician and the emergency room. Patients at MedExpress can be treated for problems such as colds or flu, infections, allergic reactions, animal bites, or fractures. They can even undergo minor surgical procedures.

“We fill a void,” says Erich Lipphardt, director of development and marketing for MedExpress Urgent Care centers. “We are part of the health care network that patients and the community need.”

MedExpress started in 2001 when a group of four physicians opened their first office in Morgantown, West Virginia. Now, six year later, MedExpress has offices in Washington, Monroeville, Parkersburg, West Virginia and Mars, and recently added Greensburg and Upper St Clair to the growing list of centers.

Lipphardt says the services provided by MedExpress allow it to fulfill a distinct niche. “There are three types of care available. The primary care physician, emergency care, and urgent care,” he explains. “A primary care physician knows a patient’s history and tracks their health. Emergency care includes severe threats to a person’s life, like a heart attack, stroke or an accident. MedExpress can’t be a primary care physician or treat life-threatening emergencies. But we are credentialed as specialists for urgent care.”

At MedExpress, there are no appointments. Patients just walk in and are seen promptly. The MedExpress centers are staffed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, including weekends, and boast a lab, an EKG suite, and an X-ray department. Each MedExpress center always has physicians on site.

In 2004, Americans made between 115 and 120-million emergency room visits; statistics show that between 75 to 80 percent were not true emergencies. It is that percentage that MedExpress attempts to serve.

Though patients can see a doctor quickly and without appointment, the service is not impersonal. “We follow up with every patient who comes in. We call them at home following each visit to see how they are doing, and to find out if they need anything,” Lipphardt says.

MedExpress Urgent Care has a nearby office at 2600 Old Washington Road, Upper St. Clair. For more information and more locations, visit www.greatcarefast.com.

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