Solano’s NorthBay to open retail medical office

NorthBay Healthcare will be opening it’s first Urgent Care in a retail facility at the end of this year in the Nut Tree Plaza in Vacaville.

The 4,000-square foot clinic will be located adjacent to the vintage Nut Tree train and carousel. It will also be a neighbor to Amici’s Pizza, Spice Thai kitchen and Blake Austin College.

Renovations to the space are expected to run $1 million and includes tenant improvements, furnishings, a small lab, x-ray, equipment, and IT costs.

“We intend to adopt an Apple-Store approach, creating a high-tech retail medical office with paperless registration, iPad workflow, accelerated lab work and x-rays within minutes,” said Steve Huddleston vice president, public affairs.

NorthBay Urgent Care will be open 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week, and accept most insurance plans, including Medicare and Tricare. In many cases, patients will pay only the typical co-pay, and for some, nothing at all, Huddleston said.

Expectations are 30 to 40 patients per day will be seen for low-acute illnesses.

NorthBay is partnering with Direct Urgent Care, based in San Francisco, that operates similar high-tech, patient-centric centers in Berkeley, San Francisco and Mountain View, all in or near retail centers. Founded in 2013, one of the principals is Dr. Caesar Djavaherian, an Emergency Department physician at NorthBay.

“Being the only independent, locally managed health system in Solano County has its challenges – all of which requires us to be more creative, more innovative and more connected to our community,” Huddleston said.

NorthBay Healthcare is a locally based, locally managed nonprofit health care organization serving Solano County since 1960. Hospitals incldue NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield and NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville.

Cynthia Sweeney covers health care, hospitality, residential real estate, education, employment and business insurance. Reach her at Cynthia.Sweeney@busjrnl.com or call 707-521-4259.

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