A new medical center designed to provide a less-expensive and better-equipped alternative to traditional hospital emergency rooms will begin treating patients in Pasadena this week.
Exer More Than Urgent Care plans to open its ninth facility Wednesday at 3160 E. Del Mar Blvd. in East Pasadena.
The private medical clinic will offer more options to walk-in patients than traditional emergency rooms, while reducing strain on area ERs and emergency services at the same time. And with costs as much as 90 percent lower, according to Exer CEO Rob Mahan.
“Exer was started by ER physicians and it’s staffed by ER physicians, one of our key distinguishing characteristics,” he said. “So quite literally the folks that you would see in the ER provider, those doctors, those are the same individuals that are in our facilities servicing the patients.”
In Pasadena, Huntington Hospital doctors will staff the facility through a partnership between Exer and the medical center, according to Exer representatives.
“We basically have ER physicians combined with a broader range of diagnostic equipment than you would see in a traditional urgent care,” according to Mahan. “And so what it really means at the end of the day is: We can see about 80 percent of the patients that go through the ER.”
Pasadena Emergency Services Coordinator and City spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said she’s all for it.
“I think it’s a win-win situation for the community,” she said. “It helps alleviate the burden of the emergency room and helps with the wait time.”
It’s always helpful to have more doctors around in the case of a disaster, as well, Derderian added.
“Plus they’re tied to Huntington Hospital. So if a need exists to where the medical condition does escalate, you are right there in the hospital setting.”
Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek said, “The urgent care at that location has proved to be important to the city. And Huntington Hospital was operating it and they came to us a while ago and said that they thought that this EXER outfit could do an even more effective job than they could. They recommended that we accept this company as a replacement.”
About a third of California ER visits are not prompted by what’s considered to be true emergencies, according to Exer.
“We see that with our fire department,” Derderian said. “The person could have gone to an urgent care, (but) we transport him to the emergency room. So this is just another layer in place that will help alleviate the wait time in the emergency room.”
Derderian said it’s not just emergency rooms that could benefit from more local treatment options.
Exer has been growing by leaps and bounds lately.
“Hospitals have been consolidating, not expanding, but this is a significant facility,” the Mayor added.
“Pasadena actually represents our ninth facility. So we have doubled in size over the last 24 months, and I suspect we’ll probably double again over the next 18 to 24 months,” he said.
The other Exer facilities are in Calabasas, Northridge, Beverly Hills, Newbury Park, Sherman Oaks, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Stevenson Ranch.
“We’re just seeing tremendous demand for our services. We’re really excited,” Mahan said.
Mahan said Exer is contracted with all major payers for PPO insurance, many HMOs and accepts Medicare.
The facility will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.
For more information about Exer “More than Urgent Care” you may visit http://www.exerurgentcare.com
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