In response to growing volumes in the Franklin emergency department, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Franklin has opened a new Urgent Care clinic at its Medical Office Building, just north of the hospital.
The clinic, at 9969 S. 27th St., opened Monday and will replace the current walk-in clinic at the medical office building and the urgent care clinic that was previously housed inside of the hospital’s emergency department.
The Franklin emergency department sees more than 2,000 patents per month since Milwaukee County EMS identified Franklin as a STEMI-receiving hospital in August. That means patients who are undergoing heart issues can now be taken by ambulance to Franklin for care.
Wheaton’s original plan in Franklin was to open an outpatient facility and surgery center, which it did in April 2008, but by October of that year, the health care system had added five inpatient beds because of patient demand.
Today, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Franklin has 52 beds. Wheaton opened its three-story, 63,000-square-foot medical office building in 2013.
By moving urgent care to the medical office building, patients will now only receive one bill, instead of a clinic bill and a hospital bill, which will be a huge improvement on customer service, said Coreen Dicus-Johnson, president of Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Franklin.
“Another aspect is we can introduce them to primary care if they need it for follow up,” Dicus-Johnson said. “This way they will be on one medical record and it’s much better for continuity of care.”
The new urgent care will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
