1 block, 3 urgent-care facilities, a lot of head-scratching

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Mount Holly-Huntersville Road, in the Mountain Island Lake community, is about to get its third urgent-care center, CLiC Immediate Care. And all three of them are within spitting distance of one other.

The proximity of the three centers has some locals, like Sally Mesibov, joking that the best place in town to break a bone is near the intersection of that road and Brookshire Boulevard.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Mesibov said. “We don’t need three urgent-care centers.”

They’re not her health care provider of choice, anyway, she said. She’d much prefer to visit her own doctor, although she and her family have had cause to visit the two existing urgent-care centers, one of which is owned by Carolinas HealthCare and the other by NextCare. Mesibov said she prefers Carolinas HealthCare’s facility.

Others are scratching their heads over the arrival of a third urgent-care center in a community with a population of about 32,000 and two emergency rooms in the area, one seven miles away and the other a dozen miles away.

But Charles Hodges, a zoning technician with Charlotte’s zoning department, says nothing is awry.

The property is zoned B-1 – for business and commercial use – and under B-1 zoning there is no legal reason to prohibit the addition of a third urgent-care facility, even if it is right next to another one.

“Zoning dictates what you can do on a property,” Hodges said.

Watching and waiting

“We’re a little perplexed by it,” said Ellen Masehae, a representative from NextCare, a privately owned urgent-care company based in Arizona. NextCare opened in Mountain Island Lake in 2004 on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road. “We’re not really sure why it’s going in there. We’re waiting to see if they’ll have different types of services.”

All three will be open seven days a week for 12 hours a day, accept walk-in patients, have certified physicians on staff, accept most health insurance, assist those with injuries or illnesses and insist that those with life-threatening emergencies like a heart attack head straight to the nearest emergency room.

“Urgent-care facilities are set up to treat conditions that may not be life-threatening but should be seen right away,” said Kevin McCarthy, a Carolinas HealthCare representative. He’s not sure how to respond to the addition of a third facility near the intersection. He admits it could lead to a reduction in patient visits, but if CLiC is doing something a little different, maybe not, he said.

While his urgent-care center offers “an entree to a much wider array of services” because of the hospital’s wide network of doctors, specialists and facilities, it doesn’t offer any special bells and whistles other than that. It was the second urgent-care facility built in the area, roughly four years ago.

While the addition of a second urgent-care center, located across the street, surprised NextCare employees, whose facility has been in the area for nearly seven years, they say it hasn’t affected their business. Operated in the Greater Charlotte area by the Pinnacle Group and running six area locations and 60 nationally, “we specialize in urgent care, whereas a hospital needs to fill beds,” Masehae said.

She said that distinction is important. Other nuances that make her company different, she said, include a wait-at-home option that allows patients to check in and watch a countdown clock online that tells them when to head for the office. They also offer noninsurance patients “Value Care,” a discount program.

‘The path of health’

But CLiC — which stands for “convenient, local, individualized care” — may be the most unique health center of the three, with an emphasis on the “health” part. It is owned by Caromont Health, the company that runs Gaston Memorial Hospital.

“Rather than just address urgent needs,” CLiC employees “will help people understand other aspects that may help them get onto the path of health,” said Mary Hassett of Integrations Inc., Caromont’s public relation’s firm. It will be a very different environment, she said.

For starters, there will be two waiting rooms, one for people with contagious illnesses and the other for people with injuries. The center will also include retail space that will sell relaxation CDs, ergonomic pillows and nutrition-related items.

In addition, there will be consultation rooms for people who aren’t necessarily sick but who would like more information on topics such as diabetes, obesity or sleep disorders. In those rooms, the staff will direct customers to resources, many online and accessible through touchscreen computers, that should help answer their questions, Hassett said.

CLiC is trying to drop the term “patients” and, instead, look at those who come through the clinic’s door simply as “people,” she said.

Caromont has recently changed its corporate tagline to “In Love with Life” and sees the CLiC center as a way to extend their mission to be “health care providers, not sick care providers” into the greater community, she said. In addition to grand opening celebrations in late February, they hope to hold health fairs.

“We are committed to promoting health and wellness,” she said. “Health can be just as contagious as poor health habits.”

Who will survive?

After Mesibov heard about the CLiC center’s plans, she said, “That seems more interesting.” Now she’d like to visit herself and see what it’s all about.

That won’t stop residents, gossiping at the coffee shop next door, from wondering which of the three health clinics will end up closing thanks to competition in an area already replete with empty storefronts. Mesibov is betting it will be NextCare, while others predict the small, difficult-to-maneuver parking lot in front of Carolinas HealthCare’s urgent-care center will lead to its demise.

“I’m just waiting to see what will happen,” Masehae said.

So is everyone else.

Three’s company

There are already two urgent-care facilities at the intersection of Mount Holly-Huntersville Road and Brookshire Boulevard, and a third is set to open this month. Here’s a look at the three.

NextCare Urgent Care

Address: 3500 Mount Holly-Huntersville Road, Suite 200

Owner: NextCare

Opened: 2004

Employees: Three

CLiC Immediate Care

Address: 3605 Mount Holly-Huntersville Road

Owner: Caromont Health

Opening: Late this month

Employees: Four

Carolina’s HealthCare UrgentCare

Address: 10210 Couloak Drive, Suite E

Owner: Carolinas HealthCare

Opened: 2007

Employees: Six

Source: Mecklenburg Times staff research