City opens second express health clinic at Queens hospital
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A walk-in urgent care clinic recently opened at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. A second opened in Hillcrest. Photo via NYC Health + Hospitals.
By Jonathan Sperling
The city has announced the opening of a new clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens designed to help people with mild health problems avoid the wait — and insurance bill — of the emergency room.
The ExpressCare Clinic, a walk-in urgent care clinic, is located at 82-68 164th St. in Hillcrest. It is NYC Health + Hospitals’ second Queens location after it opened an ExpressCare Clinic at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. Another ExpressCare Clinic is also open in the South Bronx.
The clinics treat patients with non-life-threatening conditions and will be open seven days a week, from 4pm to midnight on weekdays, and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. Walk-in services will be provided for conditions such as colds, flu, sprains, skin rashes, minor cuts and lacerations, as well as certain types of infections.
“We are excited to have a high-quality, walk-in, urgent care clinic, ExpressCare, expand to our community in Eastern Queens,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens CEO Christopher Roker. “We’ve seen the great impact that these clinics have had at other hospitals in our system and we fully expect that ExpressCare will help to reduce the wait time for many who come to us through the emergency department by providing immediate care for those with less emergent cases.”
Reducing emergency room wait times is one of the core goals of the ExpressCare Clinic. Patients who typically use the emergency department for non-life-threatening ailments, will experience shorter wait times and faster service as a result of the clinic, according to the city.
The ExpressCare Clinic that opened at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in November 2019 has seen over 600 patients, according to the city. Common reasons for visits include cold and flu symptoms, chest and breathing problems, bacterial eye infections, ear aches and vaccinations.
The ExpressCare Clinic’s newest location will now provide the same kind of service to residents in the eastern portion of the borough, a welcomed addition for area politicians, who have expressed the need to expand the service.
“Helping people get well quicker is just sensible policy on so many counts, and keeping people out of emergency rooms will not only save money but inevitably save lives of those in true emergencies. NYC Health + Hospitals is to be commended for this effort, which must be sustained and expanded long beyond this announcement,” State Sen. John Liu said in a statement.
Patients looking to walk into the clinic should bring photo ID and an insurance card. Patients without insurance will be able to use the health system’s reduced fee-scale payment program or receive assistance with enrollment if eligible.
