With small clinics hurting and the likes of Minute Clinic and Target Clinic slicing away some of their business, pediatric practices like Central Pediatrics needed a way to compete.
Its response: Its two Priority Pediatrics clinics, which Central Pediatrics bills as the metro area’s first pediatric urgent-care facilities. Priority Pediatrics, which operates in the current Central Pediatrics locations, lets new and existing patients see pediatricians between 5 and 10 p.m. on weekdays, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, and between noon and 8 p.m. on Sunday. Central Pediatrics opened Priority Pediatrics practices at its Woodbury clinic in 2004, and at its St. Paul location in 2007.
Central Pediatrics, which opened for business in 1936, has had some extended hours for a long time. “When I joined this practice 12 years ago, we had walk-in hours . . . between 7:45 and 9, and also had some evening and Saturday hours,” says Dr. Shelly Strong, the practice’s managing partner. The extended hours were soon in high demand.
To accommodate the demand, the clinic’s two locations expanded their after-hours services, operating their regular clinics as Priority Pediatrics during those added evening and weekend hours. X-ray and lab services have been added at both locations, Strong says, and staff was shuffled to accommodate the additional hours. Priority Pediatrics also hired additional physicians and support staff, primarily from other pediatrics clinics that have recently closed.
Thought it was started to accommodate Central Pediatrics clients, Priority Pediatrics also serves other walk-ins, as well as referrals from other urgent care facilities and physicians. “Sometimes urgent care facilities take appointments, and if they’re full for the night they send patients to Priority Pediatrics,” Strong says.
When patients visit Priority Pediatrics, they typically wait for a shorter time than they would at an emergency room, and they see a pediatrician, Strong says. At other after-hours clinics, patients see a nurse. “If you had to choose between seeing your own doctor and going over to Target to see a nurse practitioner, which would you choose?” Strong asks.
Priority Pediatrics has helped expand Central Pediatrics’ business, according to Strong, because it helps the practice better serve existing clients and acts as a magnet for recruiting new patients. Central Pediatrics grew about 5 percent between 2005 and 2006, and another 7 percent between 2006 and 2007.
Before that, she says, “we hadn’t been losing business, but we weren’t really growing, either. In a marketplace where there’s a fixed amount that insurance plans will pay for a visit, and increased costs for us, it’s hard to make it. We see a lot of private practices closing their doors. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve continued to do so well.”
