National urgent care network Doctors Express is opening a new location in Lower Queen Anne this month.
The new center, located at 610 1st Avenue N (in the complex shared by Metropolitan Market, Bartell Drugs, and a number of other retailers) plans to open on Saturday, February 19. It will be the 25th outpost of the urgent care facility nationwide, and the first in the Pacific Northwest.
Doctors Express treats urgent medical needs ranging from acute illness, such as the flu or stomach bugs, to broken bones, cuts, burns, rashes, bites and more. The center also provides travel medicine, sports physicals, drug and STD testing, occupational medical services, as well as scheduled pre-operative exams in conjunction with surgical specialists.
Doctors Express aims to provide an accessible and convenient way for people who cannot get into their regular doctors office (due to overloaded schedules, off-hours or lack of insurance), to get the medical treatment they need. The facility is not meant to treat emergency conditions that would otherwise require a trip to the ER.
Doctors Express will be open 365 days a year, and for extended hours in the evenings and on weekends. All visits are done on a walk-in basis (no appointments necessary), and wait times average anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes. All patients are seen by trained doctors, not nurse practitioners or physician’s assistants.
While the center says it accepts most insurance carriers, it also treats those without insurance or wishing to self-pay. A typical visit for treatment of a simple condition without insurance costs approximately $135.
“Doctors Express bridges the gap between a primary doctors’ office and the emergency room, and does it in a patient-focused way that ensures high-quality, convenient, affordable treatment in a comfortable setting,” Dr. Michael Sthay, owner and medical director of the new Queen Anne Doctors Express, said in a press release.
The facility also has X-ray and lab machinery on site, enabling it to diagnose and treat patients in a single visit.
“In my many years as an ER doctor, many patients who came for treatment did not have life-threatening injuries and could have been perfectly served at an urgent care center in a much shorter time, and at a much lower cost. The average visit to Doctors Express is about a third of the cost of an ER trip, and more aligned with a typically doctor’s office fee,” Sthay said.