It might take longer than usual to be seen at Boise-area urgent care clinics. Here’s why
Urgent care visitors in the Treasure Valley should be ready for longer wait times, according to Primary Health Medical Group.
One of the reasons? The closure of Saltzer Health in late March.
Saltzer, one of the state’s oldest and largest primary care groups, closed March 29 — less than three months after Intermountain Health, Salt Lake City-based health system that owns it, announced that it would sell or close Saltzer. The nonprofit cited financial pressures stemming from the rising cost of providing care as the impetus for the closure.
Saltzer had operated 11 sites in the Valley, including the Boise area’s only 24-hour, seven-day-a-week clinic, which was located in the Ten Mile Crossing business development in southwest Meridian.
“We ask for feedback after every visit, and the No. 1 complaint we’ve heard this spring is related to wait times in urgent care,” Primary Health said in a news release Monday. “We want our patients to know we hear them, and we’re doing everything we can to make their wait as comfortable and short as possible.”
The medical group said the longer wait times are linked to the closures of other clinics, a shortage of health care workers and a protracted flu season. Primary Health is the largest independent medical group in the state, with 24 clinics around the Treasure Valley, including eight in Boise.
Primary Health said its staff is feeling the crunch as well.
“We ask for everyone’s patience and understanding,” the news release said. Primary Health noted that the longer wait times don’t apply to scheduled visits, just urgent care.
Want to beat any lines?
Primary Health said the best way to shorten your wait at one of its clinics is to reserve a slot before going in, which you can do on the medical group’s website. Patients who booked a visit online in April reduced their wait by up to 20 minutes, according to the release.
If your illness isn’t an emergency, you can also plan your visit during off-peak hours, such as a weekend day after 11 a.m., or on a weekday from 6-8 p.m.
The busiest times are Mondays, weekend mornings and weekdays at around 5 p.m., Primary Health said.
Dr. Ann Weiss, physician director of urgent care at Primary Health, said in the news release that although her providers are seeing fewer COVID-19 and flu cases as spring advances, “plenty” of cold viruses are still circulating. That, combined with routine physicals, drug screens and injury visits, has led to a very busy urgent care setting, she said.
Primary Health announced in April that it had acquired an ear, nose and throat practice from Saltzer and hired four providers, three doctors and a physician assistant who used to work for the health group.
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