OU Health, Intuitive Health Prepares To Open Hybrid Healthcare Facility In Yukon

A new partnership is bringing healthcare to a metro community. The facility, set to open next week in Yukon, is the first of its kind for Oklahoma.

The hybrid model aims to cut down on unnecessary emergency room visits. 

“It’s a brand-new model in the Oklahoma City area,” OU Health’s Chief Operating Officer and Interim Leader of Community Health and Primary Care Division Leslie Buford said. “Patients can come to one place. They don’t have to decide in the heat of the moment. ‘Is this an urgent care problem? An ER problem?’ We can figure that out and bill them appropriate.”

The combined ER-Urgent Care facility was made possible by a partnership with OU Health and Intuitive Health. 

“We started this partnership in March of 2020,” Buford said. “We had our first kick off meeting then the COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone home two weeks after that kick off.” 

The walk-in facility will be a 24-hour, seven-day a week ER with urgent care available every day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“Many times, we get people in our traditional ERs at the hospital that are frustrated because they have been sent there from an urgent care,” Buford said. “Then they have an urgent care bill and an ER bill and they have wasted precious time.” 

With a radiology department, lab, and CT scanner, doctors will be able to treat most patients within 40 minutes. 

“Which is another great advantage, you don’t have to sit around and wait for us to send lab samples to our traditional facilities. We will let you know right away what is going on,” said Buford.

They will always have six doctors and 15 nurses on staff. 

“We’re just excited, moving out and more into the community,” Buford said. “We have our downtown facility and Edmond facility, but we are excited to hit other areas of the metro that are growing so rapidly.”

There will be an open house Sunday with a grand opening set for next week.