Family Medical Walk-In Clinic adds appointment-based care

About a year ago, the clinic began offering appointments on a limited basis – usually one day a week – at its three other clinics, one in Nixa at 103 N. Old Wilderness Road and two in Springfield, at 4040 S. Campbell Ave. and 2619 N. Kansas Expressway.

Dr. Yvonne Agius and Carol Matthews, a family nurse practitioner, joined the Republic Clinic, 281 U.S. Hwy. 60 West, in April and appointments are now available five days a week for a full range of care, including adult, geriatric and pediatric medicine.

Walk-in patients with urgent-care needs continue to be seen at all of Family Medical-Walk-In Clinic’s locations.

“Adding appointment-based care is really a system-wide complement to our existing services,” said Dr. Daniel Burke, owner of the four Family Medical Walk-In Clinics in the Ozarks.

Burke said the need was defined during the nine years he has been providing urgent care in the Ozarks.

“We found that people need ongoing care and don’t have private care options,” he said. “In the past we would refer patients out to the community, when many times we could provide the same services.”

Burke also noted that appointment-based care is more convenient for patients who need ongoing or primary care, as urgent-care walk-in patients don’t know how long they will wait to be seen by a health care provider.

“We had the facilities already in place,” he said. “Now citizens won’t have to take off half a day of work to go to the doctor. They can go when it’s convenient for them.”

Burke said that with appointment-based care, patients will have their medical records in the same location.

“It’s going to be easy for doctors to see patients’ information,” he said. “Having these services together is a really complementing asset. Everyone has knowledge of everything going on. Each discipline serves the other for the patient’s benefit.”

Initial patient visits at Family Medical-Walk-In Clinic are $158 for both walk-in and appointment-based care, said Brian Casey, clinic services representative.

The clinics accept all providers on the Primrose Cox insurance plans, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, for both appointment-based and walk-in care. Casey added that self-pay patients who pay the day of the visit receive a 15 percent discount, both for appointments and walk-in urgent care.

Casey said that after a patient becomes established, visits will generally be less expensive, although he did not provide specifics. “It depends on the nature of the visit,” he said.