Health Care

Old Coffee grounds now new urgent care site

By George Schwarz
The Amarillo Independent

Six days into his business, Dr. Naeem Khan's new Amarillo Urgent Care center was seeing 40 patients a day.

Khan, dually certified in family medicine and psychiatry, had worked in Hereford and at Baptist St. Anthony's Health System's Urgent Care Center on Bell Street. While at BSA he thought about his own business.

"There were things I wanted to do," he said. "I tried to tell them but nobody wanted to listen to me."

And one of the things was to provide care immediately for those without life-threatening problems but also without their own doctors. Or, if they couldn't see their own physician quickly enough, they could walk into his urgent care center without an appointment, he said.

It isn't his goal to take patients away from their current physicians, he said, adding, "They have to go back to their family doctor."

Khan opened the facility at the former location of Coffee Memorial Blood Center on Coulter Street at Amarillo Boulevard. The remodeling was completed — at a cost of about $500,000 — and the staff was still settling in at the time Khan met with The Amarillo Independent.

That staff includes two physicians, two nurse practitioners and a physician assistant on the clinical front line, he said.

He said he had hoped also to get help from some of his physician friends at BSA, but the hospital invoked a non-compete clause.

BSA Director of Corporate Communications Mary Barlow did not return a call from the Independent.

And while his practice will take all insurance plans, including Medicaid, Khan said he recognizes people need help with paying for care.

"You have to serve the community," he said.

The answer to helping serve the people without insurance is a plan, which he assures is not an insurance product, that allows patients to pay $18 per month and have unlimited visits to the clinic. The plan also allows for discounts on other services. But there's a catch — when the patient gets insurance, he is no longer eligible for the plan, Khan explained.

Along with X-ray and lab services, the center offers a range of other services, including treatment of simple fractures or sprains and cuts, drug screening and emergency prescription refill.

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Posted: March 13, 2008