LSU Health Baton Rouge Opens New Urgent Care in Capital Region

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

A new urgent care medical facility is available for residents of the Capital Region. Located on Airline Highway in North Baton Rouge, the new LSU Health Baton Rouge Urgent Care Center in North Baton Rouge has opened for patients as an alternative to hospital emergency rooms.

LSU’s urgent care services have been housed at a temporary location since its inception in April 2013, and the new location represents a space increase of 6,965 square feet.

Urgent care centers offer round-the-clock medical care for minor injuries and illness, which helps to minimize patient load at hospital emergency rooms.

The Airline Highway location is part of LSU Health Baton Rouge, a division of Our Lady of the Lake (OLOL) Regional Medical Center, operated by a partnership with Louisiana State University, which was created as a substitute to replacing the outdated Earl K. Long facility’s clinic services. The program is comprised of five clinics and pharmacy services and is also part of Louisiana’s historic public-private hospital partnership system.

The new urgent care facility and partnership with LSU allowed OLOL to expand its emergency room, earning it Level II Trauma Center status, which is the only such facility in the Capital Region.

According to a news release OLOL is now working towards earning a Level I Trauma Center accreditation. The facility features new amenities, such as a special procedures room, increased point-of-care testing space and digital x-ray.

This is not the only expansion for OLOL. The medical center is now the clinical site for LSU’s Baton Rouge-based physician training and graduate medical education programs, which hosts 190 residents per month and is set to increase.

Furthermore, OLOL is set to open its 120-bed Heart and Vascular Tower this fall on the main OLOL medical campus on Essen Lane.

The 330,000-square-foot, nine-story facility will be the main provider of an expansive range of cardiovascular services in the Baton Rouge area. It will feature state-of-the-art technology, open spaces, large windows, and visitor and seating areas with above-average comfort.

Also set for a fall 2013 opening is OLOL’s $19 million medical educational building that will house a simulation and innovation center equipped with groundbreaking technology, conference rooms and LSU faculty offices.

Image courtesy of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center via Facebook