Washington, D.C.-based United Medical Center is putting primary care on wheels.
When plans to open a clinic in the Congress Heights neighborhood were held up by a property lawsuit, UMC decided to move forward and open two mobile clinics, according to the Washington Business Journal.
The first of the two mobile clinics will start to see patients in early April. The clinics are outfitted with two exam rooms, blood draw and lab equipment and telemedicine equipment, according to the report.
UMC is looking to partner with existing clinics or find alternate locations to establish a brick-and-mortar clinic. In the meantime however, the mobile clinics have been an affordable, quick way to bring primary care to neighborhoods with patients who may otherwise not receive preventative care. The bus, which has taken less than three months to launch, costs less than $400,000, compared to a clinic which could cost more than $8 million, according to the report.
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