Renown opens urgent care clinic in TRIC

Residents seeking medical care in and around the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center now have a closer option than Sparks or Fernley if they need to see a doctor for flus, sprains or other non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries.

Renown Health, which owns and operates nine urgent care clinics in Washoe County, recently opened a tenth one at 420 USA Parkway, Suite 106.

New growth in the region has spurred the expansion of medical services to support the 130 companies currently using 11 million square feet of industrial space at TRIC, according to a release from Renown. With the addition of the Tesla gigafactory to the industrial park, the need for new medical services — and potential referrals to other entities within the Renown pipeline — is only expected to grow as Tesla plans to add 6,500 full-time employees in Storey County.

“This expansion is part of our convenient care initiative — of having facilities easily accessible” in the region, said J’Neal Hachquet, a Renown marketing business partner. She said that Renown is targeting a 50/50 mix of rural residents and employees at the TRIC urgent care.

In addition to urgent care services, Renown medical staff will offer occupational health services and physicals for the Department of Transportation.

Medical clinics have been popping up all over. Earlier this year, Banner Health Center in Fernley moved to a new $9.8 million facility — a big step up from the clinic’s former office in Fernley.

Urgent care operators like Renown are responding to consumers’ demand to be able to visit the doctor after work and on weekends, to be seen immediately when they can’t get an appointment with their regular doctor, and to avoid long waits at hospital emergency departments if they don’t truly need to be there.

Nationally, there are more than 9,000 walk-in, stand-alone urgent care centers, and 50 to 100 new clinics open each year, according to the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine.

These operators also are riding the wave of health care reform, which dramatically increased the number of Nevada residents with health insurance.

Like many parts of the nation, there’s a shortage of primary care providers here, and urgent care clinics are helping to fill that void.

The new facility on USA Parkway will be open Monday through Friday.