USA Health has opened its new freestanding emergency department adjacent to the University of South Alabama campus.
The new facility, on Hillcrest Road at Old Shell, is open to the public as of noon today, designed to serve both the campus and the growing residential areas in the western part of Mobile.
“When people in west Mobile are in need of emergency care, they now have a facility that is fully staffed by physicians who are board-certified in emergency medicine,” said Owen Bailey, M.S.H.A., FACHE, chief executive officer of USA Health. “This facility is the first part of a comprehensive medical campus designed to meet the emergent and everyday healthcare needs of patients — all designed to be convenient for the people of west Mobile.”
The new facility will be open round the clock and staffed by board-certified emergency physicians and equipped with CT scanner, MRI, X-ray and ultrasound.
The health care system anticipates some 15,000 patient visits a year.
As well as providing patient care, the new facility will also provide advanced training for students in the new USA College of Medicine residency program in emergency medicine.
“Alabama currently has a shortage of board-certified emergency medicine physicians to care for citizens locally and throughout our state,” said Edward Panacek, M.D., professor and chair of the USA Department of Emergency Medicine. “This new facility will increase opportunities for our resident physicians to train with faculty physicians at a new location inside our academic health system.”
