When Valley Immediate Care (IC) opened its doors in 1999 in Jackson County, Oregon, the clinic was the first and only urgent care facility in the area.

Valley IC founders were three ER veterans who recognized how the gap in urgent care services in the region impacted residents most in need and taxed existing emergency departments unnecessarily. The founding mission was clear then and guides the organization to this day: To provide timely and affordable access to medical care for the residents in Southern Oregon.

One location has grown to nine in and around Rogue Valley – with additional locations on deck — not only providing minor emergency and primary care services, but also expanding to sports medicine, orthopedics, dermatology, aesthetics and occupational therapy.

“We provide quality medical care in a transparent and patient-centric culture of service,” says Brent Kell, chief executive officer, Valley Immediate Care. “Being mission-driven is part of our DNA and actually helps drive our growth.”

Kell explains that when Valley IC looks to expand locations and services, leadership takes its cues from the needs of the community.

“We open locations with underserved or hard-to-reach communities in mind,” says Kell.

Valley IC plans to open sites in neighboring Eagle Point and Crater Lake, both areas with large Medicare and Medicaid populations. Valley IC is also researching the possibility of opening a satellite site on a local high school campus.

One particularly creative outreach effort is taking shape in the Valley IC parking lot: A school bus being refurbished to bring mobile health services, vaccinations and health education right to patient doorsteps.

Scaling up with Medline

Valley IC’s growth accelerated during the pandemic and is fueled in part by its partnership with Medline. While Valley IC had been doing business with Medline in some capacity since the start, the organization recently named Medline as its preferred supplier.

“We lean into Medline’s scale and expertise to help us boost efficiencies and improve patient outcomes and experiences,” says Kell.  “They help us forecast as well as identify cost savings all through our operation.”

An example of Medline connecting Valley IC to new resources to increase critical services is the recent establishment of in-house molecular lab testing.

“We are always looking for ways to control costs for our patients and do more at point-of-care,” says Kell, “Enhancing our lab testing capabilities fits this bill for us on so many fronts. On the business side, in-house testing generates additional revenue for our clinics. On the patient side, we’re able to provide more immediate results so treatment and healing can begin faster.”

In step with leading urgent care providers around the country, Valley IC recognizes the value of having molecular diagnostics on-site — providing lab results faster, clearly and accurately while bringing patients closer to decisions about their diagnoses and treatment.

Kell also says that Medline’s breadth and depth of products – he dubs “from cradle to grave” – gives Valley IC confidence that Medline can be a one-stop-shop for future expansion of services and locations.

“Medline has really helped us smooth out any bumps in the road, in terms of managing our growth.  They have made opening new sites pretty turnkey, which is invaluable for smaller, non-corporate entities like ours that are hyper-focused on delivering quality care and greater accessibility.”

Learn more about how Medline helps free up resources to deliver the best care.