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The centersÃÛ·èÖ±²¥™ electronic medical records systems and other technology services are being updated across locations, which include two in Huntington and 23 total in West Virginia.

The UPMC and GoHealth Urgent Care locations can act as a personal care provider or regular family medicine doctor for a patient, but they can also help patients find a regular doctor outside of urgent care.

A copy of each patientÃÛ·èÖ±²¥™s records is forwarded to their regular provider, if they have one, at the end of the visit.

The centers are open 365 days a year from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Walk-ins are always accepted or a patient can reserve their spot ahead of time .

The facilities are meant to fill in the gap between regular providers and emergency rooms, taking strain off of both.

Most UPMC GoHealth Urgent Care locations have a digital X-ray machine onsite; they can draw blood for labs; and they can take an EKG. Some also have a pharmacy in the building or are working toward an in-house pharmacy.

Boyd Faust, chief strategy officer at GoHealth Urgent Care, cited a study from January 2024 showing that about 40% of emergency room visits are ÃÛ·èÖ±²¥œmedically nonurgent.ÃÛ·èÖ±²¥�

Examples of needs that can be filled at an urgent care include: allergies, rashes, sprains, infections, pink eye, coughs, colds, flu, wounds that require stitches and broken bones that donÃÛ·èÖ±²¥™t require surgery.

Wheeling native Amy Meister, D.O., is the president of UPMC Community & Ambulatory Services. She is also a graduate of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

She made it clear that UPMC is not looking to open a hospital in West Virginia; but if there are needs for specialized care, that is something the company would consider fulfilling.

ÃÛ·èÖ±²¥œWe are always ready to hire more people. ThatÃÛ·èÖ±²¥™s the nature of health care, but one thing thatÃÛ·èÖ±²¥™s very exciting about UPMC ÃÛ·èÖ±²¥” because we are a very large academic medical center ÃÛ·èÖ±²¥” we have a pipeline, which is invaluable. That means we train the next generation of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, nurse practitioners, radiology technologists, and we have the opportunity then to offer this as a site for them once theyÃÛ·èÖ±²¥™ve completed their training,ÃÛ·èÖ±²¥� Meister said.

The has a list of its accepted insurance plans and also pricing for self-pay.