NJ's Atlantic Health, MedExpress Form Collaborative

The urgent care clinic chain will serve as an extension of Atlantic Health, offering walk-in urgent care, employer health services, and basic wellness and prevention services.

Atlantic Health System has formed a coordinated care collaborative with MedExpress, an urgent care provider with 11 locations across northern New Jersey, the two providers announced.  

The jointly owned clinics will enable MedExpress' urgent care patients to seek care at an Atlantic Health System facility if additional care is needed.

"Our mission is to build healthier communities," Amy Perry, CEO Hospital Division at Atlantic Health said in an email exchange with HealthLeaders Media. "We chose to partner with MedExpress to avoid duplicating expensive resources in our communities. We are looking for opportunities to collaborate whenever possible." 

"Adding urgent care to our continuum of services helps us improve accessibility and affordability, providing our patients with the right care, at the right time and in the right place," Perry said, adding that the collaborative means that MedExpress "can offer care coordination beyond traditional urgent care, improving outcomes and patient satisfaction."

MedExpress clinics will serve as an extension of Morristown-based Atlantic Health, offering walk-in urgent care, employer health services, and basic wellness and prevention services.

"Atlantic Health is listening to our customers and building an ambulatory network that provides the accessibility and affordability that they are seeking," Perry says. "With shifting payment models driving patients to urgent and primary care sites, the ultimate goal is to build an all-inclusive network that can care for every health need."

Perry says Atlantic Health will assess the success of the partnership with MedExpress using quality outcomes, service scores and frequency of use over more expensive care models.

"We also hope to improve care management, decreasing redundant testing, leveraging data, expanding patient communication and education," she said.