Vaquero Express Care to open this month

Alejandra Yañez  | THE RIDER

UT Health RGV has partnered with H-E-B to open Vaquero Express Care clinics in the H-E-B plus! stores in Brownsville and Mission for the general public to receive acute care.

John Krouse, dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine and executive vice president of Health Affairs, said the clinics are designed for rapid care in which patients may walk in and be treated.

“These are basically designed for rapid care of acute illnesses,” Krouse said. “That’s why they were designed, and there are a number of models of express care units across the country, in H-E-B’s in Houston and San Antonio, who partnered with local health-care agencies to do similar kinds of operations.”

He said the clinics will have a soft opening next week and a grand opening April 26. 

Krouse said the soft opening means that the clinic will be up and running for staff to get acquainted with the atmosphere before the advertised opening to the public on the 26th. 

“It really is a chance for the staff to get comfortable with the process and the flow and make sure that there are no bumps,” he said. “So it really is a data test, if you will. It’s a way for us to get open and then to make sure that on the 26th, we’re fully capable and ready to go.”

The two locations in Brownsville and Mission will be considered “walk-in” sites, where people can come in and get routine medical care for minor injuries or illnesses. They may also make appointments if they’d like to come in for care, according to Krouse.

“We felt that we wanted to provide additional opportunities for the community to be able to get access to immediate care,” he said. “So it’s meeting the needs of the community and in UT Health RGV, our clinical practice in the school of medicine, we do not have any presence in either Mission or Brownsville. At this point, we have no clinical sites in either of those areas, so it was an opportunity for us to begin to provide care for the residents of Mission, Brownsville and the surrounding areas.”

Krouse said the Express Care clinic will treat minor injuries and illnesses, such as sore throats, allergy attacks and minor lacerations.

“Things that can be handled simply,” he said. “It’s not an emergency room. It does not offer that kind of level of care, but we’ll be giving immunizations and vaccinations at the site. We’ll be doing pregnancy tests and strep testing. So, they really are broad centers where people can come in and take care of many of the day-to-day things that will cause them to feel ill from time to time.”

The care at these clinics will be given by nurse practitioners.

 “So, each of the sites will have a nurse practitioner as the primary provider at their sites,” he said. “They’re gonna be open extended hours, seven days a week, and we will have medical assistants there as well helping with the care. But they’re not clinics in which we are going to have students providing any type of direct care.”

The dean said the Vaquero Express Care is open to anyone who is seeking medical attention.

“Anyone who would like to come in should certainly come in and have care,” Krouse said. “Also, we are partnering with our friends at H-E-B and providing easy access with H-E-B partners so that should any of the H-E-B employees become ill or need care, we certainly will provide a way to have them get into care quickly and have them taken care of as well.”

Asked how this partnership began, he replied that conversations with grocery store chain started about two years ago.

“H-E-B had an interest in having ready access for their employees when they needed care,” Krouse said. “We certainly wanted to expand our clinical reach in the areas that we felt needed this kind of acute access to care. So, after many conversations over, again, almost a two-year period, we decided to partner with these two sites.”

He said UT Health RGV is excited about the opening and hopes to open other sites in the future if all goes well.

“I know the H-E-B folks are very excited about it, and we see this as an opportunity for a model that, if it works the way we both expect it to, we would like to roll out to other H-E-B sites in the coming months,” Krouse said. 

The Rider tried to contact a spokesperson for H-E-B for comment on the clinics but was unsuccessful.

Asked how this initiative was funded, he replied that the school of medicine contributed in funding to build the clinic. However, the ongoing funding will come from clinical revenues. It will then be self-sustaining.  

“So, patients will come in, and they will pay for service, or if they’re insured, we will bill for their services,” Krouse said. “If people do not have the ability to pay, we have what’s called a charity policy. Basically, where people will pay based on their ability to pay. But it will be fully funded by clinical revenue by the services that are given there.”

Asked what is next for Vaquero Express Care, he replied, “I think what we want to do is ensure that these work the way that we would like, that they are successful and if so, then certainly we do have some thoughts about other opportunities where we could partner on an ongoing basis with H-E-B.”

Krouse’s message regarding these new clinical sites is that UT Health RGV is committed to providing ready access for the entire Rio Grande Valley community. 

“These are more opportunities for students and employees to get care,” he said. “Many people that live in those areas can get care close to home and it’s part of our commitment to continue to expand those services, not only for the university community but for all the residents of the Rio Grande Valley.”