Walgreens-backed VillageMD launches ‘major imaging hub’ open 7 days a week
VillageMD, a primary care platform owned by Walgreens, has announced the grand opening of a “major imaging hub” on the east coast.
The new 30,000 square-foot facility is located in Garden City, N.Y., providing ample parking and access to railroad and bus services. It offers the “first imaging department of its kind” on Long Island, delivering CT, ultrasound, X-ray, fluoroscopy and ambient MRI. The latter utilizes virtual reality to create a calming experience and reduce anxiety, the company said in an Aug. 8 announcement.
Alongside radiology, the hub has an entire floor dedicated to orthopedics. VillageMD will employ 13 onsite physicians in primary care and eight other specialties, including cardiology, dermatology, facial plastic surgery, internal and sports medicine, pain management and podiatry.
“This new location brings tremendous value to patients living in the Garden City area, allowing them to easily and conveniently navigate a variety of treatments and services in multiple specialties, including an onsite imaging suite, in a setting even closer to home,” Christine Masterson, MD, executive VP and chief of women and children’s services and dermatology at Summit Health, said in the announcement.
Summit Health-CityMD is a “leading” provider of primary, specialty and urgent care, acquired by VillageMD and Walgreens in January for $8.9 billion. Together, the two believe they represent one of the “largest independent provider groups” in the U.S., today operating more than 700 practice locations in 26 markets.
Leaders said the new facility will offer imaging procedures seven days of the week, all performed by state-licensed technologists and interpreted by fellowship-trained, board-certified radiologists. Garden City also is linked to all CityMD urgent care centers in the area through Summit Health’s connected care model. The offering aims to smooth transitions between primary, urgent and specialty care via a patient portal that lets providers easily communicate with one another and share patient records.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.