In this award presentation segment, Michael Tarwater and Carol Lovin discuss their health system’s strategy to expand high‑quality emergency and urgent care beyond traditional hospital walls. They describe building freestanding emergency departments equipped with on‑site helicopter pads to enable rapid transport, repurposing existing facilities, and establishing a network of nearly 30 urgent‑care sites—including children’s and 24/7 locations. They also highlight on‑demand virtual care through the MyCarolina app, allowing patients to consult providers, refill prescriptions, and view lab results from home. Emphasizing the goal of delivering the right care to the right person at the right time, they note that 90% of patient encounters now occur outside inpatient hospitals, underscoring the impact of timely access on outcomes, including life‑or‑death situations.
Chapters
We were able to take very high-level emergency medicine that you would typically find in an ER at an acute care hospital, and we were able to put it out into the communities closer to where more people live, making it more convenient for them, making it more accessible for them. But all these freestanding facilities that we've built, we have the capability to put a helicopter down right next door, right on the property, and then transport that patient very quickly regardless of the ground traffic conditions. And today, 90% of patient encounters take place outside the walls of a traditional inpatient hospital.
Generally, we have built new, but not completely. We did repurpose one, and that's in the northern part of Mecklenburg County in, in Huntersville. One of the reasons that we are so excited about this is because a very important part of our strategy is something we call on-demand care. It's our freestanding emergency departments, our other emergency departments, our nearly 30 urgent cares. We've got children's urgent care, 24/7 urgent care, etc., and virtual care, other things that people could access immediately and be there for when they need it.
I can sit at my kitchen counter And get my tablet out and have a conversation with my doctor or my doctor's PA. I can get prescriptions refilled. I can go online through our MyCarolina app and I can check my lab work from my physical earlier in the week and see comments that my physician's made.
We want to get the right care to the right person at the right time in the right way. The population is growing, so there still will be more people who absolutely need emergency care, and to have it there is an incredible service to this community.
Lots of times, just a few minutes between being in distress and then getting under the care of a qualified physician with resources there to help that physician diagnose and treat can mean a, a huge difference in the outcome, sometimes life or death.
Congratulations, Michael Tarwater and Kara Lovin, Counselors of Real Estate 2016 Creative Thinkers.
