GRAND AVENUE, WEST OF 580 – May 2016
Direct Urgent Care – Now at 411 Grand Ave., Oakland
On April 4, 2016, co-founders Caesar Djavaherian, M.D., M.S., FACEP, and Seth Kaufman, M.D., FACEP, opened Direct Urgent Care at 411 Grand Avenue. It’s open every day from 8 AM to 6 PM. Their Berkeley clinic, which opened in 2013 at 3095 Telegraph, is open from 10 AM to 8 PM daily. Direct Urgent Care has a third location in Mountain View and site-specific appointments for any of the three locations may be made on the Direct Urgent Care website or by phone or text or you can just walk in.
At the Grand Avenue office, visitors wait in comfortable chairs amid an open, contemporary, blue and white décor, and are welcome to enjoy coffee or tea. When I noted how cheerful the waiting area appeared, the receptionist grinned and said, “That’s what we’re going for.”
Rates for particular services are posted at the reception desk. To cite just one example, a basic office visit is $175. It is wise to contact your insurance provider to confirm that your visit will be covered. Direct Urgent Care accepts most major insurance policies, including but not limited to Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Cross of California, Health Net, Aetna, and Medicare. However, it does not accept some major providers, like Kaiser or Medicaid. If the clinic is not in-network with your insurance, it will bill your insurance as an out-of-network provider, or you can arrange to pay Direct Urgent Care directly. If paying directly, your cost will be less than the posted rate because of Direct Urgent Care’s reduced paperwork.
Urgent care centers are same-day clinics that can handle a variety of medical problems that need to be treated right away, but are not considered true emergencies.
(For more information about when an emergency room visit is the appropriate choice, see this article from Scripps Health).
An urgent care clinic is not a substitute for your primary care physician, but it may be a convenient option when you need treatment but your regular physician is on vacation or unable to offer a timely appointment, or when illness strikes outside of regular office hours. For example, a couple of years ago while traveling out-of-state, I sprained my knee. Unlike Stephan Curry following his recent on-court injury, I could not walk without assistance. I appreciated that a nearby urgent care clinic offered an alternative to spending precious vacation time waiting for hours in a hospital emergency room for a minor injury that needed urgent attention, but was not life-threatening.
Direct Urgent Care
411 Grand Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610
http://www.directurgentcare.com/
PHONE 510-844-4097
TEXT 510-681-0007
Open every day 8 AM – 6 PM
Select appointment on website
Or phone or text for appointment
Or just walk in
