By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer

Imagine a medical facility that offers immediate, competent treatment on a pay-as-you-go-basis.

That’s the strategy behind the Nason Medical Center, founded by Dr. Barron Nason and business partner Robert Hamilton, opening soon on Bowman Road near U.S. Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant.

And it’s a strategy Nason and Hamilton claim will help small business owners provide health care coverage for their employees.

“We’re offering a payment plan, not health insurance,” explains Nason.

A worker who gets injured on the job, needs a checkup or physical, or feels the first signs of a cold or flu will receive prompt medical attention at Nason Medical, Nason says. Whether the worker has health insurance is irrelevant. The kind of illness or injury does not matter. As long as the patient is able to pay, Nason Medical will devise an affordable payment plan.

While conceptualizing Nason Medical, Nason and Hamilton met with local small business owners to learn how the medical facility could best serve them.

“They told us they want access to medical care and a facility that will get their employees back to work as quickly as possible,” says Nason.

Eventually Nason and Hamilton hope to establish a relationship with local small businesses whereby the facility becomes their outpatient and emergency care provider.

“This will help small business that don’t offer health insurance a chance to compete for employees,” says Nason, pointing out that health care benefits often determine where people choose to work.

Tourists who suddenly fall ill needn’t worry, Nason adds. Nason Medical will treat them without need of an appointment or a referral.

Since Nason Medical legally is a doctor’s office rather than an emergency room, it cannot accept ambulances. This lessens Nason Medical’s patient load and, with an attentive staff, enables the facility to provide immediate care, Nason says.

Nason Medical will help free ERs of patients whose ailments do not warrant emergency attention, notes Nason. Thus ERs will be able to return to their original purpose of providing emergency care rather than becoming the primary care facility for the uninsured.

Unlike an ER, Nason Medical will not be required by law to accept all patients regardless of their ability to pay. This enables Nason Medical to implement its pay-as-you-go policy, which Nason considers fair to the patients and financially sound for the facility. He points out that health insurance costs are high because the insured are indirectly paying for the uninsured.

What sets Nason Medical apart from other urgent care centers is that it operates like an emergency room, Nason claims. The facility will include a CT scanner, an X-ray machine, an ultrasound machine and 12 beds, including four cardiac monitor beds. Laboratories will have the latest equipment. If needed, emergency vehicles will transport patients to hospitals. A $250,000 electronic medical database system will be installed to store patients’ medical records.

The facility will have a staff of 30, including three full-time doctors, plus nurses and technicians.

Nason got the idea for the medical center from the 10 years he spent as an emergency room doctor. Crowded ERs and patients waiting hours to get a simple CT scan inspired him to offer what he considers better medical care. Two years ago he met Hamilton, a retired Eastman Kodak health care technician.

With some 43 million Americans without health insurance and ERs across the nation overcrowded and understaffed, Nason and Hamilton see enormous potential for their venture.

 “Anywhere where there is a busy ER, there’s potential for Nason Medical,” says Nason.

Dennis Quick covers health and wellness for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.

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