Mobile clinic brings care to underserved communities in Nevada

Southwest Medical, part of Optum, is one of Nevada’s largest multispecialty medical groups. We’ve been caring for southern Nevadans since 1972. We have decades of experience and a drive to better our patients' lives.

By combining technology and information, we give our patients the right care in the right setting. We provide primary, specialty, urgent, senior, ob/gyn, pediatric and convenient care.

To stay healthy, patients must be able to reach their clinicians. The team at Southwest Medical was concerned about access for their patients who faced transportation barriers to regular visits with their primary care physicians.  

Without means, those patients couldn’t get to an in-person appointment. If they were stuck in a rural area without a car or living in the city without an income to afford bus fare, the inability to get to the clinic for preventive and primary health services became a health service gap. 

The Southwest Medical clinic solution was to meet patients in their communities with a clinic on wheels. 

Once rolling, this 45-foot medical center on wheels began its regular schedule of visits to sites with high numbers of patients who fell into the transportation gap. Homeless shelters, churches and schools are some of the locations where services are given. 

Certain days are set aside for specific types of patients. There may be a mammography clinic at a rural church for women who find it difficult to make it in for routine screening. For children who aren’t up to date on shots, an immunization clinic can be held at a local school. 

Because insurance isn’t a prerequisite to access the mobile clinic, it’s part of the medical safety net for vulnerable populations.

An advanced practice clinician (APC), licensed practical nurse (LPN) and medical assistant (MA) are on board the wheelchair-accessible mobile clinic. The staff has access to 2 exam rooms, a phlebotomy lab, ultrasound and mammography.

They’re prepared to treat minor wounds, cough and colds, upper respiratory infections, urinary tract infections and other common low-acuity ailments. Ideally, the mobile clinic helps patients be seen before their problems become severe. 

The work of controlling and managing chronic health issues can begin with the treatment given in the mobile clinic. For example: 

• Hypertension can be monitored and medications can be refilled. 
• Asthma exacerbations can be treated with medications and education on environmental factors, plus strategizing how to reach the clinic for regular checkups. 
• Patients with diabetes can find out how well their blood glucose is managed with an A1C test. 
• They can also be checked for any complications from diabetes, and get their supplies refilled. 

The act of making care convenient by traveling to the community helps engage patients in their own wellness.

In the 6 years since Southwest Medical deployed the mobile clinic, thousands of patients have come through its doors, including more than 1,000 primary care visits in 2017 alone. That same year, nearly 800 women received mammograms.  

Closing the gap in our most vulnerable population, children were given 712 immunizations. Providing this preventive and primary care from the mobile clinic kept patients who couldn’t see a doctor from having to go without. 

It also kept smaller problems that go without care from becoming larger problems, lightening the load of emergency departments.