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UChicago Medicine Opens River East Urgent Care, Third Location This Year
The Hyde Park-based health system opened three locations this year to handle minor illnesses and injuries after regular office hours.
How we reported this
University of Chicago Medicine opened walk-in urgent care at its River East location on May 15, completing the first three sites in a planned expansion across Chicago and nearby suburbs.
The rollout addresses a gap in after-hours access for time-sensitive but non-emergency needs among patients already connected to the health system. Primary care offices at the same locations had operated on standard schedules, leaving residents to seek alternatives on evenings, weekends and holidays for issues such as minor infections or sprains.
Locations and Schedule Details
The three sites now operating include the newest addition at River East, plus Dearborn Station which started March 13 and Homewood which began January 17. All three previously provided primary care through pediatrics and family or internal medicine. Physicians from UChicago Medicine Medical Group staff the urgent care hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends and major federal holidays. Services cover headaches, nausea, upper respiratory infections, sprains and fractures along with on-site lab testing for conditions such as COVID-19 or urinary tract infections and x-ray imaging.
Patients can walk in without appointments and pay through accepted insurance or self-pay. The clinics are intended to complement rather than replace ongoing primary care or occupational medicine visits.
Guidance for Local Residents
Hyde Park area patients facing sudden but non-life-threatening symptoms now have these additional options close to home. For more serious injuries or illnesses, the health system directs people to its urgent aid services at Ingalls Calumet City, Flossmoor and Tinley Park sites, which function as an extension of the emergency department at Ingalls Memorial in Harvey. The system states the three urgent care locations mark the start of further openings planned for Chicago and suburbs later this year.
Residents can check the health system website or call the listed numbers for each site to confirm current hours before traveling.