Convenience Care
FirstLight Health System has a mission to offer quality, convenient, accessible and cost effective health care to the communities we serve. Convenience Care may be a service that will fit your needs. Convenience Care is part of our tr
iage (a French word meaning "to sort by priority.") system that is being utilized at FirstLight Health System to insure our Patient Care is of the highest quality.
FirstLight Health System respects your time and knows that waiting in the Emergency Department can be frustrating. Convenience Care will provide a streamlined and systematic approach to your care. Convenience Care will be utilized in cases that are determined to be less severe and less complex by a Registered Nurse based on the triage examination. Eligibility for the Convenience Care system at FirstLight Health System must be determined by the Registered Nurse at the time of triage. If you are determined to be eligible for Convenience Care, you will be seen by one of FirstLight Health System’s mid-level providers (Nurse Practitioner or Physicians Assistant).
Examples of conditions that may be eligible for Convenience Care include Simple Laceration Repair (if it is determined at triage to be a simple closure), Ear Pain (if there is no trauma and is determined to be eligible at the time of triage), or Dental Pain (if there is no trauma and is determined to be eligible at the time of triage). This is not meant to be a comprehensive listing of services, but merely to provide examples of diagnoses that may be eligible for Convenience Care.
The cost of a Convenience Care visit may be lower than a traditional emergency room visit; however, Convenience Care patients (as well as traditional Emergency Room Patients) may receive other services in the course of their care and will be billed for each service utilized. We recommend that you contact your individual insurance company to determine coverage, or to contact FirstLight Health System’s business office for specific billing questions. The billing office can be reached by calling 320-679-1212 or 800-245-5671. For more information about convenience care contact FirstLight Health System at 320-225-3309. In the event of an emergency please dial 911.