Last week, Dr. Barron Nason opened a new Nason Medical Center on Folly Road near Maybank Highway in James Island. Many know Nason’s motto: “Don’t wait on healthcare. Let healthcare wait on you.” With the new 9,000- square-foot facility, Nason is putting a different spin on the average doctor’s visit for James Islanders.
Like other urgent care facilities, you don’t need an appointment or a referral to be seen by Nason Medical Centers. Unlike other facilities, the average wait time is about 15 minutes, and the cost averages one-sixth of what it would cost to go to the emergency room. The James Island location will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The decision to open a location in James Island was a simple one for Nason. “We wanted to bridge the gap so that patients who want to avail of our services don’t have to drive as far,” he says. With the James Island location, Nason hopes to collect patients from downtown and West Ashley, as well as the Island. “We look forward to serving the great people of James Island and we look forward to being a part of the community,” Nason said. Since the first facility opened in Mt. Pleasant in 2005, Nason Medical Center has seen more than 300,000 patients. In June, Nason said the three locations served about 10,000 patients. The other two locations are located in North Charleston.
Nason plans to open a location in Summerville in early 2012. The boom in the Nason Medical Center business comes from the increase in cost for healthcare and the increase in the amount of people uninsured. Nason thinks he will see even more patients as the year comes to an end due to the fact that many people have avoided going to the doctor unless absolutely necessary, causing many people’s ailments to only get worse. “Unfortunately, people are not practicing preventative medicine as much as they should be in this day and age,” Nason said.
The James Island location will offer 18 rooms with 10 cardiac monitored beds. There will be three trauma bays for conscious sedation procedures. Nason Medical Centers are all equipped to handle chest pain, shortness of breath, and trauma. An imaging center will also be offered in James Island, including CT scan technology, digital radiology, echocardiography, as well as ultrasounds. Nason Medical Centers share 10 doctors, 12 physician assistants, and a total of 175 employees.
Nason said the short wait times are what sets his business apart. “Time is important to everyone. Everyone would rather be doing something better than sitting in a waiting room,” he says. Nason also cites his patient costs as another reason for his success. “We accept all local forms of insurance and our business is doing well, which means we don’t have to jack up the prices,” he says.
