HOUSTON—Next Level Urgent Care announced Monday, July 1 as the grand opening date for its first location in Sugar Land. The centers will bring a new kind of medical treatment to Greater Houston, providing affordable care that is respectful and responsive to individual patient preferences and needs. Next Level provides a solution to families that seek immediate care for non-life threatening conditions, such as fever, cuts requiring sutures, minor burns and sprains/fractures during extended hours and on weekends when ERs were previously the only choice.

Next Level Urgent Care fills a long unmet need for patients who need treatment for acute illnesses when their primary care physician is unavailable, but want to avoid a pricey trip to the emergency room. For example, treatment for a typical leg fracture at a Houston-area emergency room for a person without insurance can easily run $900, where as similar treatment at Next Level would be closer to $200. Those with insurance will save substantially at Next Level, too, since the copay is much less than an emergency room would charge. Next Level adds convenience and comfort to the customer experience from the moment a patient walks in the door, starting with the extended hours the centers are open (9 a.m.-9 p.m., including weekends). The center also employs the latest technology in order to streamline acquisition of patient information and the check-in/check-out process, allowing patients to spend more time talking to the medical provider and less time filling out paperwork.

The first location will be a 3,000-square-foot facility located at 16902 Southwest Freeway, Suite 108, Sugar Land, TX 77479 – next to the Sugar Land Surgical Hospital. The center, at the intersection of Highway 59 and First Colony Boulevard, will have five medical care providers on staff including doctors, mid-level providers and an on-site radiologic technician. The facility is in a high traffic area in the heart of Sugar Land and has ample parking on-site, making it the most accessible place to receive non-emergent medical care in the area.

“As we began to anticipate the upcoming changes in the healthcare industry, we wanted to create a sensible solution for Houston-area residents who need medical care quickly,” said Juliet Breeze, M.D., CEO of Next Level. “People have shown a real need for increasingly convenient and cost-effective healthcare these days. Next Level is prepared to give that to them.”

Next Level seeks to play a significant role in the continuum of healthcare for the communities it serves. The company’s leadership has already begun building relationships with primary care physicians in the area, so they can refer patients to each other’s facilities depending on their needs. In a situation where a patient needs to move on to a freestanding or hospital emergency room after their initial assessment, Next Level will work diligently with the nearby healthcare support to make the transfer process as seamless and efficient as possible.

Next Level is managed by Breeze and Thomas G. Gee, Jr., CEO, who together have decades of relevant healthcare and management experience. Breeze was trained as a primary care physician and both she and Gee have been involved in the development of Katy Rehabilitation Hospital, Kingsland Surgery Center and Katy Urgent Care. The Sugar Land facility is the first of four Next Level locations to open throughout the Houston area in 2013 with six more locations currently planned to open in 2014.

About Next Level Urgent Care

Next Level Urgent Care is committed to providing customers with convenient and comfortable medical care for non-life threatening conditions at a significantly lower price than emergency rooms. The company’s refined approach to urgent care is evident, from the comfortably appointed exams rooms and soothing décor to the advanced record management system and wireless check-out. Next Level seeks to create an overall positive experience for its customers, while filling a medical need in the community. Next Level is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week, and accepts all major insurance providers.