Can’t get in to your primary care doctor but don’t have symptoms that warrant a trip to the emergency room? Then make an appointment at Express Care.

Kadlec has plans to open two Express Care clinics to treat common illnesses and injuries in Kennewick and Richland this month.

Kadlec Express Care Queensgate was scheduled to open Dec. 12 at 2564 Queensgate Drive in the strip mall near Fujiyama restaurant.

Kadlec Express Care Canyon Lakes is set to open Dec. 19 at 4008 W. 27th Ave., Suite 103, near Home Depot.

The cost to get the program up and running, including staffing, is about $850,000.

These strip mall clinics near retail stores are convenient for patients, said Randy Hartman, administrative director for Kadlec’s primary and urgent care clinics.

“As we have grown and expanded and had so much demand, it’s hard to keep up with all that with respect to primary care growing exponentially,” Hartman said. “Sometimes patients can’t get in for a same-day appointment.”

Kadlec’s primary care providers offer same-day availability but “there are some times that all same-day appointments are taken during flu season and they don’t have enough availability,” he said.

The Express Care clinics won’t have X-rays or laboratories and instead will offer treatment for minor cuts and bruises, ear/nose/eye infections, headaches or dizziness, urinary tract infections and sports physicals, Hartman said.

They’ll be staffed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants along with medical assistants and will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week with same-day and walk-in scheduling.

Patients can book appointments via a smartphone app, website or phone call that same day. Those who walk in without first scheduling an online appointment will be directed to use a clinic kiosk to schedule a time.

If it’s an hour wait, they can head over to the nearby retail center to “take a little breather in between,” Hartman said.

A menu on the wall highlights flat fee pricing so “they know exactly what they’ll have to pay” when they arrive, Hartman said.

An office visit costs $139 with additional testing and screenings ranging from $9 to $40. Procedures such as ear wax or skin tag removal cost $40. Vaccines and immunizations are $30. Sports physicals are $50.

All locations accept insurance as well.

Those who suspect they have strep throat can get a rapid strep test, thanks to “state-of-art tech equipment that will provide results right there,” Hartman said.

The clinics also will have a device to check cholesterol levels, for $40.

Other available tests include mono tests, urinalysis, pregnancy tests and STD screenings.

Another benefit for Kadlec patients is that their electronic medical records will be available to Express Care staff and their primary provider also can see what treatment they received there for “wrap-around care coordination,” Hartman said.

The Express Care clinics have been in development for about eight months, Hartman said. Providence Health Services has 33 of them on the west side of the state as it has a lot more competition in that area.

Kadlec affiliated in 2014 with Providence, a not-for-profit health system comprised of 34 hospitals in five western states.

Hartman said too many people who don’t need emergency care go to the ER when they need help.

Kadlec’s Urgent Care clinics — it has three of them — are for walk-in appointments to take care of more advanced issues, Hartman said. They have full X-ray machines and laboratories for tests.

“If it’s more urgent and they need sutures or fracture care, they’d want to go to urgent care,” he said.

Find more information, including pricing, visit www.expresscare.kadlec.org.