‘Aggressive renovation.’ Belton Regional to combine rehab with urgent care clinic

Belton Regional Medical Center is combining its rehabilitation department with an urgent care clinic and moving both to a new spot away from the hospital’s campus. Belton Regional Medical Center Outpatient Sports Medicine and Rehab Clinic will open at the end of April at 1300 E. North Ave. in Belton.

Patients inside the hospital will still be able to get rehab services, but anyone needing outpatient services will go to the new clinic.

The hospital is investing $1.2 million to renovate an existing structure to fit the needs of the clinic. The location was previously home to a restaurant.

Todd Krass, CEO of Belton Regional Medical Center, said the separate site offers a few different benefits, including easier access and less walking for rehab patients to get to their appointments.

“Most of the patients that have rehab, of course, might be a little slower, due to a surgery recovery or an injury, and when you can have drive-up parking, it makes it that much more convenient,” Krass said.

He also wanted to have a clinic offering urgent care services to the west side of I-49. The facility will share a building with a CareNow Urgent Care clinic. CareNow, like Belton Regional, is owned by HCA.

Krass has been looking for a location for 18 months, and this one became available last March.

Moving the bulk of the rehab clinic out of the hospital also frees up space for the hospital to expand its oncology department.

“Cancer services require a lot more medical support and hospital support than rehabilitation. It’s important to keep oncology patients close to us,” Krass said.

The new clinic will also expand the rehab services. Krass anticipates hiring at least two more therapists and having more spots available for patients, as well as hiring more people for the oncology department.

Services at the new clinic will include occupations, physical and speech therapy, with specialists in vestibular and orthopedic therapy on hand. Although the rehab clinic won’t have doctors, the urgent care side of the clinic will have doctors available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., including weekends and holidays. It will also have X-ray and lab facilities on site.

Krass touted the features of the open gym clinic, which includes agility turf.

I think if you want to test an athlete’s new, repaired knee, sometimes it’s nice to make those (assessments) in more of a clinical setting that’s predictable, rather than running on a field the first time,” Krass said.

Many of the plans have been drawn up, and the hospital already has a contractor lined up to do the work. Krass called it a “pretty aggressive renovation.”