St. Francis to close urgent care in Chaska

Urgent care services in Chaska will be limited come this time next month. In a letter to patients, St. Francis Medical Center announced that it would be discontinuing urgent care services in Chaska as of May 10.

“For more than 10 years, our Urgent Care in Chaska has served an important function for the community,” the letter reads. “When created, it was the first after-hours medical clinic of its kind in Chaska.”“That has changed now,” said Lori Manske, community relations, marketing and communications director for St. Francis. “The most efficient model has shifted from hospital-based urgent care to a clinic or retail model, so you’ll see like a Park Nicollet Urgent Care in Chan and, of course, SuperTarget across the street in Chaska that is a little more efficient and resourceful for the patients as well.”

When asked what effect Ridgeview’s recent announcement of plans to construct a standalone emergency room just a few miles down the road may have had on St. Francis’s decision to discontinue urgent care services in Chaska, Manske said “absolutely none” and noted that Ridgeview had made a similar decision about urgent care services just a few years ago.

“It’s a change in the times,” she added.

According to the letter, their current model located at the northwest corner of Highway 41 and Pioneer Trail, “is not viable competitively, and does not meet patient needs.”

“It doesn’t mean any of our other services are changing,” said Manske. “If anything else, we’ll probably be getting more aggressive in Chaska area.”

St. Francis Rehabilitative Services will continue to operate at the Chaska Community Center and both the St. Francis Specialty Clinic and St. Francis Capable Kids will still offer services in the Chaska Medical Building. Manske couldn’t say how many jobs were being affected by the closure, but noted that everyone was being placed somewhere within the St. Francis system.

“Chaska is an important community to us, and we look forward to working with our partners to provide necessary health services to the Chaska community, consequently enhancing and strengthening healthcare in this community,” the letter stated.

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer