By John Dobberstein, Editor
TULSA — QuikTrip’s expansion into the healthcare business has come to an end after 6 years, Saint Francis Health System announced it was taking over operation of QuikTrip’s MedWise Urgent Care clinics.
SFHS said the MedWise Urgent Care locations across the Tulsa metro to be absorbed include those in south Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Coweta and other locations.
The move will “significantly increase” access to urgent care services in the Saint Francis network, the Tulsa-based health care system said Friday.
As part of the agreement with QuikTrip, which owns and operates MedWise Urgent Care, these locations will begin operating as Warren Clinic urgent care centers in June. Patients will continue to receive care from the same providers and staff.
“With this expansion, we are strengthening our ability to provide quick, high-quality care to more patients across the Tulsa metro area,” said Dr. Cliff Robertson, president and CEO of Saint Francis Health System, in a statement.
“At the same time, we’re connecting these clinics and their patients to the full strength of the Saint Francis system — from specialty care and advanced diagnostics to the best hospitals in the region.”
The nine locations — from Bartlesville to Bixby and from Sand Springs to Coweta — will operate under the Warren Clinic urgent care model, “ensuring consistent standards of care across all sites and access to the health system’s resources,” SFHS said.
This expansion will also provide MedWise employees the opportunity to join the Saint Francis team, where they will continue serving their communities with enhanced resources and support, SFHS said.
According to a letter shared on social media, QuikTrip President and CEO Chet Cadieux said the company did not see a way forward to keep expanding MedWise, in spite of providing highly acclaimed patient care.
“Six years ago, we believed we could bring QuikTrip’s standard of excellent into health care. The MedWise team did exactly that,” Cadieux said, noting the company earned the only Urgent Care Assn. accreditation in northeast Oklahoma.
“Healthcare is a different business. While some of our beliefs about it (the ability to win on patience and employee experience) proved true, we determined that we could not grow MedWise without a hospital network and the clinical scale that comes with that.
“The purpose of QuikTrip is to provide opportunities for our employees to grow and succeed. If we can’t grow the business, we can’t fulfill that purpose.”
Cadieux told employees QuikTrip was committing all proceeds from the sale directly to MedWise employees transitioning to Saint Francis and remain there for a minimum of one year through retention bonuses.
The bonus was to include an amount equal to each employee’s annual profit-sharing contribution and any unvested portion of their 401(k) balance.
The Sentinel reached out to QuikTrip Friday afternoon to confirm the information but did not receive an immediate response.
QuikTrip announced in 2020 that it was the sole investor in MedWise. The first clinic opened in Coweta and several more opened over several years across the Tulsa area. Though QuikTrip owned the new urgent care company, MedWise’s clinics were housed in separate locations rather than being attached to existing gas stations.
Warren Clinic opened a primary care clinic in Claremore last year after assuming operations of a former MedWise location. The remaining MedWise locations joining the Saint Francis and Warren Clinic network are:
- South Tulsa: 8105 E 68th St.
- Owasso: 11760 East 86th St. N
- Sand Springs: 110 E 41st St.
- Broken Arrow: 1095 N Aspen Ave.
- Broken Arrow: 2550 N 9th St.
- Coweta: 11495 OK-51
- Bartlesville: 505 SE Washington Blvd., Unit B
- Bixby: 14777 S Memorial Dr.
- North Tulsa: 6336 E Admiral Pl.
Leave a Reply