Fast Track: Southcentral Foundation’s Approach to Urgent Care

Emergency care is the most vital service in health care, servicing customers during critical times. In an effort to maximize access to care and minimize strain to the Emergency Department, Southcentral Foundation provides care to customer-owners through the Fast Track, a department within Emergency Services at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Fast Track offers services for customer-owners who present to the Emergency Department with urgent, non-life-threatening conditions.

Fast Track is located inside the Alaska Native Medical Center and works collaboratively with the Emergency Department to provide prompt, quality care to customer-owners. Customer-owners present to the emergency department, and after assessment and based on the severity of their condition in triage, they are then assigned to Fast Track or the Emergency Department. This service eliminates customer-owner delays in care by reducing travel time to locate a separate urgent care.

SCF’s Fast Track Emergency Department is staffed by experienced Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, and Licensed Practical Nurses. Fast Track provides whole-person, comprehensive customer-focused care through timely and quality treatment. Fast Track partners with Primary Care to offer a bridge ensuring customer-owners maintain a continuation of care.

In 2022, the average wait time for a customer-owner to be seen by a provider at Fast Track was below the national average for emergency care. For more information about Fast Track, or any other aspect of SCF’s Nuka System of Care, feel free to contact the SCF Learning Institute.