Indianapolis-area centers and one in Bloomington now offer expanded care to veterans.

IU Health Urgent Care is answering the call to make affordable and accessible care available to Indiana’s 455,000 veterans.

Veterans now have greater access to medical care outside of VA hospitals through a program that launched earlier this month under the federal Mission Act, which was signed into law last year by President Trump.

“We’re excited to give our Hoosier veterans greater choice and access to timely, high-quality care,” said Melissa Cash, regional administrator for IU Health Urgent Care. “We wanted to be sure we were part of this program to provide care for the veterans who have served us.”

As part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ contracted network of community providers, IU Health’s four urgent care centers in the Indianapolis area (Brownsburg, Greenwood, Noblesville and Broad Ripple) and the Bloomington location now can offer care to veterans without prior authorization.

Cash, who has veterans in her own family, believes access to IU Health Urgent Care centers will make a huge difference to Indiana veterans and those who visit the state. No appointments are necessary. Vets need only walk in and state that they have served. Front desk personnel at each center will verify eligibility. The only prerequisite is that vets must have been seen by a provider in a VA facility in the previous two years. That automatically enrolls them in the program.

Accessing highly skilled medical care can be a challenge for veterans, Cash said. Joining the mission to serve them well only made sense.

Delivering highly skilled, personalized care to veterans aligns with IU Health’s mission, said Joe Kukolla, brand manager for System Clinical Services’ retail health division.

As part of Indiana’s largest healthcare network, IU Health’s Urgent Care locations are equipped to treat a wide array of illnesses and injuries. Urgent Care centers have onsite lab and X-ray services, which allow physicians to diagnose and develop treatment plans.

IU Health is committed to the Urgent Care model, a low-cost alternative to other higher cost settings of care, Kukolla said. New IU Health Urgent Care centers will open later this year in Downtown Indianapolis at the corner of Senate Avenue and West Michigan Street, in Avon and in Fort Wayne.

– By Maureen Gilmer, IU Health senior journalist
Email: mgilmer1@iuhealth.org