Kern Medical opens new imaging center
Hospital officials gathered Monday to tour Kern Medical’s new Imaging Center, which will offer an array of diagnostic services to its patients that staff say are increasingly underserved.
“In the Central Valley, it’s a challenge to get access to doctors and services,” said Kern Medical CEO Scott Thygerson. “Because there’s not enough in general for the population.”
The approximately 28,000-square-foot facility, located at 3551 Q St., will provide CT scans, ultrasounds, mammography, bone density and X-ray services, among others. Purchased six years ago, hospital staff said the building was largely vacant.
The hospital received $2.5 million in state grant funding to purchase the machines.
“When we talk about the underserved population, and those individuals that have barriers to care, it really is difficult for us to understand,” said Emily Duran, CEO of Kern Health Systems.
“It’s important to have imaging centers and facilities like we have here.”
Thygerson said that patients can wait up to several weeks for screenings that should be done within days, and that this new center will help cut waiting times.
“When you imagine how long it takes for a patient to get seen before this imaging center (opened), how do they get access to care?” Thygerson said. “And even though there are a lot of great imaging providers in the community, there’s just that much need.”
Kern Medical provides care to more than 170,000 residents across multiple clinics across the county. More than 70 percent of those patients are on MediCal.
“Access to care for those patients is particularly challenging,” Thygerson said.
Kern Medical also accepts Medicare, Blue Cross, Kern Family Healthcare and Health Net.
For more information, or to schedule an appointment, go to kernmedical.com/services/imaging-radiology/ or call 661-326-2392.