Hartford HealthCare opening urgent care center near Hartford Hospital

Hartford HealthCare is formally opening a new urgent care center near Hartford Hospital that the health system expects will give patients with less-serious illnesses and injuries an alternative to its emergency department. Hartford HealthCare-GoHealth Urgent Care is located at 340 Washington St., about three-tenths of a mile from Hartford Hospital. It will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The opening, which was to be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon, is one piece of Hartford HealthCare’s more than $1 billion plan to overhaul its Hartford campus, which includes a major expansion and modernization of the hospital’s emergency department and adding more hospital beds. Hartford Hospital’s emergency department treated 109,166 patients in 2025. Data compiled by the Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians showed Hartford Hospital had the longest average time in the state from a patient’s arrival in the ED to an admission decision. That measure includes not only time spent waiting to be seen, but also the time required for evaluation, laboratory work, imaging and other care before a decision is made to admit a patient. When Hartford HealthCare unveiled its campus plans earlier this year, Karen Goyette, the health system’s executive vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer, told Hartford Business Journal that the Washington Street urgent care center was intended to divert less-critical cases from the emergency department and allow emergency staff to focus on patients requiring more intensive treatment. HHC President and CEO Jeffrey Flaks said at the time that thousands of patients who currently seek treatment in the Hartford Hospital emergency department are expected to be redirected to the urgent care facility. The new center is located in the former Girl Scouts headquarters, which HHC acquired last year. The facility treats adults and children ages 6 months and older and offers on-site laboratory testing and X-rays, along with IV fluids and medications — capabilities Hartford HealthCare says go beyond those typically offered by urgent care centers. The health system said the facility also addresses access to care in an area of Hartford where residents have had limited convenient healthcare options, particularly during evenings, weekends and holidays. It also serves as another entry point into the Hartford HealthCare network. Patients who need additional treatment can be connected with Hartford Hospital, primary care physicians, specialists and diagnostic services. HHC’s broader Hartford campus overhaul includes a planned $950 million, 14-story inpatient tower with 216 additional private patient beds and three floors of procedural space.