Downtown Chicago and the Chicago River.

Two Chicago-based  organizations, Presence Health and Physicians Immediate Care, have formed  a new joint venture to run  urgent-care and occupational-medicine facilities. It’s yet another example of hospitals and outpatient operations such as physician groups  trying to more tightly integrate inpatient and outpatient care, with outpatient steadily becoming  relatively more important.

The venture  cites the  allure of creating more access points for patients,  more care coordination and care in settings cheaper than hospital emergency departments.

Becker’s Hospital Review says the venture “will manage 10 immediate care/occupational medicine clinics, which will be open seven days a week. The organizations will also work together to create additional sites for clinics.”

Physicians Immediate Care will  be in charge of daily management of the clinics.