BayCare to open first urgent care in Plant City

BayCare will open its first urgent care center in Plant City on March 30, expanding access to non-emergency and occupational health services in a growing corridor of eastern Hillsborough County.

The new site will operate at 1601 W. Timberlane Drive, inside the Ed and Myrtle Lou Swindle Medical Arts Center, where BayCare has already placed primary care, rehabilitation, nutrition and specialty services in one location.

Patients will be able to walk in or reserve a time, with hours set from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.

The opening follows BayCare’s recent investment in a new South Florida Baptist Hospital campus off Interstate 4, placing urgent care within a short drive of the system’s hospital operations in Plant City.

“Urgent care plays a vital role in meeting growing community demand for timely, convenient care,” said C. Todd Jones, BayCare’s chief strategy officer and chief ambulatory services officer. “It’s important to ensure we continue to meet patients where they are, providing the right level of care close to home.”

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The center will treat non-emergency conditions such as minor illnesses, injuries, sprains and burns, cases that often end up in emergency rooms.

It will also provide school and sports physicals and occupational health services, including workers’ compensation care, giving local employers a nearby option for employee treatment and return-to-work coordination.

The urgent care sits alongside primary care, pediatric rehabilitation, nutrition services and bariatric care within the same medical arts center, allowing patients to move between services without leaving the campus.

The Plant City location contributes to BayCare’s broader expansion strategy to bring care closer to residential areas and major corridors.

The health system has also filed plans to convert a former CVS on South Dale Mabry Highway into a freestanding emergency department, a 13,305-square-foot facility designed to deliver higher-acuity care outside a traditional hospital setting.

Together, the projects show how BayCare continues to build a network of neighborhood-based sites that handle everything from routine care to emergency services, reducing reliance on centralized hospital campuses.