With an average patient wait time of less than five minutes, Cedar Park Regional Emergency Center in Leander offers an alternative to traditional hospitals.

The freestanding emergency center opened in March and offers nine patient rooms and the same services and equipment found in most ERs.

Dr. David Lim, assistant medical director at the emergency center, said the center’s convenient location and fast medical services are some of the main reasons Cedar Park Regional Medical Center decided to open a freestanding ER in Leander.

CPRMC Marketing Director Laura Balla said the center was designed to treat patients of all ages to accommodate the demographics in the area.

“[Freestanding emergency rooms] are a way for hospitals to establish themselves in a new area,” Lim said. “They can be a part of the community without having to build an entirely new hospital.”

The 9,500-square-foot emergency center offers CT scans, ultrasounds and sedation; treats many types of ailments; and offers life-saving measures, Lim said. If a patient needs to be transferred to CPRMC in Cedar Park for surgery or other more intensive treatment, many patients are able to receive a free ambulance ride.

“[This facility] is different from an urgent care clinic,” Lim said. “At urgent care, they usually can’t do life-saving work or perform in-house lab work.”

A trip to the emergency center is treated like a visit to a traditional emergency room in terms of insurance costs, Lim said.