HCA Healthcare, a nationwide health care provider that operates CareNow Urgent Care Centers, has purchased 24 MedSpring urgent care centers in Texas. That means urgent care centers in Central Texas that formerly operated under the MedSpring name will now be under the CareNow umbrella. In Austin, St. David's HealthCare and CareNow are affiliated, so those Central Texas locations will be rebranded as St. David's CareNow Urgent Care centers, according to a July 1 media release from St. David's. According to the CareNow website, eight of the nine urgent care centers that are now under new ownership will stay open. Five of those eight locations are in Austin, and other facilities are in Buda, San Marcos and Round Rock. The MedSpring Urgent Care center at 1335 E. Whitestone Blvd. in Cedar Park will close, according to CareNow's website. The eight new locations will add to the four urgent care centers CareNow already operates in Central Texas, located in Cedar Park, Round Rock, Hutto and Southwest Austin. “This acquisition furthers our ability to provide patients with convenient, quality care, growing our urgent care footprint in Central Texas," St. David's CEO David Huffstutler said in a media release. In addition to the MedSpring locations in Central Texas, CareNow also purchased eight locations in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and seven in the Greater Houston area. According to CareNow's website, opening hours will remain 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and staff will remain the same at each of the facilities.