High-country care: a no-guesswork option in the height of ski season

March 8, 2023
Karla Baker, RN, with a patient at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Summit County, Colorado, March 24, 2021.

It’s ski season. And while powder adventures may be on most people’s minds, wintertime accidents and illnesses are not. But when you need care fast, Centura Health is proud to offer new and improved access to emergency and urgent care in Colorado’s high country. 

Three convenient locations are now operating year-round at the bases of some of Summit County’s largest and most popular ski areas: Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper.  

These emergency-urgent care centers are staffed with compassionate, board-certified emergency medicine physicians who are ready to help mountain communities and visitors with all of life’s little emergencies. Our new hybrid healthcare model puts urgent and emergency services all in one location, eliminating the guesswork of where to go and what will show up on your bill.  

Emergency vs. urgent care

Many people don’t know the difference between emergency and urgent needs. Add the stress of an acute medical problem and decision-making becomes even more fuzzy.  

Here's the difference: An emergency department treats life-threatening health conditions in people of all ages and is considered the best option for immediate medical attention. Urgent care is the middle ground between your primary care provider and the emergency department. If you have a minor illness or injury that can’t wait until tomorrow, urgent care is the way to go. 

Urgent care is also a good option if you have illnesses or injuries without other symptoms, or if you do not have other underlying health conditions. For example, an earache can easily be treated in urgent care. However, if it is accompanied by a high fever, you have a history of cancer, or you take immune-suppressing medication, it’s important to have it checked out in a full-service emergency department. 

It’s easy to see why combining ER and urgent care under one roof makes giving and getting care simpler. Upon arrival at one of Centura’s Summit County clinics, you are evaluated to determine the level of care needed; the amount you pay is based on the services you receive. At Centura, we believe that patients should not be responsible for an ER copay unless their situation is deemed a major medical emergency.  

Offering supreme convenience, high-quality care, fair billing, and positive customer service experiences, combined emergency and urgent care services is one smart solution.   

Centura Health offers three convenient high-country care locations:

St. Anthony Keystone Mountain Clinic
1252 Co Rd 8 
Keystone, CO, 80435 
Phone: 970-468-6677 
Urgent Care Hours: 
Monday - Sunday: 8:30 am-5 pm 
8:30 am-8:00 pm on night ski evenings 

St. Anthony Summit Copper Mountain Clinic
860 Copper Rd 
Copper Mountain, CO, 80443 
Phone: 970-968-2330 
Urgent Care Hours: 
Monday - Sunday: 8:30 am-5 pm 

St. Anthony Breckenridge Mountain Clinic
555 S Park Ave 
Breckenridge, CO, 80424 
Phone: 970-453-1010 
Urgent Care Hours: 
Monday - Sunday: 8:30 am-6 pm