Southern Chester County residents looking for a shortcut to better health now have a solution in West Grove. The newly opened Penn Medicine Southern Chester County outpatient care center fills a void in the region’s health care service and positions it to meet a growing need for more doctors.

“Our goal is to reduce the budget of disease,” President and CEO Michael Duncan said in a Philly.com report. “That isn’t just diagnosing and treating the illness. It means we have to pay attention to how far people travel for that treatment.”

Though the $28 million, 72,000-square-foot medical facility was planned before Chester County Hospital’s merger with Penn Medicine, the larger health system provided additional capital to provide even more services.

The center recently unveiled physical therapy, radiology and primary care services, while obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, pediatrics and lab services are on their way and set to open this fall. Outpatient surgery is expected to arrive later.

In all, the 2010 study that predicated the construction of Penn Medicine Southern Chester County identified a growing need for physicians that was fast approaching 30 specialists — in addition to bringing medical care closer to home.

If on the go, southern Chester County residents can still seek treatment in Valley Forge, Radnor and Yardley and have their medical records instantly accessible by Penn Med physicians there.

“The world is changing,” Penn Health System CEO Ralph Muller said in the article. “You have to really be available to patients when and where they need to see you.”

Read more about the history and features of the new Penn Medicine Southern Chester County facility on Philly.com here.