Headline: Optum Shutters Several South Jersey Primary Care Sites — What Cherry Hill and the I‑295 Exit Corridor Need to Know
By Ari Williams for 295Times — Category: News / Cherry Hill
If you drive the I‑295 Exit corridor through Camden and Burlington counties, the recent news that Optum is closing dozens of New Jersey primary‑care offices matters in a practical way: a handful of those shutters are right in our backyard. Among the sites listed are locations that serve Runnemede, Mount Ephraim, Cherry Hill and Medford — towns that anchor daily commutes, shopping trips and medical visits for thousands of residents who use I‑295 and the nearby arterial roads.
What happened
Optum (the clinical arm of UnitedHealth Group that runs primary‑care and urgent‑care clinics in many states) has announced the closure of multiple New Jersey primary‑care offices. Local sites named in the company’s list include offices used by residents of Runnemede and Mount Ephraim in Camden County, a Cherry Hill practice serving the Route 70 / Route 38 corridors, and a Medford location in Burlington County. Regional outlets such as NJ.com and local Patch sites have been tracking the broader wave of closures and consolidations across the state; Optum’s move is part of that larger reorganization.
Why this matters to Cherry Hill and I‑295 travelers
– Gateway clinic: Cherry Hill functions as a regional hub for shopping, dining and health services along Routes 70 and 38, and it sits within minutes of multiple I‑295 exits. A primary‑care office in Cherry Hill isn’t just for town residents — it also serves commuters, workers at nearby retail centers, and patients who travel from smaller surrounding towns.
– Fewer convenient options: For people who used short drives off I‑295 to stop at a primary‑care appointment between work and home, closures mean either a longer drive to another Optum site, switching doctors, or relying more on urgent care and retail clinics.
– County ripple effects: Runnemede and Mount Ephraim are smaller boroughs with fewer medical practices inside their borders. When local offices close, residents often cross municipal or even county lines (Camden ↔ Burlington) to find care, increasing travel time and complicating transportation for seniors and people without cars.
Where people go from here
– Check your insurer and Optum communications first. Optum usually posts closure notices on its site and redirects patients to other nearby locations or to telehealth options. If you’re an Optum patient, call the number on your insurance card or visit the Optum/UnitedHealthcare portal to learn about transfers or in‑network alternatives.
– Use Google Maps to find nearby clinics and measure drive time from your exit. For example, a Cherry Hill clinic that closed would have been within a short drive of the Route 70/Route 38 interchange — the next nearest walk‑in or primary care site could be several minutes further, depending on traffic along the I‑295 ramps.
– Consider community health centers and hospital outpatient centers. In Cherry Hill and the surrounding area there are Federally Qualified Health Centers and larger health systems (for example, Virtua and Cooper affiliates) that maintain outpatient clinics; those sites often accept new patients or have sliding‑scale options for uninsured residents.
– Retail and urgent care as short‑term options. CVS MinuteClinics, Walgreens clinics and local urgent care centers can handle many immediate primary‑care needs, though they aren’t long‑term primary‑care providers for chronic disease management.
What neighbors are saying
Local review pages and community posts (including comments on Yelp and neighborhood forums) show people are frustrated whenever a neighborhood medical office closes: practical complaints about increased drive times, concern for older adults who relied on walk‑in access, and a desire for more transparent notice periods. Community sentiment in Cherry Hill tends to emphasize keeping medical services close to major corridors — especially those served by I‑295 exits — because those routes are how most residents get around.
Bigger picture: consolidation and what may come next
Health systems and corporate clinic operators have been consolidating care, leaning more on telehealth and larger outpatient centers. That can be good for integrated care in a single location, but it creates gaps in convenience and continuity for day‑to‑day primary care. Local officials and boards of health should be watching whether closures leave service deserts, particularly for seniors and low‑income residents who rely on short trips off I‑295 rather than longer commutes to a hospital campus.
What 295Times readers can do
– If you’re affected, document it: note whether you received notice, how far the next nearest in‑network clinic is from your usual I‑295 exit, and any transportation challenges.
– Contact your county health department (Camden or Burlington) to report gaps in access; county agencies track primary‑care availability and can help coordinate resources.
– Ask your insurer for help reassigning a PCP and check for telehealth options if travel is a problem.
– Share tips on local Facebook groups or neighborhood apps about clinics that are taking new patients — those grassroots maps often help people find alternatives faster than waiting for official lists to be updated.
If you have first‑hand experience with any of the Optum sites that are closing — especially if you rely on one as a primary doctor or for chronic care — email tips@295Times.com or leave a comment below. We’ll follow up with details about which specific offices are closing, how long notices give patients to transfer care, and whether local health systems are stepping in to fill any gaps along our I‑295 exits.
Sources and local context: closure notices from the Optum network and reporting compiled regionally (NJ.com, Patch) have noted the statewide trend; Google Maps helps verify proximity to I‑295 exits and local retail hubs; neighborhood review pages (Yelp, community forums) give a sense of patient reaction. If you want, I’ll pull the nearest alternative clinics within five miles of the Cherry Hill location and list routes from the closest I‑295 ramps.
