Practice Management Minding Your (Urgent Care) Ps and Qs Urgent message: Appropriate attention to place, product, price, pro- motion, people, and quality help ensure the right approach to facilitating the success of your practice. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc B Place As a healthcare choice designed to meet patient needs of convenience and accessibility, an urgent care practice is analogous to retail, where the first rule is “location, lo- cation, location.” Signage and visibility are the most frequent reasons why consumers select an urgent care center. Even when a center advertises or relies on word of mouth, people must know where to find it and be able to get there eas- ily. That means it is important for you to identify a high- traffic site near patients’ home or work, choose signage that’s clearly visible to motorists, and ensure there is am- ple parking that’s easily accessed from each direction. Good signage is also an advertising investment that provides a constant reminder that the center is open 26 JUCM T h e J o u r n a l o f U r g e n t C a r e M e d i c i n e | J u n e 2 0 0 8 for business. For a center that is chal- lenged by signage or visibility constraints, there are creative ways to draw attention, in- cluding temporary banners, promotional inflatables, strate- gically placed yard signs, bal- loons at the entrance, or per- manent directional signage on the road. It’s important to note that such tactics often require landlord approval and may be subject to municipal permitting. Another option is to lease a nearby billboard to serve as an extension of the center’s signage while also promoting an advertising message. When an urgent care center is a tenant in a medical complex or shopping center, the availability of spe- cially marked parking spaces for urgent care is an added advantage; a full parking lot often turns off prospective patients who perceive long wait times. Dedicated park- ing also assists injured patients with accessing the cen- ter. If the center is open in the evening, the parking lot should be well lighted and there should be a clearly il- luminated “Open” sign visible from the road. © Images.com/Corbis artenders in British pubs have a custom of remind- ing eager patrons to “mind their Ps and Qs”— to watch how many pints and quarts they consume, so as to avoid creating a tab they cannot pay. To assure a satisfactory re- turn on their investment, ur- gent care entrepreneurs must likewise mind their “Ps and Qs”—in this case, the success factors defined as place, product, price, promotion, peo- ple, and quality. Product While urgent care is generally defined as “treatment for episodic subacute illness and injury,” individual centers differ as to the capabilities included in this scope. w w w. j u c m . c o m