Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Creating an Inclement-Weather Policy for Your Urgent Care Center

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is Practice Management Editor for JUCM, serves on the Board Directors of the Urgent Care Association of America, and is Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives for Practice Velocity. Urgent Message: Every urgent care center should have a policy addressing the various issues of communication, safety, pay, operations, and human resources that will undoubtedly come up when bad weather strikes. If the paradigm shift fueling the success of the urgent health-care model …

A Return on Investment Approach to Urgent Care Marketing

Urgent message: In a volume-driven business like urgent care, marketing should be viewed as an investment with a financial return that can be measured in order to allocate the center’s advertising dollars among the tactics most effective in generating patient revenue. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Success in the “business” of urgent care boils down to one factor: “feet through the door.” That’s because once a center’s fixed costs are covered, each additional …

The Role of Urgent Care in an Integrated Care Delivery System: Insights from Kaiser Permanente

Urgent message: As the Affordable Care Act encourages greater integration of health insurers, hospitals, and physicians, urgent care will play an important role in increasing patient access, improving clinical outcomes and reducing health care costs. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Hospitals across the country are partnering with doctors and health insurers—linked by an electronic health record (EHR)—to form accountable care organizations (ACOs) as a way to control health care expenditures by coordinating patient care. …

Head in the Game: Cultivating the Mindset of a Successful Urgent Care Operator

Urgent message: Just because you build it, patients won’t necessarily come. As entrepreneurs, successful urgent care center owners must market their services to the community, innovate with new services to fill excess capacity, and create positive patient experiences that spur repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity One needn’t look further than the 20,000+ physicians already practicing in urgent care centers nationwide to grasp just how attractive this business model …

Practical Considerations for Urgent Care Holiday Hours

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of JUCM, serves on the Board of Directors of The Urgent Care Association of America, and is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Experity. Urgent Message: Whether an urgent care center should be open 365 days per year or close on major or minor holidays depends upon factors that influence profitability such as patient demand, competitive positioning, staff availability, payor reimbursement, and the branding impact of …

Pros and Cons of Sale-Leaseback Financing for Urgent Care

Author: Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, Experity, Practice Management Editor, The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine with James Nawalaniec, St. Louis University URGENT MESSAGE: A growing urgent care operation has a constant need for working capital to open centers, expand existing centers, scale processes and technology, recruit providers and staff, and to support sales and marketing. While urgent care entrepreneurs have historically relied upon personal savings, bank loans or the equity investment of third parties, …

An Urgent Care Operator’s Guide to Hiring and Managing a Lawyer

Urgent message: This article is a broad overview of how lawyers work and charge and what to do to avoid some of the most common pitfalls inherent in the attorney-client relationship. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice VelocitySuccess in business entails being prepared and there will be times when it’s unavoidably necessary for you, the urgent care operator, to engage the services of an attorney. From structuring and starting up the business, to reviewing and …

Marketing Strategies: School, Sports, and Camp Physicals

Urgent message: Sports physicals offered by an urgent care center can be a “win” for both the center and the community. The community gets a flexible source for a time-critical service and the center gets another way to attract new and repeat business. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Schools, camps, inter-league and club sports programs typically require a pre-participation physical examination to evaluate a participant’s general health, fitness level, risk of injury and …

Understanding the Freestanding Emergency Department Phenomenon

Urgent message: FSEDs have a role to play in our health care system but it’s not to supplant urgent care centers. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Introduction Freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) are walk-in medical facilities—structurally separate and distinct from a hospital—that hold themselves out to provide emergency care to the general public. While they claim many similarities to hospital EDs—capabilities to diagnose and stabilize cardiac arrest, stroke symptoms, breathing problems and trauma—there are also …

Improving Urgent Care Center Profitability Through Medical Supply Management and Accounting

Urgent message: Many urgent care centers lack an inventory management process and do not accurately account for their utilization of supplies. Improving how a center manages and accounts for supplies can have a direct impact on the bottom line. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Introduction A quick and easy way to improve your urgent care center’s profitability may be as close as your supply closet. Many urgent care centers lack defined processes for …

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