Are You Chasing Profitable Growth, or Just Growth?

Heather Real With today’s urgent care operators challenged with increasing expenses and stagnant reimbursements, many thoughtful entrepreneurs turn to ancillary services to drive more revenue into their business. These offerings are numerous and varying in nature. When determining if and what to add to an urgent care business, you’ll need to ask some crucial questions: As the competition for patient loyalty heats up, many operators are looking for ways to stand out. Some ways of …

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Urgent Care Drives Growth in Health Systems

Urgent Care Drives Growth in Health Systems

Dissatisfied patients who have flocked to urgent care rather than more traditional care locations are forcing health systems and clinics to reevaluate how they offer care, according to a new report in Becker’s Hospital Review. “Regardless of the clinical enterprise’s desire to connect everyone with a long-term physician relationship, responsive health systems will recognize they cannot form relationships through experiences that leave individuals unsatisfied. These relationships are particularly important at the individual’s first point of …

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Urgent Care Growth Will Continue, Says New Research

Urgent Care Growth Will Continue, Says New Research

Urgent care is a good fit for evolving healthcare marketplaces, ensuring continuing growth for years to come—from $23.5 billion in 2013 to a projected $30.5 billion by 2020, according to a new report from Transparency Market Research (TMR). We’ve told you here that urgent care has been shown to be a popular model for people in the millennial generation (often defined as those born between the mid-1980s and early 2000s), but TMR points out that …

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New Analysis Predicts Urgent Care Will Grow 30% by 2020

New Analysis Predicts Urgent Care Will Grow 30% by 2020

Increasing healthcare spending and an aging population are expected to boost demand for cost-effective, convenient medical care—adding up to strong growth in the urgent care marketplace for the remainder of the decade, according to a new report from Market Research Search Engine (MRRSE). The company’s conclusions are based on in-depth interviews with key opinion leaders within urgent care, but also on extensive secondary research. The report describes the industry as “highly fragmented,” with “small players” …

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Emory Adds 20 Urgent Care Locations Through New Partnerships

Emory Adds 20 Urgent Care Locations Through New Partnerships

Emory Healthcare has found the urgent care marketplace hospitable and is taking on new partners to secure a more prominent seat at the table. The Atlanta-based company is inviting Peachtree Immediate Care and SmartCare Urgent Care into its Emory Health Network. Once Peachtree’s 16 locations and SmartCare’s four clinics are fully on board, Emory will be able to offer urgent care at 60 locations throughout Atlanta. The locations will share an EMR to facilitate smooth …

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Health Data Management IDs 30 Largest Urgent Care Chains

Health Data Management IDs 30 Largest Urgent Care Chains

Urgent care watchers know the industry has been growing at a steady clip for years, with the latest surge fueled by patients and payers eager to get quality care for a fraction of the price of a trip to the emergency room. Some urgent care operators focus more on growth than others, of course. Health Data Management and Merchant Medicine teamed up to identify just which 30 urgent care chains have grown to be the …

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When Urgent Care Grows, Patients Benefit

When Urgent Care Grows, Patients Benefit

More and more communities—big and small, urban and suburban—are seeing their choices for immediate medical care multiply at a rapid pace, thanks largely to the continued growth of urgent care centers. While that level of competition helps ensure that all the players in the market bring their A game to every encounter, the sheer number of options bolsters one of the key benefits that brings patients to urgent care in the first place: when there …

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Report Cites Cost Effectiveness, Speed of Service as Keys to Urgent Care Growth

Report Cites Cost Effectiveness, Speed of Service as Keys to Urgent Care Growth

Offering cost savings vs higher-acuity settings and getting patients in and out the door quickly are primarily responsible for the ongoing rapid growth of the urgent care market, according to a new market report from Transparency Market Research (TMR). “The service time…[is] better than in an emergency department. Additionally, the fee per visit paid by a patient, whether with health insurance or not, in urgent care centers is much lower than the fee paid in …

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Optum Plans Faster Urgent Care Growth Than Expected

Optum Plans Faster Urgent Care Growth Than Expected

Wall Street analysts have predicted that Optum would add 25 to 30 urgent care centers per year through acquisition and startups, but on a recent call with analysts the company predicted it would grow at a quicker pace on its way to operating clinics in 75 markets. A key step in that strategy, as we reported, was buying MedExpress for the urgent care centers it operates in 14 states. Optum still says those locations will …

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New Report Sees Urgent Care Market Growing to $30.5 Billion by 2020

New Report Sees Urgent Care Market Growing to $30.5 Billion by 2020

Add Transparency Market Research to the growing list of research organizations that see major growth continuing in the global urgent care market. Using 2013’s figure of $23.5 billion as a baseline, the report projects 30% growth by 2020—making for a market value of $30.5. Urgent Care Centers Market—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014–2020 cites the growing ranks of senior citizens and concerns over finding cost-effective care, combined with traditional urgent care …

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