Practice Management
According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 27.6% of Americans had at least 1 visit to an urgent care center in 2024. By comparison, only 19% of Americans reported visiting a retail health clinic in 2024, suggesting urgent care is the clear setting of choice for on-demand care. Looking at the populations by age, adults ages 18–64 represented the largest portion of the total urgent care visits (28.9%). Children …
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Now that spring has arrived, respiratory virus season seems to be winding down across the country, according to the latest FluView report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Positive test rates for influenza were 9.8% for the week ending March 28, 2026, trending down as compared to the previous week (11.5%), and outpatient visits for respiratory illness also decreased to 2.6% of visits, down from 2.9%. In urgent care specifically, this month’s flu …
Read MoreIn spite of the fact that urgent care was overlooked as an essential partner in the fight against COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, the virus had a major impact on the complaints that drove patients to visit an urgent care center. In fact, according to JUCM research, most of 2019’s top 5 chief complaints fell by at least half as a proportion of all urgent care visits. COVID-19, which was essentially a …
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As we’ve noted in recent weeks, urgent care had a tough time of it through much of 2020, from challenges in receiving COVID-19 testing supplies to patients who were unnecessarily afraid to visit their local urgent care center. Now, though, in spite of again being overlooked as a potentially valuable partner in vaccinating the country against the virus, visits to urgent care centers are actually up 67% vs the previous 3-year average according to data …
Read MoreThe following chart, based data from a Practice Velocity study of more than 20,000,000 patient visits over a 5-year period, shows that urgent care exhibits a strong pattern of seasonality. The average daily visits in each month vary from average daily visits over the course of a year. For example, on an average day in July, there are 14% fewer patients than the baseline number, whereas in an average day in December, there are 25% …
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Markets where there are higher concentrations of urgent care centers have lower emergency room visit rates, according to a new survey from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Not unexpectedly, the inverse relationship was also shown; areas where urgent care centers are less concentrated tend to have higher ED visit rates, as well as larger uninsured and Medicaid populations. Industry watchers are eager to see how the numbers trend, as urgent care continues to emerge …
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Yet another study indicates that “millennials”—individuals between 18 and 36 years of age—have a tough time affording basic healthcare costs (including insurance, in many cases). One out of five says they can’t afford routine health costs, while an additional 26% say they can afford routine healthcare costs, but with difficulty. The Harris Poll found that 70% consider cost to be a “very important” factor when looking for healthcare, and that 16% do not intend to …
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Many urgent care centers are well prepared to administer travel-related vaccines for tourists bound for the Olympics or ready to set sail on a cruise. What about closer to home, though? With school out and vacationing in, would the first aid center at the water park and the manager of that motel off the interstate think of your urgent care center when they need to refer a guest who needs immediate care? You should 1) …
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Patients who don’t need to be visiting the emergency room at all are too often not only evaluated, but admitted into the hospital through the ED. Some even wind up in critical care units, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. While some patients may be heading to the ED because they’re unsure of the most appropriate setting for their symptoms, others claim lack of access to primary care as the main …
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Military members and their families covered under Tricare Prime, Tricare Prime Remote, or Tricare Young Adult–Prime will be allowed two urgent care visits without a referral per year, thanks to a pilot program starting May 23. Right now, beneficiaries need a referral before going to urgent care. Delays in getting appointments with a primary care provider have been a common complaint among military families for years, putting pressure on the Department of Defense to reconsider …
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