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Urgent care is evolving into an essential entry point for the healthcare system, driven by primary care shortages as well as shifting patient expectations, according to Andrea Giamalva, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Experity, in an interview with Medical Economics. She says urgent care is increasingly becoming the front door for many patients because so many Americans don’t have primary care relationships, especially younger generations. That means urgent care must be able to triage appropriately and rethink its role in the larger healthcare ecosystem. Giamalva describes a cultural shift shaped by today’s “Amazon-Uber-DoorDash world,” in which patients expect convenience and on-demand services. She says that better coordination between urgent care and primary care is essential, with the goal of getting “the right patient to the right place at the right time.” Technology and AI tools may help guide patients and reduce fragmentation while restoring “humanness” to care by easing documentation burdens.
Urgent care’s value proposition: “And from a cost standpoint, while insurance plans vary, there is no question that urgent care is far more cost-effective than an emergency department visit,” Giamalva says in the interview. “So when patients are deciding between the emergency room and urgent care, the cost comparison is often obvious.”