Industry Insights

Interest in the development and operation of urgent care centers is a growing trend with health systems seeking more appropriate and efficient settings for delivery of care traditionally performed within emergency departments. For many emergent care needs, a well-run urgent care (UC) operation can provide a high quality of care for a lower cost and in a more patient-accessible manner. One key to achieving this result is understanding the role of an urgent care center within a health system’s continuum of care. Properly envisioned, UC is neither an emergency department nor a physician office, but a distinct care delivery model.

The following are important considerations for UC operations:

• In combination with other stakeholders, fully define the desired services to be provided through UC operations compared to other modes. This will help to develop an efficient UC care delivery model, allow more efficient delivery of other care modalities no longer designed to handle UC issues and avoid misunderstandings and competition with other system stakeholders.
• Customer service and convenience are important considerations for UC operations. Ease of access, limited wait times, friendly environments and immediate delivery of common ancillary needs are essential. Properly run and marketed UC operations can bring a new subset of patients—frequently younger—to a health system.
• In general, pricing and collection practices for UC operations should differ substantially from those within more traditional settings. While insurance coverage is still prevalent for many UC patients and needs to be accommodated, pricing transparency for patients is essential. To be successful, a UC needs to successfully communicate and collect the actual out-of-pocket cost to patients for various services at the time the patient presents—or before, through marketing and Internet efforts.
• Efficient clinical staffing patterns are another key to achieving cost savings for UC services. Using physician extenders, intelligent management of operation and clinical staffing hours and delivering a mix of services consistent with efficient clinical staffing are excellent ways to achieve cost savings from the inherent advantages provided by UC settings as opposed to more intensive modes.

Health care reform initiatives continue to require the delivery of high-quality, more efficient care, but development and improvement of UC operations through these considerations can offer health systems a strategic opportunity to achieve both.