Physician pitching urgent care franchise

Packaging up urgent care services like a Pizza Hut and selling them across the U.S.? Why, that's nothing less than the American Dream--at least for one Maryland physician.

Working with two partners, Dr. Scott Burger has run an urgent-care center--dubbed Doctors Express--for three years. Now, Burger wants to blanket the U.S. with Doctors Express franchises. Burger and his partners hope to open 3,000 such centers around the country in the coming years.

Burger's first franchisees should open their doors in Temple, TX, with about two dozen more Doctors Express locations set for future launches in Texas, Georgia, New Jersey, South Carolina, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia, he told USA Today.

Burger's model, which differs from both the traditional retail clinics of the world and emerging retail clinics, will have a physician on duty during all of its hours of operation. Doctors Express locations will also have digital X-ray equipment, a lab and a pharmacy on location. In addition to providing urgent treatment, the centers will also conduct drug screenings, do pre-employment physicals and provide vaccinations.

What's more, Doctors Express franchises are designed to be something non-medical investors can run. Burger and his team will help such owners screen physicians, choose locations and address any other questions they have about establishing the business.

To learn more about this model:
- read this USA Today piece [1]

Related Articles:
Study: Retail clinic boom may be slowing [2]
Trend: Urgent care clinic industry expanding again [3]
Retail clinics get high marks in cost savings study [4]